In Recovery from Television

In July, I moved to a new condo and joined the ranks of homeowners dreaming the American dream. (So far, at least.) In the process, I didn’t transfer my cable TV and was thus without network television (local or otherwise) for about six months. (I got basic cable again about a month ago—more of that later.) I have to say that the experience helped my thinking generally—I read more, listened to (a little more) music, and generally felt my mind was somehow clearer than it had been with the television almost constantly on.

Of course, there are some real drawbacks to a life without any television at all. Lots of people watch TV, of course, and an observation about a favorite show can be a great conversation-starter. TV references abound in my lectures—or they used to—and they can be an effective (if somewhat coarse) method of making unfamiliar ideas or people more accessible. (Seinfeld has worked well for this purpose, but I don’t imagine that will continue much longer.) And I missed the final season of The Shield, one of the few TV shows I thought was actually well made. The problem, of course, was that I didn’t simply watch good television; I watched too much, well, very bad television.

But in January, as the new season of Lost was approaching and I realized it would cost only a few dollars more than I was already spending for my cable internet service, I decided to reactivate basic cable. I deliberately eschewed all the bells and whistles that I’d previously enjoyed: DVR, HD TV, endless channels that I couldn’t watch even if I didn’t have a job. And I wondered if I’d get hooked again.

Well, now it’s almost March and my television-watching is still under control. I watch Lost; sometimes I watch news. But one night I started watching Supernatural and got bored after about 10 minutes, so I decided to read instead. That’s a good development.