Soon… we will have no more cable…
Though I watch a few shows…I more often use it at background noise in the evenings while on the computer.. however, the boys watch pretty much everyday… it isn’t really a struggle in general but I have to admit that since the boys interests are changing and they want to watch shows that I don’t like very much on channels with tons of commercials directed toward kids I have been feeling more uncomfortable about their watching habits…
We also have decided that we are buying a Wii for a family gift, so the money that we save in about 6 months will pay for that expense…
I do think that it will be weird not having TV, but I also think that it will be a good thing for the family… what I find scary though is realizing that it was a bit of a hard decision to make.. we are so used to having TV and having cable that even of we don’t really watch it, it has become such a habit that we keep paying for it….
So on Dec 4th we will be TV free…
Yay! It’s worth it to be rid of all the commercials and with how easy it is to download movies or shows you’d miss why pay extra for cable? I’m sure having the video game will help make the transition more smooth with the boys, don’t you?
We don’t have cable either. Actually, that’s a lie, we do now, but we don’t pay for it. We got a free month and they forgot to unhook it. So I guess I should clarify and say we haven’t paid for cable in… 5 years? Even now that we have it, it’s not plugged in. The last time it was was when Kris’ dad was here and wanted to watch it.
We do have a monster TV though (Kris bought it for himself with a big bonus) and love to watch movies and shows like Blue Planet. I actually think TV itself can have value too, even shows that aren’t necessarily educational, and I want to avoid telling Meredith that something she enjoys is bad (if she ends up liking a particular show that I hate!), but I definitely agree about the commercials. Avoiding those is probably the best part about not having cable, besides the savings.
We have a Wii, and a PS3 (which is used more for the Blu-Ray than for games). We don’t really play many games on either lately actually. But when we do, it’s fun. I bet your boys will love the Wii!
We’ve never had TV or cable (just an old tv we use for movies) and I am so glad we don’t. I find that the noise of a tv really grates on my nerves. Of course, I waste lots of time on the internet…so always room for improvement!
Rixa, your post reminds me of our situation here. I pulled the old boxy tv out when Paxye was here for a visit so all the kids could watch movies. I ended up leaving it out upstairs in my sewing room and next to a folded futon. It’s nice and cozy up in that corner to watch a movie but I’m not a fan of the noise when the tv was in the living room.
My husband has never had cable before the winter of 2006 when we had it where we lived when I was last pregnant. I loved being able to watch some shows but am glad it’s gone now. My husband *hated* it, to put it mildly. Ha. Now we watch an occasional old movie upstairs or a episode of Mythbusters (I love this show!) or Survivor (embarrassingly I love the season I’ve seen) on my laptop downstairs.
I think if we had video games here my husband’s and my heads would explode! Ha.
ok… i think your all nuts!!!!! lol.. but hey we agree on most everything else 🙂
Yeah, I think that the video games will keep them busy… well… that is if we can get our hands on a Wii… they seem to be in demand everywhere and not available anywhere…
sucks!!
We gave up cable by accident sometime almost 14-15 years ago when through poor money management we forgot to pay the cable bill. The guy who came over to disconnect us was so remorseful and sad for us and tried to find ways that we could keep it but by then we’d resigned ourselves to it and were kind of looking forward to it.
Now, 15 years later I can say that our lives are totally different than they would’ve otherwise been. We all like to watch television when it is available (in a hotel for example) but without it here we don’t watch it at all. As a result, our library patronage makes up for it with our visiting the library with a shopping cart.
We still watch things either on DVD or occasionally on google video and the like. The difference, however, is that it is always an active decision. We sit down to watch a particular program. We don’t sit down and channel surf to see what’s on. It’s surprising what a difference that makes in terms of media consumption.
I am jealous….I would love to turn off cable in our home except for one thing…my almost 17 year old son.
He has cable in his bedroom and I feel it is important for him to have it if he wants it. Now for my little guys, 3 and 5 turning off cable would be awesome and probably one of the best things I could possibly do. I am going to brainstorm this with hubby and see if we can come up with an idea that pleases everyone. We are trying to practice “positive TV acceptance”and it is hard because most of it is crapola. It would be amazing to just suddenly have it gone….poof…vanish into thin air.
Just curious, Amanda – what makes cable television important? News, information, connection to pop culture, or not impacting an otherwise harmonious relationship? (I ask this in the sincerest mode of curiosity and not in the confrontational way it may come across in text).
A few ideas: If the only reason you have cable television in the house is for one person, and most others could live without it, assess its importance to your son by inviting him to pay the bill.
Even with things the way they are today, there is no rule mandating that the cable coming out of the wall has to be connected to every television. You can get rid of cable as soon as you read this message by disconnecting it from every other television in the house. Stress with everyone that this doesn’t mean the end of entertainment, even video entertainment. It just means that watching something will be a conscious choice involving a trip to the video store or library. You’ll be amazed what a difference it makes.
Todd… great ideas….
I don’t know why it took us so long to finally make the decision… I could have done it a while ago and I would have only felt better with myself…
Though it is still there for now, I already feel quite liberated knowing that it won’t be there for long…
Pop culture and harmonious relationships is what initially stands out to me. He watches shows such as sports, curb your enthusiasm, south park. He has healthy TV habits and does not watch too much in my opinion.He is very active and always has been. I am extremely sensitive to the fact that his family life consisted of just him and me for the first 10 years of his life and then I remarried and started an extended family.
He is such a wonderful kid who thinks for himself and loves his family and friends. I feel that it would be wrong to suddenly take TV away from him at this point. Even so your point is well taken and I am going to take the opportunity to discuss how he really feels about this subject and see if I am being overly sensitive and maybe he doesn’t even care. If he is in I am in! Thank you for your question and ideas…thinking is good!
Todd, I appreciate your thoughts and the eloquence in which you shared them!
Tv can be very hard to let go of initially. Even though I’m happy to live without it I do struggle with wanting to watch more than I need to when it’s in front of me. It’s quite disturbing really. I really notice when we’re somewhere with a tv how my dd is also all to willing to sit in front of the tv instead of choosing to do any number of other things we easily do when it’s not in our environment.