Frank and I eliminated television from our lives in 2001. It wasn’t that difficult really, neither of us had, in our previously single lives, had time or the budget for television, so we weren’t completely accustomed to having it.
Without television, we gain a little more control of the information we take in. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions, sites we regularly visit on the Internet, radio. In other words, we aren’t idly sitting on a couch, taking in the information broad cast to us. Instead, we pick and choose and select what we read, hear and watch.
To be honest, we miss a lot. Hundreds of times we’ve been lost in conversations that discuss a memorable commercial or recent development in a reality tv show. I see headlines naming celebrities I personally have never heard of.
It’s a definite change of lifestyle for a former news hound/reporter. I was obsessed with news — especially local. I was immersed in it, often angry or frustrated by the negative aspects that made mainstream media so popular these days.
I do not mean to imply that I care nothing for the catastrophe in the Gulf. I do not wish to mislead anyone into thinking we’re not keeping up with important developments. We’re just not immersed in the demise of our world and society constantly, again and again and again.
Our lives are definitely improved.
In the 50’s and early 60’s, when television was cheesy and clean — before real images of the Vietnam War presented the first of “Reality TV” people’s lives were simpler. People were happier. People didn’t watch TV in the morning, it was an evening recreational activity. Their minds weren’t cluttered with the problems of the world, and their focus was on solving the problems of their communities. Their attention spans hadn’t yet been trained to the time frame between commercial breaks, and evenings were spent whittling, stitching, quilting, darning…
It’s amazing how much more time you discover in your life when television isn’t a dominant part of it.
Of course, once you learn a life without television, you soon discover you don’t really have time for it.
By the time we finish dinner, and pop in or download a movie, these days, we’re lucky if we can stay awake until the end.
I don’t know what I can do to save the Gulf. But when I pay close attention, the things I can do in my immediate environment become clearer. If rest of the world is – as mainstream media often implies – a victim of our destruction, the best thing I can do is focus on cultivating my world — the land and community right here, where I live.
There could be issues with genetically modified seeds and produce? OK, well, we’ll grow our own. Issues with processed foods? OK, we’ll raise hens and makes things from scratch with quality ingredients. Honey bees are at risk and are necessary for growing our own food successfully? OK, we’ll get a bee hive.
Every day, mainstream media presents you with images of war, extinction, violence, deception, corruption, disaster and death. All I need to do is scan the headlines to see this and get a grasp of society’s condition. But I don’t have to read the article. I don’t have to listen to the broad cast; I don’t have to listen to the video. Instead, I can go weed the garden, harvest herbs, collect eggs and focus on a local future — without the clutter of all the world’s problems in my head.
Can you go a day without television? A week? A month? Like anything else, the point is to be here now, be aware of your actions and intake, and strive for moderation. Break the connection that keeps you focused on whatever is put in front of you. Make choices, selections, about what influences your mind, and you may discover a whole new world — right here at home.
