The artwork at the left impressed me. It made me think of myself and my narrow escape from the blue screen, television. One of the good things my parents did for me was to limit the amount of television I was allowed to watch, It was thirty minutes and at most an hour, unless it was Hockey Night in Canada - a sacred tradition in my house - or a family movie. I remember as a child talking back to the commercials and asking questions. Why should I buy that? I don't need that! Why is there a girl in the car? Are you selling the girl with the car? And the like. I think in retrospect it was like a television immunity that I was developing. My grandmother did a wonderful thing for me when I was quite young. I remember going to a game show taping in Toronto with my grandma. It gave me the opportunity to see how "unreal" television is. I never looked at a programme the same way again. Television lost its hold on me that day, even though the definitive break came only recently. I only found a few programmes to my liking and generally they were cancelled after a season or two. I supposed I had unusual tastes. Later I suspected that television (like video games) was highly addictive because if I started watching a certain show, I would continue to watch that night for a while even if my show was not on. A few years ago my television watching was pared down to occasional movies and some specials, although I would listen to the television, while I was doing other things. It was enough distance that I began to wonder why I was doing it. So I stopped. Last summer I watched three movies on my television. It was at that point that I decided to make a clean break.
Don't get me wrong, I have gone without a television for three years at a time before and when I lived on my farm there were only three channels available but actually cutting myself off cold turkey? Television had become a fixture, like the sink, or the bathtub.
In October, I did it! I have been entirely television free for three months. No drug commercials following hard on the heels of "Just say 'No!' to drugs" commercials, no M.A.D.D. commercials interspersed with Whiskey, Rum, or Vodka commercials, no beer commercials where not only do you get the beer and not put on weight BUT you also get the most amazingly good-looking female companion on the face of the earth even though you don't look that impressive - what a relief! The paradoxes presented were almost as mind-boggling as some of the ridiculous fake "reality" shows - does anybody really care about some of these things? Who watches this? Or are we all in the same somnambulant state I remember being in, when I watched out of habit, out of boredom, or to break the silence. I remember that state and how much time I wasted there. It's not something of which I am too proud but at least I don't live there anymore and the beauty is that when I broke the cycle, shortly afterward I got up the nerve to tell my two best friends. One has now given up television too, while the other never really watched that much to begin with. It just takes one person! Turn off your television! You're not missing anything there but if that is all you do after work, you are missing out on your life! Break the habit! Refuse to be programmed! Escape from the entrancing blue screen that has held so many captive for so long! (Many thanks to the artist of the wonderful picture btw)
Don't get me wrong, I have gone without a television for three years at a time before and when I lived on my farm there were only three channels available but actually cutting myself off cold turkey? Television had become a fixture, like the sink, or the bathtub.
In October, I did it! I have been entirely television free for three months. No drug commercials following hard on the heels of "Just say 'No!' to drugs" commercials, no M.A.D.D. commercials interspersed with Whiskey, Rum, or Vodka commercials, no beer commercials where not only do you get the beer and not put on weight BUT you also get the most amazingly good-looking female companion on the face of the earth even though you don't look that impressive - what a relief! The paradoxes presented were almost as mind-boggling as some of the ridiculous fake "reality" shows - does anybody really care about some of these things? Who watches this? Or are we all in the same somnambulant state I remember being in, when I watched out of habit, out of boredom, or to break the silence. I remember that state and how much time I wasted there. It's not something of which I am too proud but at least I don't live there anymore and the beauty is that when I broke the cycle, shortly afterward I got up the nerve to tell my two best friends. One has now given up television too, while the other never really watched that much to begin with. It just takes one person! Turn off your television! You're not missing anything there but if that is all you do after work, you are missing out on your life! Break the habit! Refuse to be programmed! Escape from the entrancing blue screen that has held so many captive for so long! (Many thanks to the artist of the wonderful picture btw)
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