Life gets shorter one broadcast at a time

From the newsroom/Joel Davidson

On occasion, my wife and I get strange looks when people discover we don't have a television set in our house and that we never have occasion to read the most popular part of the paper, the TV Guide.

The benefit of not having a TV is that over the last two years we've yet to push the mute button even once to silence Cal Worthington's eternal jingles or the blowout-super-sale commercial announcements that interrupt programs every few minutes.

In addition, our living room doesn't echo with canned sitcom laughter, talk-show disputes or Monday night football play-by-play. The voices and images of Donald Trump, Peter Jennings and John Madden have utterly vanished from our home, along with the rest of America's television personalities.

I admit banishing TV wasn't as easy as clearing unwanted t-shirts and threadbare socks from the wardrobe.

I'm a recovering sports fan, and losing TV meant losing nearly all contact with my television sports heroes, many of whom I've followed since childhood.

I can't watch the final games of Reggie Miller's glorious NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. I rarely see Andre Agassi defy the march of time with each victorious tennis match, and I've yet to watch Roger Clemens launch a fastball for the Astros.

I catch a few games here and there, but it takes effort. I can't plop down after work and flip on a game before dinner. Instead, I'm forced to leave the house, drive to a friend's house or find a local sports bar, efforts that ultimately translate into precious few hours of television each year.

It's worth it, though. I've learned that the less TV I watch, the less I miss it. These days I have no idea what the fall lineup is, and surprisingly, I don't care. National studies report that the average American spends three to four hours a day watching TV. Over the course of 70 years, that translates into seven to 10 years of nonstop television.

Now, with those years freed up, I spend them talking to my wife, my brothers, reading Dr. Seuss books to my little boy and going on evening walks or cracking open the great books I rarely have time to read during the day.

I've also found that my entertainment is more public now. Rather than cloistering up with the TV, I go to more live concerts and plays and spend more time with people. I get my sports scores online or through the newspaper and the amount of time it takes to read a few paragraphs is considerably less than watching an entire game.

Certainly, I miss the drama of last-minute shots on live television but I gain the drama of my little boy laughing at "Red Fish, Blue Fish," or time spent with good friends and family.

Not everyone wants to live without TV. Television is familiar. It's comforting and even traditional for many households.

I've watched my fair share, however, and I know TV is an unruly beast that grows progressively harder to control. It's just too tempting to flip on the tube when I can't think of anything better to do.

My wife and I keep a video monitor in the house and sometimes we rent movies from a video store. This makes our decision more deliberate and keeps me from resorting to TV when I'm bored.

This week is National Turn Your TV Off Week. It's a chance to test drive the television-free lifestyle. It means giving up a few familiar routines, but those who tune out the tube might find they have time for a range of other activities.

I don't know who Donald Trump fired last week, but I've got the whole evening to look into subjects that are much more interesting.

Joel Davidson is a Frontiersman reporter who covers, among other things, education issues in the Valley.