Hello, my name is Drew, I am twenty-seven years old, and I do not watch television anymore - well, for the most part I do not, anyway. This was not always the case for me, however.
When I was a kid, my family had enough money to live a good life, but we were not wealthy by any means, so an expense such as cable TV was not really an option. The only time I was able to watch Nickelodeon or anything else consisted of being at friend's houses, which was not something I did all that often because my best friend growing up liked coming to my house much better. Not having anything beyond a few local channels never bothered me because my friend and I spent every summer day and most afternoons during the school year from middle school until our sophomore year of high school outside. We built all sorts of things from a greenhouse, to rabbit traps, to a fifteen-foot tall trebuchet which could throw a tennis ball about two acres with enough weights in the pendulum. Needless to say, not having a bunch of channels to scan on my TV never bothered me because I was too busy creating things.
By age fifteen, I was working on my first car
which had been sitting in a barn for over a decade and occupied every hour of free daylight I had until I received my license, exactly one day after my sixteenth birthday. I say "free daylight" because my first real job came at the age of fifteen and meant I was also working three to four days each week after school, so I could earn money to put into my car. My nights were spent in my room, alone, playing my new Stratocaster guitar, which is something I picked up at the age of fifteen. By age sixteen, I was playing music in front of church congregations in various capacities, at a church camp every year, and I stuck with that pattern until I was twenty years old or so, going out of the country to do it at one point. Many weekends were spent volunteering, but usually working because I never had the option of not working. Television never really fit into my life in a big capacity, nor did video games because I kept myself fairly busy as a teenager.
After I graduated from high school, my parents finally began a satellite subscription and I started watching TV after work or as a way to fall asleep, but I could not tell you any show I had an investment in besides "Laguna Beach" which I watched at my friend's house every Monday night (my best friends were girls at the time).
When I moved out of my parents' house, the first thing I did was sign onto DirecTV for a two-year commitment and became sort of a lazy television addict. I also drank back then and alcohol makes me about as energetic as a koala, so thus was my silly logic when I would get home from work. I was also in college then, while working a full-time job that entire time, so the easiest thing for me to do was plop down after class or work and watch something brainless for a few hours. Awesome. My waistline reflected this stupid cycle I had allowed myself to fall into, and coupled with other life events I eventually decided to make a change about a year ago.
When I became more focused on my health, entirely sober, and leading an immensely more active lifestyle, I realized watching TV was what I did right before I went to bed and fell asleep to. Nothing more. The Walking Dead was boring, Teen Wolf always sucked, I never in my life cared to watch the news, and I did not have any movie channels, so I was paying eighty dollars each month for a talking night light. I signed up for Hulu Plus on my computer and ditched DirecTV entirely. Not a single day has gone by when I have said "Man, I really wish I had TV right now."
Actually, I decided to write this blog about not having television anymore because I am cancelling my eight-dollar monthly Hulu Plus subscription tomorrow on the grounds of having not watched a single show on it in over a month. I have one TV in my house right now and it is an old CRT (tube) model in my garage hooked to a digital converter antenna so I can watch it during tornado warnings and such. Other than that, I never turn it on.
People have asked what the heck I do at my age without TV or video games.
Pretty much anything else I want to do after work everyday. I am a writer, of course, and while I do not claim to be a great writer by any means, this is where I escape. I subscribe to a few channels on YouTube that I spend about half an hour total watching everyday. At this point I am better at playing guitar than I was during my "prime" of ages eighteen to twenty. I try to spend as much time outdoors as I can, usually with some sort of soundtrack playing through my earbuds, whether just walking around, running, working on a project, or anything that involves moving around, really. I cannot even talk on the phone while sitting still anymore.
Had you told me I would be living without television three years ago, I would not have believed you, but for me, personally, I am so happy I do not have it anymore. Do not get me wrong though, because I am in no way against watching shows on TV. If you really like that, go right ahead. I will watch pretty much any TV show if I am at a friend's house, because I do enjoy it when I am with someone else in the same way that I will only really watch a movie under the same pretense.
What about sports?
Honestly, I understand sports, and I can get into them, but as far as following teams or knowing stats, that is not me. Sports are something I like watching with other people or seeing in-person at a stadium or arena, not something I do alone. I do follow the leaderboard for The Masters every year from my iPhone, but that is the limit of my solo involvement in sports. Other guys have told me watching sports is part of "being a dude" but those same men who say these things generally take their car to the dealership when a tail light bulb burns out, so I think I am missing the logic of their statement - if we are playing the stereotype game.
So, why do I not watch TV?
I have found other things to do which make me happier and healthier. If TV is not a vice for you, keep watching and playing video games, by all means. For me, cutting television out of my daily life helped me get sober, become nearly eighty pounds lighter, and brought me back to having a personal devotion to my passions of writing and music.
Simple.
Ditching television helped me get back to the better, more focused me.
Grace and Peace,
-Drew
Personal Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/drew.silvers
Blog Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/drewcoustic
Email: drewcoustic@gmail.com
Twitter: @JDrewSilvers
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jdrewsilvers
I'm listening to this song right now: (Don't hate)
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