This is the life

So Friday afternoon myself and the wife decide something. Nothing revolutionary or life-changing per se but something that turned out to be a great decision.

For a little background, I’ve been getting further and further irritated with the American media in the mainstream. From the political coverage, the crap they’re trying to pull with the billions of dollars coming in from Internet based revenue and stiffing the writers, the lack of ability to receive channels a la carte instead of packaged in to a bundle of terrible channels, the fact that it still costs over $600 a year for a basic cable or satellite package so that the major networks receive billions in revenue because I watch their commercials (especially when I can download all the stuff I want illegally and for free without commercials), etc. etc. etc. I could go on…  Needless to say, I’ve got a growing dislike for television.

My wife on the other hand, has a growing dislike for my computer. I can spend literally an entire day on the computer doing anything from research, photography, music (composing and listening), gaming, downloading (anything… no seriously), and anything else imaginable. My wife is tired of me disappearing into the office and not seeing me again until the evening. I can’t blame her. It is counter-productie when it comes to our relationship and even the basics of real life (paying bills, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, etc.).

Our proposal was simple: no television or computer for the entire weekend.

How did it turn out? Great! Friday we fall asleep in a big pile on the couch. I was on the bottom. My wife was on me. Our dog was on her. Leading up to the couch party was discussion, interfacing, and being social with each other. It sounds so weird writing it down but when you have no device dumbing you down and stealing your attention, you actually have to flex some mental and social muscle. Very relieving indeed. All Saturday we spent running errands (including Lowes to gather some supplies for my experiment with LED grow lights and soon to be hydroponics) and hung out with family. After all was said and done, Saturday evening looking back felt like it was a long day. Not in the, “holy hell I just had to mow the yard, change the oil, clean the house, blah blah blah” long day. In a, “Wow the weekend feels like an actual break in work” long day.

I would recommend it to everyone single or married. Try it. If you’re gutsy enough, try going a week without television or Internet. Now when you struggle through it, remember that just two and three generations ago, there were people in Florida growing up without air conditioning in their homes. No cable television. No Internet. No cell phones. The purpose of the exercise isn’t to show you how well you have it now though. It is to show you that you can exist without NBC/ABC/CBS/Viacom/Clear Channel in your eyes and ears at all times. It really is a great way to exist.