How I Stopped Watching Television

In February of this year, my husband and I decided to cut the cord on cable (read more here). There were benefits that we were expecting and came to fruition, like saving money every month. One benefit we did not expect was that we now watch much less television.

Why I Barely Watch Television

I think a big reason for this is that our habit was disrupted. We had cable for so long that at least for me, I would sit down at the end of the day and automatically switch on MSNBC. I didn't even enjoy watching it and in fact, I felt it was a negative presence in my life. But I knew the channel number and the habit was that strong.

Another reason was the limited space on our DVR created this false urgency to watch shows before they were deleted. They weren't even shows that we were really interested in. But we had this impulse to manage the memory capacity of our DVR.

The final reason was that there are more choices now of what to watch. Do we turn on Amazon Prime or Hulu? Which shows are on which platform? Without the DVR aggregating shows for us in one, easy-to-access location, the energy investment in turning on something to watch increased ... enough so that it became a deterrent to our TV viewing.

In Closing

The fact is that we don't miss it. A year from now, it won't matter to me if I missed an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or if I watched any of them at all. Even if I watched them, I wouldn't remember, so it's equally true for me that not watching them doesn't matter.

My new schedule also played a part in eliminating my TV habit. Waking up at 5am and going to bed right after my kids go to bed doesn't leave any time for me to come downstairs and turn on the tube. The rest of the day is packed with other activities. Removing TV from my life has been an unexpected benefit of cutting the cord on cable, and a very welcome one.