Just over 5 years ago, in an unexpected display of enthusiasm for gardening, my husband decided to help me get rid of an overgrown jasmine from the back wall of the house. Next thing I knew, he’d managed to sever the TV aerial cable – at which point he realised that there had been a reason for my slow and careful disentangling of it!
Over the next 3 or 4 weeks, we spent time discussing whether to have the cable and aerial replaced, or sign up for either a satellite or cable service. Even after just those few weeks, we realised that we didn’t actually miss watching broadcast TV, so we thought we’d see how we got on without it. Five years later … still no TV reception in this household.
We do have a TV – a large, flatscreen plasma at that – which gets used a lot for watching films and even boxed sets of TV programs – but only after we’ve heard/read enough positive commentary about their quality. (We watch some news and the very occasional programme on the ‘puters.) Do we miss TV? No, not at all. In fact, the longer the time that passes, the less and less tolerance we have for the superficial and designed-for-the-attention-span-deficient nature of much of what passes for entertainment these days. Not to mention the, ahem, delights of advertising. I’m sure being in the grumpy old people category helps!
I’m convinced that regular TV-watchers are desensitised to at least some extent by the constant diet of what is mostly dross. Harsh words, even arrogant I admit, but I swear that the quality of programming has on the whole gone down drastically in the last few years. And I’m not convinced that it was all that brilliant to start with. Yes, there are some absolute gems to be found (or fallen over) and it can be tricky avoiding hearing about the plot-lines and conclusions of finished series when you know the box set is still sitting in your Amazon wish-list, but nothing beats the almost guilty pleasure of devouring a good series in one go! We watched (although I think the correct verb should be ‘devoured’) the entire 5 series of The Wire over a three week period and still spent less time sitting in front of the box than many people would over those 21 days.
Yet suggesting to people, even ones not currently in the throes of following a series or serial, that they should go TV-free for a few weeks and see if they really, truly miss it is often greeted with absolute horror. Go on, give it a go, you never know what delights – and free time – are in store unless you try.
Here’s a fractal, ‘cos image-free posts are boring
by Gill
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