The Benefits of Being TV Free

Several years ago we canceled our cable TV because we ran out of money.  It just didn't make sense to be three months behind on our utility bill and still paying for TV.  When you are unemployed a lot of the "must haves" in life become "do withouts."  What we didn't realize at the time was just what a blessing not having TV in our home would be.  A few months later our situation improved (and my husband's need for football increased) so we signed up for cable (or satellite, or netflix or something) again. WOW!

Seriously.  WOW!

You have no idea how bad TV really is until you go with out for a little while.  It was completely shocking how much loud, and vulgar, and completely offensive material is spilling into your home.  When you have TV all the time you become desensitized to it.  But go without for a while and you will be shocked by what you see.  And aside from moral reasons to throw out the TV, there were two other big benefits we saw.

First we saved money.  BUT NOT LIKE YOU'RE THINKING.  Of course we saved the money we would have spent on cable, but that's not all.  We also save money by not being exposed to advertising.  Our kids stopped asking for Happy Meals when they didn't know what cool new toy was inside of them.  When you don't know what you're missing, you learn to be happy with what you have.  All of our wants gradually diminished.  It was awesome.

The second big change we saw was in our kids' attitude.  Even the best of family programming is filled with kids who back talk and fight and are rewarded with laughs for every witty yet insulting one-liner.  My kids used to talk like TV kids.  They used to have attitude and thought it was funny.  Now they don't.  It was amazing.  TV is basically a bad friend; the kind you don't really want your kids to hang out with.

So let's recap.

Four Reasons to Become TV Free:
1. Save money not spending it on tv/satelite/etc.
2. Stop the river of immoral filth from flowing freely through your house.
3. Save money by not exposing yourselves to advertising.
4. Stop letting your kids hang out with their "bad friends" from their favorite TV shows.

I promise you won't regret it!


Marcia