Disconnected and loving it

Let me preface this by saying I am not 100% disconnected, but when it comes to television I am. This month my rabbit ears will become an ancient relic, destined for storage in the garage attic, or perhaps the local dump. The television will continue to collect dust, as it has been increasingly in the months past. It will retain its position in the corner because I still use it to view movies on DVD or VHS. But as for network or cable television, it is already defunct.

I read today a piece on NPR's All Tech Considered, entitled "Cutting the Coax: Living without Cable TV." Todd Mundt, the author, speaks to his decision to cut cable and live without it. Yet, what he describes is not living without television; he swaps one medium for several others. His post is full of references to television I have never, nor will probably ever watch.

I moved here three years ago. At the point before I moved I was a cable junky, especially on the weekends when I'd curl up on the couch and get sucked into HGTV, Lifetime, The Food Network, and many other channels. I can't count the number of hours I spent in front of the glowing box. When we got a DVR I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Just before moving to California I moved where I didn't have a DVR and couldn't imagine a life without it. But then I moved to a house where there was no cable at all. Interestingly, the only television show I missed and had issues with missing was "Grey's Anatomy." I have watched that show since the first episode and I admit I'm hooked. I worked my way around that initially by asking a friend of mine who does have a DVR to record it for me. For about a year and a half I would go to her house weekly--sometimes bi-monthly--to watch the show. Then sometime this year I discovered that I could watch current episodes on ABC.com, so my weekly trips to her house stopped. That's the only current show I watch. I do turn the television on for 15 minutes first thing in the morning to get the weather, but more often lately I find I don't even do that.

Here's the problem when you disconnect from television like this: pretty soon you can't stand to watch any of it. Last week, when I was in Nebraska, I turned the television on one day while at the hospital with my mom. I watched all of 10 minutes of it (more than 5 was commercial time) before I had to turn it off. It was simply because I could not stand the constant barrage of commercials. I know I've written about this before, so I won't repeat myself here. It's amazing how invasive commercials are.

So when I read Todd Mundt's experience, at first I was kind of excited to read how someone else has discovered that over time without television you don't want it any more, but I was disappointed to find that all he did was transfer one addiction for another. He claims he is still "getting information" through these different mediums, but I can attest that you can get information by other means. Yes, I'm still hooked up through the Internet (and I do pay the $10 extra a month for high speed cable internet), and I find that it provides me a window to the world of information that television cannot. Through other means I can make up my own mind about the quality of information that I'm presented, rather than believe the crap (or even just be persuaded by it) that's pushed in my face on television.

In this household the switch to digital television won't mean a thing. We don't use the TV now, there's no need for us to use it in the future either.

Advertising and the economy

I don't watch television. I know, it seems very strange and almost un-American, but it's a fact. I do turn the TV on long enough to catch a little bit of my local news, and to catch the weather forecast for the day, but after about an hour (or less), I can't take it anymore, so I shut it off. We don't have cable television, or satellite. We use the old fashioned antenna to receive our local television stations--and not all of them come in. When the news came out that all televisions were going digital in February, I sent away for the TV coverter box coupon and went into Radio Shack to redeem it. The $40 coupon only covers part of the cost of the box. I was so miffed that someone is making big money on this conversion I decided against it entirely and let my coupon expire. I admit I'm a little shaky when I consider not having a television at all, but I step back in those moments and wonder why I'm feeling this way. I don't watch the thing, so why should it bother me to let it go? I suppose it is because we are all so conditioned by the glowing box. Our entire society is shaped by it. The "in" products are a result of the advertisements and constant mental barrage from the television that these products are necessary.

Have you noticed how ads in January really focus on how you look? You're fat, you have too much facial hair, you don't have enough hair on your head, you're out of shape---you must be beautiful, so buy this product to make it all better! I find myself resenting those commercials most of all. But people buy into them! One commercial that seemed to make a huge impact was an infomercial for the Snuggy. Around Christmastime my local news station was talking a lot about these sleeved blankets, and at first I had no clue what they were talking about, but then I caught one of the advertisements. I found myself fascinated by their approach--the commercial, which I'm sure you've seen, claims that with the Snuggy you can turn down your heat and save money. Now, this may not mean much to some, but what caught my attention was that this company was playing on the bad economy and the difficulties people are having just making enough money to keep their house warm. Save money by buying this product! What's wrong with the afghan you have tossed in the closet? Or the blanket off your bed?

The other day I heard a piece on NPR about how infomercials are thriving in this bad economy. It seems that as prime time advertisements--such as those for automobiles--are declining, more advertisement spots are available during the waking hours than before. Infomercial advertisers tell television execs to just put their commercials wherever there is an open spot. By doing so they can get air time for a lower rate. As a result, products like the Snuggy are receiving more viewers than ever before because they are no longer contained to late-night viewers. I remember several years ago, a time when I did watch a lot more television and had cable, I was up very late and I found myself watching QVC or another similar channel. I wasn't paying attention to the product being sold, but I was noticing how they used frenzy to sell. "Oh, there's only one hundred of these left! CALL NOW!" I think so many people are sucked in by that mentality that they think there will never be another moment to get an item like this in their life.

Interestingly, a separate, but related NPR news piece was on the radio yesterday about how the economy is affecting (traditional) advertising companies in general. What I think is happening is that as people are learning how to hunker down and live with less, advertising, in its current and past form, is not working. That, and the fact that so many companies are going under. I think that as we move forward and experience more hardships we will begin to see a radical shift in the way we do everything, and the way we experience everything.