It has been a little over a year since we decided to cut the satellite and not get a digital box for our somewhat ancient television. Honestly it seems like we've never had a T.V. Here are a few changes I've noticed over the past year.
1. We have rooms in our house that we do not use. Our house is deceptively big, one might say it's kind of like a Tardis. (For those of you who've never seen Dr. Who you are totally missing out, it's a great show, and it's where I got the Tardis reference from.) While we use most of the main floor, living room, kitchen, dining room our bedroom...etc., we do not use the basement. We used to use our basement. Down there we have two more family rooms, a bedroom and bathroom. One of the family rooms has a nice fireplace (wood/gas) and that is where we used to watch T.V. Now it is the room we walk through to the let the dog out the back door. It's also the room where I occasionally walk on the treadmill that is currently parked in front of the fireplace. The other family room has a wet bar and we've NEVER used this room. It is currently getting a coat of paint in an attempt to brighten it up so that we will use it. The bedroom is sometimes used a guest bedroom.
2. The T.V. that we do have has not been turned on in over 4 months. We have a Wii, we haven't used in over 4 months. We used to have an Xbox 360 but my husband sold it to my brother because he is saving up money to buy himself a new computer.
3. We need another computer. I've noticed over the past few months that each of us wants to use the computer at the same time and it has become increasingly difficult to "share" :)
4. We watch a ton more movies and watch a series of shows at one time. For example, right now we are going through Battlestar Galactica. It's easier to watch them whenever we want and there are no commercials. We very rarely watch anything that is currently airing.
5. My house is actually cleaner and generally stays clean. I know that this will change when we bring our son home, but overall I've felt more motivated to keep things clean. Sometimes I can't sit down and relax until it's picked up and neat. Before we cut the television I would go down into the basement and ignore the rest of the house.
6. We fellowship more. Over the last year we have really built lasting friendships with other people. We tend to go out more with these friends and spend time with them.
7. We spend more time at church. Before we said no to T.V. we wouldn't really go to the mid-week bible study. There were sometimes we would go (during re-runs) but most of the time we would stay home and not make an effort. It is a little strange that we wouldn't go because our church offers a meal before the mid-week service; I have no idea why we didn't go to this before.
8. I feel more organized. I actually have time to organize things and then keep them that way. This kind of goes along with number 5.
9. My husband and I spend time learning new things and spend quality time with each other. We actually look at each other have conversations. This didn't happen very often when we did have T.V.
10. We don't miss the T.V. After the initial shock and withdrawal we have come to find out that we really don't miss having it.
I'm sure if I thought about it some more I could list some more changes that have happened over the past year. We still get weird looks from people who don't understand how we can live without a television. And sometimes when we are out and about and we pass a television we have to just stop and stare at it. It's like our brains have forgotten what one looks like. We do plan on keeping the T.V. that we do have so that on those days when I just can't take it I will park our kiddo in front of it and put in something for him to watch. Of course that is if our television even still works.....:)
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