Contributor: Kyle Smeby

In the Fall of 1994 I made, what I now believe to be, a life altering decision. I didn't think too much about it at the time, mostly because I didn't think it would be permanent, but it has stuck with me to this day. I was moving to college and I decided not to bring my television.

My mother was shocked--and really so was I. A large portion of my day was spent in front of the TV and I wasn't yet sure how I planned to fill that void, but I hoped college would have a little more to offer than watching MTV.

In January of 2005 the New York Times reported that the average American spends 4 hours and 39 minutes watching TV daily. Nielsen Media Research estimates the number is nearly double that. If you think that number is high think about what time(s) the TV is turned on and off when you get home from work, then average in the TV you watch over the weekend. Estimating an average of 5 hours a day makes 35 hours a week, 140 hours a month, 1,680 hours a year or 12 YEARS OF NON-STOP TELEVISION VIEWING over a 65 year time span.

Taken cumulatively these numbers are astounding, but what upsets me more is that, growing up, I know I was on the high side of the curve. The numbers above total 18% of a person's life and I'm guessing I spent closer to 25% of my childhood in front of the television. When I was about 14 years-old my house became a 3 TV house, and when the new TV came in, the oldest of our sets moved into my bedroom. I was able to watch anything on basic cable at anytime--and I did. In a University of Kansas study, "Television and Socialization of Young Children" it was estimated that 54% of children in the United States have a television in their bedroom--other studies have estimated as high as 70%.

The most surprising thing about not owning a television was that I didn't miss it. I quit cold turkey and it never bothered me for a moment. The next thing that surprised me was how many other college students did the same thing. I doubt it was a majority, but I don't think the number was too far away from 50%. I have to admit it's easier to forget TV as a college student. Pack a building full of teenagers and twenty-year-olds and there is going to be no end of entertainment options. But I was more surprised at how pathetic the entertainment value of the sit-coms and TV movies I had spent so much time watching suddenly appeared. Even if I had nothing else to do it seemed like punishment to watch a Dukes of Hazzard re-run or MTV reality show, but there were those kids that did watch. Cloistered in their dorm room or the few remaining TV lounges we could see them on our way to a party, to play Frisbee, or football, or just go hike around a nearby park. We would ask them, "Hey care to join us?" And often we'd hear the response, "Nah, I'm watching this."

"Who cares!" I thought. It will be on again and again and again and every time it will be just as meaningless to your life as it was the first time. Is anything that happens on that screen going to be relevant to your life 20 years from now? Anything at all? Sadly, some might think the answer could be yes.

I've bonded with more than a few people based on a memorable episode of one show or another. Saying or hearing things like… "This is like that time on [insert show] where [insert character] did [insert wacky mad-cap antic]." Statements like that are often greeted with quick approval and frequently followed by several similar situations we all saw on TV. I was struck by this while reading "Survivor: A Novel" by Chuck Palahniuk when he wrote, " We all grew up on the same television shows. It's like we all have the same artificial memory implants. We remember almost none of our real childhoods, but we remember everything that happened to sitcom families."

I'm afraid it may be worse than that, Chuck. It's not that we don't remember our real childhoods it's that we didn't live them. I watched TV instead. Yes, that means I can relate to anyone that has some knowledge of Gilligan's Island, but I always find the stories of people that actually lived some unusual experience far more interesting than the retelling of how Gilligan botched yet another rescue attempt.

Now a lot of this sounds pretty elitist and I've been accused of being so a few times. Like the sober alcoholic in favor of prohibition, the former smoker lecturing the smoker, or the born-again Christian crusading to eliminate all vices that MIGHT be abused we've seen the error of our ways and think that gives us the right to be offended that anyone might make the same mistake we made. I don't own a TV because I can't handle owning one. If there is a TV in my house I will sit and watch the worst crap on TV for absurd amounts of time. Sure I mean well, often starting on the History Channel, but during the first commercial break I start channel surfing and the next thing you know I'm watching Paris Hilton working as a maid at a nudist colony, "that's hot."

I'd like to think that the general public has more willpower and higher standards than I do. But judging by the ratings and the rise of Reality TV I'm not sure if that's the case. If you can resist the temptation of the lowest common denominator and you feel television hasn't kept you from living any part of your life I see no reason not to own one. In fact it seems like a shame to turn our backs on television's potential. In 1958 Edward R. Murrow said about television, " This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful."

The potential upshot of television is enormous, but when misused it is far less benign than wires and lights in a box. According to A.C. Nielson Co. 66% of Americans regularly watch TV while eating dinner. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 45% of parents say that if they have something important to do, it is likely that they will use the TV to occupy their child; 49% of Americans say they watch too much TV; 50% of US households have 3 or more TVs with 99% of all households having at least 1 television. Most damning of all, however, might be that while we know the average American spends over 4 hours a day watching TV according to a 1990 American Family Research Council report parents spend only an average of 38 MINUTES and 30 SECONDS a day engaged in meaningful conversation with their children. Edward R. Murrow also said, "We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late."

Is that any less true today than it was 50 years ago? If it wasn't solved in the last 50 years could it be solved tomorrow? I think it could be.

The old model of television is on the way out and on the way in we hear the phrase "On-Demand" being bandied about. You can have something like on-demand today with services like Netflix.com, where for $17.99 a month you can have anything you'd like sent to your mailbox on DVD (I currently subscribe to this and watch the movies on my computer's 23" widescreen monitor). Services like Tivo also offer a diminished form of on-demand by broadening your options on when and how you view TV programming. On the horizon we can see the lines between the internet and TV being blurred further where you can download anything you want to watch at any time, whereas now you can only download a handful of movies.

How is this any better than watching cable TV? Choice. The old model consisted of a passive consumer turning on the television to watch whatever was available at that time in their service area. With true on-demand you will be able to watch anything you want to watch, from television to movies, foreign and domestic, at any time. You may be amazed at the amount of educational material available on Netflix and you might be even more amazed at how much you enjoy watching it. You may be amazed at how entertaining history can be, or inspired by the way of life reflected in the movies and TV shows from other cultures. Imagine being able to enjoy this without being bombarded by the advertising, sex and violence saturating your television.

Many have blamed the consumer for the poor quality of programming on television. After all, they reason, if the public didn't want sex and violence on TV it wouldn't get high ratings. And they would much rather have advertisers pay to produce this quality programming than have to pay for it themselves. It sounds reasonable but think about it this way. Under the best circumstances, when you have sat down to watch a TV show you actually enjoy, you are going to be interrupted at intervals with advertising. Sometimes ads can entertain but more often they will insult your intelligence with blatant lies, scare tactics, obnoxious slogans, or sexual temptations. During this time you can sit there and be insulted or you can look for something else. Enter the great American pastime of channel surfing. What's going to grab your attention as you flip from channel to channel? A well thought-out treatise on economic reform from the venerable Alan Greenspan or GIRLS IN BIKINIS FIRING MACHINE GUNS! Now remember to change the channel back to the show you meant to watch. Hmm… The kids couldn't be watching bikini machine gun girls on the TV in their room could they?

Benefits of not having a TV

Time

If you're average you have 5 more hours every day to play with--enjoy!

Health

Take a walk for one of those 5 hours you just saved.

Money

Time Warner cable costs $52.25 a month for their cheapest plan in my area, Comcast costs more than that. For less than that you could get 8 DVD's at a time from Netflix.com--that would give you back your daily 4 hours of television except you would only be watching what you chose to watch without commercial interruption, whenever you felt like it. Or get the $17.99 plan and save $400 a year--then buy yourself a present.

Perspective

You will still be up-to-date on who the front-runner is on American Idol and the latest rumors about Tom and Katie's baby because it's all people talk about. Like a bad smell, you notice it less when you're standing in it but get some fresh air and you might just want to stay outside and breathe a while.

Family

How are they anyway?

Reading

You know why they are called classics? Because they are really good. Read one--just not Moby Dick, that one sucks.

Satisfaction

Perhaps a smug sense of self-righteousness, but if you've been a slave to your TV it's hard not to feel proud once you've started living your own life instead of watching actors pretend to live one.

But there's this one show…

All right, I have my one show. Well it's not a show it's football. This is why God invented sports bars or friend's houses. Bring the beer and your friends will be happy to have you. My wife had her show too, The Gilmore Girls. Her solution was to watch it with her mother each week and they enjoyed their time together. And if you can't get together and you miss a show… You learn it really doesn't make the slightest difference as new generations are born and the old ones are laid to rest, "and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled 5,000 years ago." -- Herman Melville