Living TV-Free

Where once the was a TV, now there is a singing bowl and a whole lot of white space.

Since it is apparently Screen Free Week or some such thing, I thought it would be timely to talk about living without a TV. Which we do. Obviously we aren't entirely 'screen free', as we spend time on the internet and I spend arguably too much time looking at my phone. But there is no TV in this house. [There are two in the shed I believe, part of the massive amount of 'stuff' to be gotten rid of in this year of decluttering.]

I'm not sure exactly when the TV went. That's how much notice I took of it. One day my husband simply said something like 'have you seen what's missing' and I finally clicked that there was no TV. I love that there is no TV in our house. If nothing else, a TV screen is not the most aesthetically pleasing thing to have in a room, on or off, and having a lounge room without a TV is much more relaxing, I find. There is no 'call to action' when you walk into the room. A blank TV screen feels a little like I should be looking at it, like I should turn it on. 

When we decided to move into this house in town, I was trying to picture in my head where various pieces of furniture would go, and I said to my husband that perhaps we should get rid of the TV as there was nowhere to 'hide' it [we had previously been in this house so I had an idea of what would go where]. Back in our little old house on the dusty country road, we had the TV tucked away in an unused fireplace, so it was not a prominent feature in the room. You didn't automatically walk in an see a screen anywhere. I was wanting to achieve something similar in the new place. 

Anyway, my husband didn't seem keen on the idea of having no TV, and I think I was even the one to bring it in from the shed and plug it in. We tried watching Play School a few times for William, but he was not into it at all [I was, I learned how to make beetroot pasta!] so I gave up on that. And my husband and I watched one show. One! Just one show in the first week or so of moving back in, and that was it. For months afterwards the TV sat untouched. So it was no surprise really that after a while the TV disappeared from the room. Firstly into the study, then out to the shed. Next step, out the door entirely.

I don't miss it at all. In fact I don't know how we would ever find time to watch TV. I know that we are busy with a young child and all that that entails at the moment, but even so, my preference these days would be to read a blog, write a blog, crochet something, draw something, take photos, edit photos, deal with housework and washing, make soap, read a book. There just isn't space for television.

I recall reading a piece about how television is like an intruder [which I cannot find a link to], and it has really stuck with me. Even in being selective about the shows we watched when we had TV, there was still advertising. Which is not something we want in the house.  Granted we rarely watched commercial channels, except for Friday night football really, but the ad breaks were enough to drive me nuts. Particularly as the volume seemed to increase for commercials. Horrible.

A few months ago we had dinner at a local pub, in the bistro, and there were a few TV screens about the place. We inadvertently sat underneath one, before it was switched on, and then on it came. I think it was the news that was on, but I couldn't believe how 'perfect' the presenters were made to look. Almost de-humanised, with so much makeup on. I guess there's no photoshop for TV, other than huge amounts of makeup. It was just weird. And I realised then, once again, that we're out of step with the mainstream. And happily so!

How about you? Do you have TV in the house or has it gone?