I love television. Sure I can survive without it, but that’s not really living is it? While living at my parents’ house, I was fortunate enough to have just about every single channel DirecTV has to offer at my disposal. And of course, there were times when there was nothing on TV. Literally had 1,000 channels to choose from and would find myself annoyed that nothing was tickling my fancy.
But no relationship is perfect, right? A few hours later something would pique my interest. I can’t just give up on TV. It’s a social glue. When a show is popular, you can use it to make small talk with strangers. You can deepen relationships with acquaintances. You can watch breaking news. Certain events must be seen. Then of course, there is sports. If you can’t see those live, you might as well not see them at all in the Internet age.
I have lived without TV. Well, not really. I have an antenna, so I can at least get channels like they did in 1975. What’s funny is that I found myself mostly watching PBS. When I have access to more channels, I forget about PBS. It gets lost in the channel shuffle, which is kind of a shame. They have some pretty good shows on there.
Sadly, broadcast TV usually takes a backseat to cable channels like TBS, FX, and Comedy Central. Luckily, I’ve gotten over my HGTV obsession since all they ever broadcast are shows about selling or buying houses. Remember when they used to have shows about living in a house? They used to show you how to take care of a garden, rearrange furniture, and decorate for the holidays. Yes, I’m secretly boring.
While I might not watch TV as much as I did in my youth because the internet is such a great distraction and tool, I can’t break up with TV. However, I understand if you just can’t afford it. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made and let’s face it, TV is expensive these days.