When my husband and I got married three years ago, we moved across the country and packed the bare essentials. We left many things, including his t.v. in Nashville for others to use. And here we are, three years later, still without a television in our home.
At first, we were excited to go without a t.v. because we knew it would save us money on our electric bill and cable bill. After a few months without it, we grew to love the silence it brought. Our nights were spent reading together, and cooking. Before we knew it, we hardly noticed we did not have a television. And even today, I forget we live a little differently until I get blank stares from people when I tell them I did not see the latest show because we do not have a t.v. in our home.
Family and friends have tried to pawn off old t.v’s on us because they have felt like we were missing out on something. We keep turning them down, and will continue to turn them down. The truth is, we feel like we have something they don’t.
Because we do not own a t.v., our minds and our lives have more space in them. I have more space to imagine, create and write. I have more space to spend intentional time with friends when they come and visit. We do not have the temptation to fill the void of silence with something on television. Instead, we talk, we engage.. and we cook.
I have more space to be still and know that He is God. In the silence, I am able to better engage in prayer with my Father. I am so easily distracted, and I am thankful that three years ago one more distraction was taken out of our lives.
Our marriage has blossomed without a television. We have learned to communicate better, and have learned to enjoy the silence in the company of one another. We have both developed a passion for cooking together, and have allowed time in the kitchen to be our nightly entertainment.
Have you thought about cutting a t.v. out of your house? It’s quite a daunting task, but it can be done!
Start small by limiting yourself (or your children) to two shows a day, and continue to decrease the amount of time spent in front of the television with other engaging activities. Soon, you will find yourself more engaged, and able to give the people around you more of your undivided attention.
Even a small time without television may be just what your soul needs. Try fasting for two days, and if you feel inclined, allow the fast to last as long as you need! You may find that you enjoy it more than you imagined!
Meghan is a Celiac who loves to get creative in the kitchen.As a health nut, she is always soaking up ways to live a healthier, simpler and more peaceful life. There are several things that make her heart happy: Jesus, my husband, our dog Dakota, playing outside and creating things.
33 Comments on "could you give up television?"
My husband and I just got married in may and we don’t have a tv either. Totally agree with everything you said! However, we realized that we had started watching a lot of “entertainment” on our laptop (DVDs and netflix) and realized that it was slowly sucking up a ton of our time. We gave up all movies and shows for lent this year and so far it has been so refreshing. We play cribbage and other games with each other and we have both read a ton more books even in the last couple weeks. Tv Entertainment can be so time consuming without any sort of lasting satisfaction. Thanks for the reminder!
I totally agree Tia! It’s so much more peaceful in our home when friends visit because we are also intentional with our time with them.
My husband and I didn’t have a TV when we first got married either. I never imagined I would miss those days. You are so right about needing that silence to hear God’s Voice. Lately, I have been slowly cutting back on our TV time. In April, our satellite contract runs out, so I’m hoping we will let it go and just have Netflix. Baby steps…
yes, i think it does take baby steps. It’s hard to cut something out completely when it is part of your routine and way of life.
My husband and I didn’t have tv for about a year… okay, we had a tv that we occasionally watched DVDs on, but no cable and no rabbit ears. Now we do have one with digital rabbit ears. We try to limit ourselves to one or two shows an evening, but sometimes I still miss the days of being TV free.
If you are considering not having a tv, the summer is a good time to start. I’ve heard of many people putting blankets over the tv and making a game out of it with their kids. Maybe start with a tv-free summer and go from there!
i totally agree that the summer time is a good time to start! So many fun things to occupy your time during that season, and so you can get used to your home without a television. It was easier for us when we lived in colorado because of all the fun things we were able to do outside. here in alabama it is a bit harder to not want that distraction:)
We have tv, but we haven’t had cable for around 2 years ago. even that has made such a huge difference! when i’m at home all day, the tv is never on. and at night, it’s pretty much just on to watch the news or one of the few shows we like to keep up with. it really is refreshing not having all of that extra ‘noise’ in our lives. :)
yes! that extra “noise” is exactly why we LOVE not having one!
My husband and I have thrown this idea around a lot, because TV has consumed our household in the past and does a lot of the time we are home together. Even my 15 month old knows how to ask for a show. This may be the encouragement we need!
i hope it is leanne! let me know how your journey goes!
We have a tv but similar to others, no rabbit ears and no cable. I love it. I’ve never spent so much time reading and crafting in my life. we use dinner time to hang out together. but i will say i believe the internet is the “new” tv. one or the other is reading online or playing with a phone. there is no real disconnecting from mainstream media, i suppose. but I will say not having the background noise of a tv is so peaceful and i’ll never change that. thanks for sharing!
tanny- yes i totally agree that the internet is the new t.v. we went several years without having internet in our home because we didn’t want that distraction either.. but since my husband is in school we have to have it for him to stay on top of things. it is often tempting to spend too much time on the internet and not interact with eachother- especially as a blogger!
I love this. My husband and I considered this for a while and actually called up our cable provider to cancel our cable but turns out our package makes it cheaper to have internet + cable rather than internet alone. Since then we have made sure to watch it much less and only turn it on when there is something specific we want to see. No more surfing and no more TV watching for hours on end. Now the next step is getting rid of Netflix… Wish me luck…
bethany- that takes so much discipline to not surf channels when you have it in front of you! way to go girl! you are more disciplined than i am!
The first six months we were married, we didn’t have a TV but, that was because we were in the army and T.V. was considered to be a community thing, lol. Now here we are six years later and at our second duty station and the first thing we did after getting our house is get the cable cut on :( We’ve both thought about giving up TV at one point or another but haven’t made a solid decision yet. I would love to cut it off or at the very least limit how much we watch it so we can spend more time together as a family.
This is so great! We have a tv currently, but we have been discussing whether or not to get rid of it altogether. We have definitely been limiting our time on it, and that’s been so awesome. This post is a great encouragement to push us to that next step though. Thank you!
you are welcome leah! I hope it goes well for you guys
Love this! :) My husband and I have never owned a TV. And, as my nephew so graciously pointed out to us one day soon after we were married, “You don’t really have a spot for one anyway.” (our house is pretty small. :) )
We do want DVD’s now and then on the laptop, but we have to be intentional about choosing to sit down and watch something, rather than just clicking a TV on.
we do the same thing. we will have ‘at home date night” and rent a red box and watch it in bed on our laptop. These times are fun and always intentional, like you said!
we have a similar experience: my husband and i went t.v.-less when we made a cross-country move about five years ago, and we haven’t looked back.
and yes, we spend out fair share of “t.v. time” on the computer. the difference, though, is that the time spent on the computer is MUCH more intentional. we can’t just turn on the internet to see what’s on… we have a couple shows we follow on netflix, and that is all we watch. no flipping through channels. we only watch what we really want to watch. this is especially good now that we have a toddler. i’m not worried about his screen time, because it is basically non-existent. this is no amazing mothering feat on my part… it’s just the way it is because of our situation.
also, i can’t emphasize how much i enjoy getting the TV experience without all the commercials. i genuinely think that our mostly commercial-free life lends itself to being more content with what we have. i don’t yearn for the newest gadget because i honestly have no idea what it is most of the time (which, of course, isn’t to say that i don’t have a wish-list).
of course, every family needs to decide what is right for them. in our case, having no t.v. has been a huge blessing, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Oh! We’re no TV-ers, too! We pop a DVD into the computer sometimes. But’s that’s a LOT less random than just clicking on the cable.
We’ve never regretted our decision to chunk that big mess of wires! It saves a lot of money as well…
My Sister-in-law and I are doing a NO-TV challenge for about a month! We don’t watch much TV, but we’ve been staying with some family and it’s difficult to get away from it when it’s not your house. I’m really enjoying to though and LOVE all of the extra time we now have for real conversations, reading, etc. I really just want to be more intentional with what I watch, so after this TV-fast I think I will stick to Netflix, at least I can pick what I want to watch and have no commercials where I have to cover my eyes!
THanks for sharing with us!
I’m a poor college kid, so there’s no tv in my apartment. I watch shows intentionally on hulu/netflix sometimes, but I’m so glad I don’t have the problem of “accidentally’ sitting down and watching a ton of cooking shows!! (its happened before) and people think i’m crazy too, glad to have some company!
I’m reading this while my husband watches “Funny or Die” on his laptop. No T.v., but we still manage more than enough screen time… :)
we have a TV but just for Netflix streaming. Also, Sorry, but there’s a typo on the picture! It’s driving me crazy!
Meghan, I love this. Somehow learning that you don’t have a TV is not at all surprising. We have our TV and probably won’t give it up, if only for the sports we watch. But we also agree that not having it on is incredible refreshing. I loved reading more about this part of you.
Hayley, thanks for featuring yet another one of my favorite bloggers!
What a great post. I mentioned not watching TV on my blog once & readers thought I was from another planet. Life is better without it. Everything you wrote is true. Life is great, quiet, more creative, more intimate, reading has become a great part of our lives unlike before and our relationship with our Father… There is nothing better…I love it!! I will never go back to the tube. Thank you for sharing:-)
Actually, me and my husband turned our cable of last summer and now we just get basic news channels. Not only was it taking away time from us growing as newlyweds, it was honestly too much trouble trying to find something appropriate to watch. So many of the shows had very negative messages so we hardly felt comfortable watching anything. lol.
xoxo
We don’t have a TV either and we don’t feel like we are missing anything. Instead, I agree, we gain! I know how I am when there’s a TV around. I start watching things that really do not contribute to anything. And I zap channels when nothing is on. So when we got married at the end of last year, we both knew we didn’t really want a TV. I love that we entertain people because of it, we play games, we communicate, we pray. We fill all this time with things I feel truly matter. I would love to get into the cooking together. I love cooking but my husband isn’t into it. This really encourages me to invest in this because I know husband is willing when I direct. So thanks for that!
Great post, thanks for sharing! We have a TV but no cable TV. We currently have netflix and hulu but really do not watch much so we should really just get rid of those to. Not sure if we will ever get rid of the actual tv, as hubby has a playstation and xbox for game playing. It is one of his few hobbies he does in his limited down time, so I wont push him to get rid of the tv. In reality, since we turned off cable years ago we dont use the tv much!
Its been 7 years now……no TV…..no cable- we have always been outdoorsy and even with a teenage son- no one has missed it- on occasion when im at someones house and their tv is on- it feel invasive- noisy- goofy- noisy- and noisy!!! lol now i wonder how people can spend so much time living vicariously thru the “machine” ……. it really become a habit you fill your time up with out of boredom….that is just an opinion……but there is so much to do and see and experience in real time………enjoy it while you can- i always laugh and say that a day will come that ill be stuck in my rocker and cant do anything else- then ill turn on the tube…….afte I read- and play bingo….and visit with the other little old ladies………and quilt……and…………………you know!!!!!! lol
Like a few above we have a t.v. set with a digital antenna but no cable or satellite. We watch the news occasionally and about one movie per week but I would say we usually clock less than 5 hours per week on the television. I love it, my parents were kind of tv junkies and so are my hubby’s folks. It really bothers me when I go to someones house and they have the set on 24/7. It’s almost like PLEASE turn it off!! Anyways I’m done with my rant. I wish more people would enjoy the quiet moments and let their lives be saturated with conversation, not commercials.
Free Arrest Records Search: Courtclick provides instant search results on Arrest throughout the Nation. Results include name, dob, offense, date, disposition and much more. PoIuYt