Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Blaming TV

[MLYNCHIN (MLYNCHIN]

Part of the problem of TV, besides its content, is time. It takes up your
time. If you've learned something from the program, or were thoroughly
entertained by the program, then it's not a waste of time to you. There is
some good programming on TV.  The commercialism is what's damaging. (The
infomercials are highly addictive.)

Back to time--when you watch TV indiscriminately during most of your leisure
time, then you're living by TV time. One program melds into the next until
it's the 11:00  news and then you know it's time to go to bed. That's when
you've allowed the TV to control your time.

My husband and I mutually agreed to stop watching TV together because I still
work while he is retired, so when I came home from work, I didn't want the TV
on as a part of my leisure time. Both of us had programs we enjoyed but
unfortunately those programs were not scheduled at the time we preferred so
we decided that either of us could record programs and watch later. The pact
was that either of us could watch TV as long as the other was not around, but
if both of us were around--no TV--because we considered it a third entity
that "demanded" our time instead of spending it with one another or just
reading or doing stuff together.

The upshot of the pact is now neither of us watch TV. We don't even record
programs. What we would do, although seldom, is rent a video and watch
it--but it's not TV time, it's ours. We found freedom when we turned off that
TV.

Perhaps when there comes a day when we can ask for any program to run at any
time, we might return to TV. But as long as TV scheduling is not in our
control, it controls us and our time.

Marilyn Chin
Old Oakland CoHousing at Swan's Market which will begin reconstruction in
fall 1997 and has available units.