Cutting the TV Cord
“I’m sorry. Perhaps I heard you wrong,” said the customer service representative on the other end of the phone line. “I thought you said you wanted to cancel all cable services.”
Oh no, he heard me correctly. We officially cut the cord to cable television about a month ago. What I envisioned to be extremely difficult ended up being just what God intended.
During Lent last year, we fasted from many things as a family. While we didn’t give up television, we did give up screen time (computers, gaming systems, iPhone games, etc.) for various days throughout the 40-day season. Quite honestly, there were only a handful of shows we watched. The rest of our television viewing was mindless channel surfing that kept us up way too late. That, and the DVR was filled with too many shows we eventually ended up deleting because we didn’t have the time, or focus, to enjoy them.
On the flip side, we don’t get to watch most shoes in “real time” and we rely on sites like Hulu and Netflix for current shows. It’s either Redbox or the actual movie theatre for Hollywood magic. It remains to be seen just how painful fall football season will be (we are Texan, after all) and March Madness will be next spring with no cable, but we know it was the right thing to do. This is why we have friends with cable, sports bars with televised games and an internet connection to live-stream the games we can’t miss, right?
Financially, we are saving more than $125 a month.
Psychologically, I’m no longer dreaming about “interventions,” infomercials or the Jason Bourne trilogy.
Emotionally, I’ve had the time, and the energy, to connect with my husband again.
Behaviorally, the kids are getting outside even more and yelling less at each other.
Spiritually, I feel like a got a piece of my life back—the part that really mattered.
It’s funny, because once I announced it on Twitter and Facebook that we’d taken the leap, I heard from tons of friends who had done the same. Evidently, it’s all the rage. More importantly, I feel like the leap allowed us to do the most important thing, make time for God. Even if it’s only a half hour here, fifteen minutes there or a glorious hour somewhere in between, the Holy Spirit has found a comfortable home on our living room couch. That is the biggest blessing of all.
Hmm. I think my husband is stalking your blog now. I heard him say, “Oh, she doesn’t do cable either.” I wasn’t sure to whom he was referring …. now I do! Awesome!
HAHA!
Well, mine wasn’t so much cutting cable as it was “not getting it (again) in the first place” after took away most discretionary funds. But as I’m sure you are aware, the over-the-air digital signal is a great FREE option for the major networks, and as you mentioned Hulu, Netflex, et al can also pinch hit.
I watch below average television anyway, but to be honest at first it was a challenge. Now, I think it would take something significant to make me want to spend the money again. To be fair: (a) I don’t have my kid living with me 24/7 although he doesn’t seem to mind when he is here, and (b) my gf does have U-Verse at her place. She has two boys and I’m not sure I could ever talk her out of it.
As an Aggie fan, you’ll hate it. But, looks like you made the wise decision to use your new ex-cable funds to buy season tix. Stroke. Of. Genius.
Doug, you need to ask Scott about going to a game! We were beside ourselves when we found out we got season tix. I’m so grateful we don’t have cable anymore. Great decision!
Oh wow. 🙂 I grew up Pentecostal and never watched T.V. The kids always played outside and the parents occupied their time with cleaning or crafts of some sort. When I grew up and had my own home and family, we had cable… for about 7 years.
One day my husband and I were talking and we realized we were paying crazy money for the kids to watch cartoons during the day (cartoons aren’t all kid friendly today either.) Neither of us watched it at all, we didn’t have time. We made the decision that the money could be better spent on other things, cut the cable, and never looked back. It’s been about 6 years now and we have an antenna that allows us to catch local channels. Other than that we watch the occasional movie now and then. We haven’t missed it one bit. 🙂 Congrats to you!