How many days per week do you watch television? And how many times have you said you don’t have time for a new hobby, social engagement, reading a good book, home project, etc.?
We watch TV at least some portion of all 7 days of the week. We keep wondering why we aren’t making more progress on learning Spanish before our trip, or why we don’t have time to read as much as we like.
It is almost like we let TV be in charge of what happens once we get home. Crazy, huh?
So last week we started TV-free Tuesdays in an attempt to use our time more wisely. Last night we had a great conversation while looking at each other. (Think about it – how many times do you have a conversation while you’re doing something else?) We also had dinner at the dining room table instead of in front of the television like we had been doing most nights.
It was a refreshing change of pace, and I was able to sleep better last night after reading for a few minutes before bed instead of watching television.
The plan is to add a few more “TV-free” nights to our week over the next few months. We know we won’t have regular television on our trip, so this is part of the whole simplification plan.
I’ll keep you posted on our progress and what we get out of turning off the television.
Do you have TV-free nights at your house? Have you ever counted up the number of hours you watch TV each week and figured out the return you are getting on that investment of time?
About Betsy
Yes! We’ve discussed this too – I think Monday or Friday will be our night to try. Great minds think alike…
True story, some time before last Christmas (and I mean Christmas 2007), our TV in the living room went out. For the first few days, we were really lost in the evenings, since we normally ate dinner over news or sports. We kept saying that we just had to go out and get another television. (For whatever reason, we didn’t move the TV from the bedroom into the living room.) Believe it or not, after those initial three or four days, we actually enjoyed not having a TV. We sat at the kitchen table for dinner each night and talked (I mean, with real conversation and everything), and we still haven’t replaced the TV!
Karen and Katy, you’ll have to keep me posted on your progress. It would be great to have several TV-free nights per week, or to just be more purposeful when watching. It seems like when it gets turned on, though, it stays on until bedtime.
Amber, thanks for sharing. I’m inspired by your experience!