Last weekend we had invited our friends for dinner. My friend’s wife
& their daughter looked at us with genuine pity that we do not have a
television. To add to their facial expressions I also mentioned we have been
living without TV for almost 5 years now. She couldn’t help but keep her mouth
wide open with sheer disbelief. So, in a nutshell, “I don’t have a telly”
statement was rather intriguing to my friend.
This wasn’t new for us coz several relatives, friends, maids, movers
& packers in the past had shown this disbelief.
We have experienced that initially people do feel that we are little
weird only because we do not have a TV, at times few have also asked if we have
a money problem :-D , there have been some who have suggested that we can buy a
small TV rather than a large flat screen LED. People have also asked us several
questions like: how do we unwind at the end of tiring day, don’t we get bored,
doesn’t our little one demand for it or how does our kid eat
without TV or tablet, don’t we miss on important news/happenings across
the globe?
All I could tell people is: As a TV-free family we have found no
down-sides to this choice. In fact, we savor the peace that prevails
in the absence of that garrulous idiot box.
In an age of increasingly large LED flat screens & digital home
entertainment systems, where people buy more than one TV –
we chose to live outside the box.
A quick run-down of the benefits we enjoy & better ways we have
found of unwinding which fully cements this decision:
1. Our reading &
the number of books that we bought or downloaded have increased
2. We enjoy watching
plays in theatre
3. We religiously go
for a walk post dinner everyday coz we do not slouch on a couch to surf
channels.
4. Hiking, travelling is
part of our family mission statement
5. We
spend loads of time in socializing with friends, relatives & orphanages
6. We
listen to lots of music, do craft work, puzzles, board games, cycling with our
kid
7. We jump in puddles
when it rains, collect several leaves in the fall, watch stars & moon, play
longer in the garden, go for boating & nature walks & I think our kid
enjoys all of this more than a 20 minute screen time (laptop/tab/smartphone)
that he gets once a week
8. Our
meal times are slow & peaceful. We also enjoy cooking together on weekends
We are definitely out of the loop with the latest TV episodes; however,
we do stay up to date on world events through internet. Sometimes, we are a
buzz kill on the conversations that go “Did you see ...last night”
(X-Factor/Big Boss/Arnab Goswami & blah blah blah), but that is perfectly
fine with us!
