Why I Started This Blog

Hi, and welcome to the first post of Television Is Eating My Life. I am an admitted tv addict. I often find myself compelled to watch tv. I also use tv to distract myself from my problems, or to kill time when I'm bored. I watch tv every single day.

This has not always been the case. About 8 years ago, I was disgusted by the amount of tv I watched. I'd come home from work, switch it on, and on it would stay until I went to bed. At the time, I was living with my boyfriend, and he worked a late shift. The tv kept me company until he got home at 11:30pm. I had a set schedule of programs I would watch. I kept time by what show was on. I didn't do much else while the tv was on but sit and watch it.

One day it struck me how utterly sick and ludicrous this behavior was, no matter how many ways I tried to rationalize it. So one night I decided that I wouldn't watch any tv at all, no matter how much I wanted to, or how many ways I convinced myself that just a little tv wouldn't hurt. It was extremely difficult! I felt very uncomfortable. I tried various things to entertain myself, but nothing seemed interesting for very long. I even paced the room a bit. But I did make it through that night without watching tv.

After that I tried to cut down, to moderate. My circumstances changed. I moved to another city, and then another city. And then another country. In none of those places did I have cable tv (which helped cut down on temptation). When I lived in another country, I didn't get reception where I lived, but I still watched videos. Not quite as bad, but still a time vacuum. But now I'm back in the US, and I'm living in a place that has cable tv, and I'm hooked again. Once again, I'm disgusted with myself, and disturbed at how much of my life is rendered utterly meaningless by my actions.

I can't believe how uncomfortable it feels to quit tv. I'm an intelligent person. I have a high IQ -- I've qualified to join Mensa. I enjoy reading. I can sit and read a book for a long time. I have friends. I go out with them on a regular basis. I am in decent shape and enjoy physical activity. I live in a temperate climate and am not housebound. I have many options.

There are also a myriad of things I hate about television. I hate the commercials. I hate (most) insipid sitcoms. I hate trashy reality tv. I hate talk shows. I hate game shows. I hate soap operas. I hate slick, sexualized tv news. I really hate cop shows. I hate the vicarious pornoviolence of most forensic detective shows. I hate how the government and the media are such dangerous bedfellows.

And of course, I hate how television eats my life up. Or, I should say, how I let it eat my life up.

Yet, I'm still compelled to watch it. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It sounds like an addiction, doesn't it?

So I feel I must treat it like an addiction. In later chapters of this blog, I will discuss the various aspects of television addiction, and how I am trying to quit. This blog will also serve as a distraction for me, protecting me from the siren's call of that gray void sitting across from me in my living room.

Please feel free to add any comments, even if it is just to say Hi. I'd like to know who is reading this blog.