The Tube

Well....I guess you can't really call it "The Tube" anymore.  Can you?  "The Tube" came about because it was a tube tv right?

Anyway, I just wanted to share something my family and I decided to do quite some time ago.  A few years ago, my wife was giving up facebook for lent so I decided to give up TV.  I didn't think at the time it would be a huge deal, but it actually changed how we as a family watched TV together.  I did allow us to watch a couple shows throughout the 40 days, (didn't realize on Sunday you could actually break away from your fast) but they were on purpose and planned.  There was absolutely no mindless TV watching on my part. 

Later that year, when it was time to set up the Christmas tree we decided to move the TV to our bedroom.  Marcey doesn't like to watch TV late at night usually so it was used quite less once it was in there.

Then a crazy thing happened.  We began to find time that we didn't know we had.  We were finding more and more time to do things together and our evenings were lasting longer.  It was crazy.

Well...as most good things, that came to an end.  We ended up moving the TV back and before we knew it, one show turned into two and before long a whole evening was gone.

After moving into our new house, we realized how much we actually watched TV and how often our nights would be gone before they even really started.  We hadn't really spent time with our kids and we hadn't had a quality conversation in over a month.

So...we moved our TV.

First, we moved our TV out of living room and into the basement where I set up an entertainment area so that if we wanted to watch a Movie we could, but the antenna (yes, we use one of those "things" instead of paying for cable) was behind the TV and really couldn't pick up any stations.  We could move it if we wanted to watch a specific show, otherwise it wasn't used.

Since that time, we have barely used our TV.  Sure the kids watch an occasional show on it and my wife and I occasionally rent movies to watch together, but watching a movie with my wife is actually somewhat special now compared to the every night occurrence like it was once. 

It's amazing to me how little we watch TV and yet for some TV is big chunk of their life. According to "The Sourcebook for Teaching Science" the average  American household has a TV on for almost 7 hours a day and 49% of Americans say they watch too much TV. 

What is it about the TV that has so many of us drawn to it?  Is it just another addiction that helps us get away from all the pain and hurt that we are dealing with?  I am not going to claim that I know the answer or know the reason.  I just know for me it was a way just to make it through another night without really having to be present.  It was sad....it really was.

I wonder how much different life would be if we only watched TV with a real purpose.  If we used it as something we could do together, not something that we always do.  Life is so much more than that. We have so much more to give.  There are so many more important things and more important people.  We live amongst a hurting world....and yet so many of us are hiding....hiding in front of our TV.