Too Much TV

Just about the time when LCDs were moving into the drawing room, and the CRT owners were trying to hide their unwieldy contraptions in some unseen corner of the house, we decided to dispose of ours. That was three years ago, and believe me when I say that Life has never been the same again. Do we miss anything? Well not at all. In fact there is so much time available now that 24 hrs seem enough to do whatever you want to. Let me list a few of the many advantages that we have experienced , of not having a TV in the house.

• My children have become very fond of reading, which I consider to be  a life-long gift.
• Both of us do not have to bear the nonsense of TRP rating hungry stupid news channels .Instead we have so much more time to read not only the news, but views as well.
• We do not rue the arrival of guests in our house at the soap opera time.Dinner is always ready at Nine.
• Each of us has different taste of music/movies/documentaries. We watch what we want to, at our convenience, on the internet, or offline downloaded content.
• No time at all is wasted watching advertisements that take up so much of our quality time these days.
• Phone calls can be easily attended without missing a crucial scene/dialogue by just pressing the pause button.
• It is now possible to control the content that children watch. There is a lesser risk of their eyesight going bad
• We can choose to watch movies/programme that are rated higher by the viewers,thereby ensuring the quality of content.
• Gone are the days when I was an avid sports lover, and watching sports action live was a passion. Therefore none of us miss any of it on that count as well.BTW even this is now available on youtube.

Do we spend more money on the internet than we would possibly do on TV. No, not at all since our time, and the ability to choose, has more value than money. By not investing in a TV, we have also saved on its acquisition cost, recurring higher power bill, dish charges, and risk of technology obsolescence. In any case paying for a HD TV does not make any sense, as affordable HD content in India is still a long way to go. For the content to be HD, it has to be shot using HD equipment, processed using HD technology, and transmitted over a HD channel that takes much more bandwidth. As of now all this is costly, and is not in the reach of the mass market.

Those of you who have already invested in an LCD may consider connecting it to their computers, and those who have not, may like to experience the freedom of choice, that not having a TV offers.