The Great Television Experiment

If you didn't already know, earlier this month I decided to cut my television consumption. So far the experiment has seen quite a mix of successful and, shall we say, not-so-successful evenings!

I have discovered that I can indeed live without the goggle box on all evening, but that I do like to have some amusement while I am eating and reading a book just doesn't quite cut it, especially as I only have one pair of hands which are already occupied by holding a knife and fork!!

Also, I have to admit that the success of the experiment didn't do very well for a couple of days last week but that was more to do with the fact that I had a cold and just didn't want to to anything except watch television. So, I thought that you'd let me get away with that one.

The main thing that I have discovered is that I do not need to have the television on and that I do have plenty to do otherwise, in fact I am more bored with sitting in front of the television than I am with actively doing things. Of course, the exception to that is when there is something on that I genuinely want to watch, as opposed to channel hopping for the sheer sake of it! The other exception is that I don't mind just having the telly on when I am doing my patchwork for my quilting as then that's company and I am not actively watching any old rubbish!

So....I will continue to leave the television switched off from Mondays to Thursdays, but will have it on when I am having dinner as long as I do turn it off afterwards. And that, I think, is the point - the knowledge that it is possible to turn it off and go and do something else. I know that sounds odd, but it is so easy to get stuck in a cycle of just turning it on and leaving it on and sitting there with nothing else to do, when in fact there's plenty to go and do!!