I ran across an article by Christopher Westley entitled Living Without Television. It's quite an effective piece of writing recounting the big leap Chris and his family took during lent of 1995 when they decided to give up TV for a brief time. The expermient turned permanent.
Westley's article is better when he isn't trying to score a political point, as he briefly attempts to do about two thirds of the way through. The strength of his argument is rather in its proving that, contrary to what a cable company hack told him, you can live without TV.
What drew me in to this piece was the fact that I did the very same thing in the very same year. I gave up TV for lent in 1995 and have remained off of the cultural opiate ever since. With the reclaimed hours, I rediscovered my forgotten love: reading. During that lovely Lent, I read Narnia for the first time, The Lord of the Rings for the first time, Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle (except for the final two books, which he hadn't written yet) and a few others. I never went back to TV nor did I leave books behind.
This is not a recommendation, or even a suggestion, that you do the same thing. I have no more than the vaguest idea what most of your TV habits are and wouldn't presume to recommend anything, except maybe that you give Westley's article a read and see what you think.
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