TV Free: How 4 Years Without Cable Has Changed Our Lives

TV Free: How 4 Years Without Cable Has Changed Our Lives
TV Free: How 4 Years Without Cable Has Changed Our Lives

Nearly four years ago, my husband and I decided to cancel our cable subscription.


Or maybe it was satellite. I don't remember anymore.

Whatever it was, the payment was a small fortune at the time for us. We were new parents, owned a home, and had two car payments. I found teaching nearly equaled the cost of putting our daughter in daycare, so I decided to stay at home.

We had to make cuts, and the TV service was the first to go. The decision was fairly easy for me, having just read Susan Linn's book Consuming Kids. I was intrigued and a little shocked at what I'd read about the crazy way companies advertise to children.

Beyond that, we realized many of our shows could be watched online. Netflix was just starting up; Hulu was as well - it didn't make sense to pay nearly $100 for TV service. Then we had to stop everything to watch a show or pay even more to record it for a time that worked for us. So off it went.

The first few months (maybe even a year) it was hard not to have something to just flip on. I missed the news dreadfully. As a SAHM, I'd have CNN on all day long as background noise. I loved that thrill of breaking news, the constant keeping up with everything all over the world.

Related: 15 can't-miss movies now on Netflix

Sam didn't have as hard of a time - he isn't really into sports (thank heavens), which I know is a deal breaker for many families. Slowly we became used to a life that didn't run on half hour segments and content commercial interruptions. It became normal to only turn the TV on in the evenings to watch a movie or catch up on a favorite show. We knew to stay away from Facebook the night and day after season finales as we had to wait to watch it till the following day.

One time after moving, I called to set up an Internet account. The customer service rep told me that they'd be out ASAP to turn on the cable as he understood how crucial that was. I said, "Oh, we don't need it. We don't watch TV like that anymore."

Dead silence and then he managed to say, "I … how do you know what's happening then?"

Without TV to distract me, I wrote on my blog, taught myself how to knit, spent more time playing with Bella, and my husband and I actually ended up talking at night. Not talking with the "WAIT, shhhhhh it's on!" to interrupt us. We have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime on our Playstation now.

We still watch shows and movies, and like any family there are days when we watch more than we should. However, it no longer controls our family. Our daughter isn't subjected to ads that make us cringe and try to find the remote. She isn't inundated by product pitches for toys some company has spent a million dollars on to get her to ask me to buy.

We've found that since we didn't have a lot of self control with turning the TV off as a show was waiting - this was the best option. It forced us to change how we do things and we've been happier and closer because of it. It was a good choice for us.

Photo source: Diana Stone

-By Diana Stone

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