I Can’t Remember When I Cut The Cord

Cable TV finally got the memo. We don’t need them.

I hate cable TV. It’s kind of a passive thing with me. I hate subscribing to it because I feel like I have to watch it in order to justify the expense. I just can’t justify paying for something that delivers commercials to my screen, too. I really don’t like the way commercials are designed to interrupt my train of thought. So long ago, I think around 2008, I cut the cord for sure.

I’ve had an on and off thing with TV. Sometimes I watch it, sometimes I don’t. I’m not much for TV schedules. I’ve used a VCR in the past. When I had satellite, I used their digital PVR, too. But even then, I saw the episodes piling up while life beckons.

For a long time, I didn’t watch much of anything, streaming or otherwise. I just wasn’t that into TV. I’d try watching for more than an hour and I’d get bored. I’d want something else to do. Like walking, talking, reading, riding a bike, playing ping pong, spending time with family and friends without the screen on, and on and on. TV just never really had that much power over me.

Even when I was a kid, I might watch a show I enjoyed for an hour, but that’s it. I think for most of my life, I could not stand more than an hour of TV for anything at one sitting. Even this morning, I’m up at 4. I could be watching a movie. But I’d rather be writing. I got a Kindle. I’d rather be reading if I didn’t write something instead.

There is something about the way I feel with a TV that I don’t get with other activities. In the morning, I want to create. In the evening, I want to chill and watch TV. But I have kids. I have a wife. I have bills to pay. I have housework to do. I have a big fat book to read that is 700 pages long and I’m about halfway through it.

I think a big part of my preferences around TV has to do with my hearing disability. I’m deaf in one ear and I’m partially deaf in the other ear, with a good dose of tinnitus. When I watch TV, I’m reading subtitles to pick out the words that are whisper quiet to me. But there is something else.

When I read, I don’t miss any words. The voice in my head has perfect fidelity. The knowledge that I get from reading is of a higher quality than can be produced in a video. Books are like beer bongs for knowledge,. And reading is very portable. I can take a book anywhere. I can take my phone pretty much anywhere. And with the…