Have you ever put yourself through TV detox? And if so, what changes did you make after you completed your self-prescribed program? Here’s why I’m asking…
Last week, I went on a road trip with my mother. (I dodged the Love Guru bullet because, it turns out, she hearts The Rock even more than she does Justin Timberlake.) I met her in PA, and we drove first to Lake George, New York, then on to Burlington, Vermont, singing along to The Very Best of Randy Travis most of the way. For the first time in years, I didn’t touch a computer for seven days. Not once. More impressively, for me, I limited my TV time to one show per day, with only two minor exceptions: the morning that I flipped back and forth between a Law & Order: Criminal Intent rerun and The Blue Lagoon (Eames was being held captive and the sex scene was approaching), and the night that I introduced my mother to Queer as Folk after we’d already enjoyed Nashville Star (I recommend any B&B that has a good enough cable package to include Logo).
Sure, I’m a little sad that without my usual TV routine to guide me I had no idea what day of the week it was (and tuned in for Swingtown on what I thought was Thursday but was actually Friday). And maybe had I been online or watching more television, I would’ve been reminded that Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show were premiering (though which one would I have chosen?!). But I do feel amazingly refreshed having spent more time staring at the Green Mountains, pictured, and a book (Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series) than at a 26" screen.
So now comes the tough part: Do I make more time for nature and (gulp) reading this summer, or do I go back to my regularly scheduled life? At the very least, I’m turning off my Gale Harold and David Boreanaz Google News Alerts. (Returning home to an inbox full of those does put things into perspective, doesn’t it?)
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I went to Cancun the second week in April and went into major withdrawal (thank goodness for YouTube). No Survivor, no American Idol, no MOONLIGHT. Thank goodness, some shows were on hiatus (LOST). I vowed that after the last show was gone for Summer, that I was taking a Summer Break and no TV shows (Must See TV), except “chosen movies” or surfing. Alas, The Bachelorette hooked me…..(Graham, Jason and Jeremy “heavy sigh”). After next week, and the final “Final Rose”….I mean it….no more hooks. I am avoiding the “tease commercials” like the plague. Now where was that beach book that I bought, “The Count of Monte Cristo”….maybe, I’ll rent the movie with (sigh) Jim Caviezel……
Those Stephenie Meyer’s books kept me away from TV for a few days – couldn’t put them down.
I had hopes for my TV detox came during the strike, but then I started watching reruns of shows I don’t normally watch.
I haven’t watched television since the “Lost” season finale, which I did watch a second time while folding laundry one weekend. Since then, I’ve been reading, rowing, swimming, and enjoying the gorgeous summer weather we’re having in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I did watch the final three episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” this weekend (plus director’s commentary) when it was rainy and I had 6 loads of laundry to fold. It’s been nice to take a break from the tube, though I’ll be looking forward to the returns of “How I Met Your Mother,” “Lost,” and “Brothers & Sisters”
So Mandi, I’m glad you enjoyed your time away from TV and your vacation. How did you like Twilight? Will we see a blog about that? (Hint: I hope so!)
Sorry, forgot to add…stay away from TV for the summer! Read more books! New Moon and Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer are a good place to start. And don’t forget, the fourth in the Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn, is due out on August 2nd! Read, read, read!
My television is only used to watch dvds. That partly came about because I had no reception and then I realized I preferred not being enslaved to it and very few shows come close to the enjoyment I get from reading.
I could never turn off my Gale Harold Google Alerts! I can’t wait for DH to feed my addiction! Other than QaF I don’t watch too much TV oh and the Tudors (sp?) I hove Henry Caville too!
I actually did sort of the same thing last week. I was at a work camp with kids from my church and didn’t see any modern from of technology for a week and somehow didn’t miss it! When I did get back, I went to the library and checked out several books, realizing I don’t need TV, internet, and my ipod to make it through the day!
Enjoy the summer, nature and some books. During the strike it was a little surprising to realize at the end of the day that I didn’t watch anything on TV, but I was OK with it. I normally only watch one or two programs at the most per day during the normal season. I still have days during the summer when I don’t turn on the TV. With being laid off last month, it was bye-bye premium channels. I see a thinning of my bookshelf this summer, and that’s not a bad thing.
I had planned to give up tv all summer, but then I remembered that Project Runway comes back in July. Darn it! I have been through tv detox before, however, and I actually really loved it- it was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.On a side note, I haven’t read the Stephenie Meyer books yet, but I’m kind of thinking I should.
I sooo didn’t want to read “Twilight” – It’s about teenage vampires in love, for pete’s sake! But I did, and as soon as I was finished I ran out and bought the two sequels, and now I can’t wait for Book #4… Sigh. I’m 26 years old and want Edward to be real. Oh well, at least it’s a little better for me than when I swore I wouldn’t watch “Rock of Love 2″ and then promptly becam addicted to it.
I’m of the firm belief that any book, even trashy ones, is a better choice than the crap on tv during the summer. With a few notable exceptions (Swingtown, The Closer, etc.) it’s nothing but embarrassing reality crap that I refuse to watch for fear of losing precious brain cells. Get outside and appreciate nature! Winter and snow will be here before you know it but you’ll have the fond memories to see it through.
I didn’t even have a television in my home until my husband moved in!
Now we rely on our digital cable to keep us from becoming enslaved. I just finished reading all three books in the “Little Women” series. I was struck by how much more physically and mentally active, creative and intelligent all the characters were then we are today. They spent their time reading and sculpting and painting and writing plays and playing outdoors. I did alot more of these things too when I didn’t have a T.V. 
I say mix it up a little bit. Allow yourself maybe an hour of TV a day, but use the rest of your free time to do those things you embraced last week. Every summer I put together a list of books to tackle, and every night I take my little booklight out on my porch and indulge for an hour or so. It’s good for your soul, IMO.
I haven’t watched any TV at all since the season finale of Lost (the 11pm news and occasional rented DVD doesn’t count) To be quite honest I don’t miss it that much. Uh-oh. Comming up on pop-watch conessions of an ex-couch potato.
It’s summer forget TV!!! READ. Read the Stephenie Meyer’s series … they are very very good!
I have to admit I’m bidding my time until “Burn Notice” and “Project Runway.” So yeah, I haven’t watched a lot of TV this past month or so, but now that it’s July, that’s gonna change.
Other than the occasional school trips and workshops where you have no choice but go without TV, I’ve only done the detox thing once. It was for a speech class, and we had to decide between giving up the phone, internet, or TV. I knew TV was (and still is) my downfall, so I gave it up for I believe 48-72 hours.
It was funny realizing how ingrained you can be to the tube. I would come home and go to turn it on out of habit. And worse, you know when you’re out and you realize you forget to DVR or tape something? Imagine that feeling, but having the TV right there. I didn’t want to record anything because I thought that’d be comfortable.
I was happy afterward and am better today. The only thing I really missed at the time, now that I think about it, was Hurricane Katrina coverage. That was the first thing I saw when I turned the TV back on. And really, when you look back 10 years, will you really care that you missed that episode of The Real World?
My honeymoon was 3 weeks in Europe where the TV was either in a language I didn’t understand, or non-existent. Coincidentally, I also read the twilight series during that time. When we got back, however, it was the beginning of May, and all the good shows were ending for the season so we spent about a week solid catching up on our Tivo so we could watch the finales. I think my TV detox failed, but that’s ok, I wasn’t that committed anyway. My summer project is watching the DVDs of Bones (mostly because Mandi mentioned it so many times I had to cave and check it out. Thanks, Mandi, I love it!)
As much as I’m a proponent of reading (I’ve got all the Stephenie Meyers book in a stack by my coffee table, waiting for me to finish my current read) don’t cancel the David Boreanaz Google Alert! I am completely one with you in the Great David Boreanaz Crush of 2008. I just finished all seven seasons of Buffy (greatly rejoicing when the lovely Angel made his guest appearances), and am currently almost through with season one of Angel. Combined with Bones-fests, it’s nice to have someone with which I can commiserate!
The writers strike changed my life. I used to live week to week for my shows with a show every day. By the strike’s end, I wasn’t even interested in the “finales”. I’ve started reading my stack of bedtime books, and there is nothing on my tivo right now. I hope I can be more balanced when the fall season starts.
I am completely in agreement. My husband just got playstation 3, and we have one tv. I am taking the summer season off to enjoy other forms of entertainment. Since lost is off, I am too. I am on my second round of reading the Twilight series, preparing for Breaking Dawn. I am freshening up my ipod too. I don’t miss Wipeout or America’s next dancer who’s got talent in nashville.
I always do a tv detox once a year when my family goes on vacation to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. It’s actually a technology detox. We have no internet, no tv and our cell phones don’t work. The only pop culture we can get is radio. We spend most of our time reading and talking.
You can always do like me and change your Google Alerts to weekly, like I did with “Bones”. I can’t bear to turn my DB alerts to that setting, though.
I spent a week in Colorado completely TV free. It was nice, though I can admit I DVR’d The Daily Show & The Colbert Report while I was away. I didn’t really miss TV, but honestly there isn’t much on in the summer for me to miss.
I didn’t think NBC could do anything more to wreck this show then they already have. Why not throw in some hip-hop while you at to make CW “more” mainstream. But isn’t that what makes CW unique because it isn’t?
By the way, what’s with the judges? If I hung around John Rich for any length of time, I’d swear I’d want to get out a box of dull razors blades. I mean, he makes Julie Robert’s husband in the movie “Sleeping with the Enemy” seem like a pussycat. I mean lets vote for Gordon Ramsay of Hell’s Kitchen to replace John Rich. I think he would be kinder to the finalists.
So what you have in Nashville Star is a reaffirmation by viewers if there are any left, why they wouldn’t listen to CW. This show has probably put CW back 15 years.
Me thinks, NBC ’s Proud Peacock will get its feathers plucked by this train wreck of a show.
Ops, wrong blog.
Great story…after you finish Stephenie Meyers TWILIGHT, be sure to continue tha saga with NEW MOON and ECLIPSE…oh and August 1st…BREAKING DAWN comes out.
Sweet,
I’m with you on the writer’s strike. It completely changed my viewing habits. I started watching a lot more films (thanks, Netflix and HBO!), writing a lot more, and, actually, working longer hours. I think I’m going to be far more selective when the networks start their fall seasons back up: 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Lost, and maybe a couple more. For a while now, there hasn’t been anything on Monday nights and it’s been so nice to use that to watch a movie or read a book or cook a great meal.
I’ve dumped TV for the summer too (with the exception of So You Think You Can Dance and Psych
), mainly to read. And I have to agree with the previous commenters – The Twilight series is amazingly addictive. Wow. I can’t wait for the Aug 2. release of the final novel. You should also check out her other novel ‘The Host’ which is just as good.