Turning Off the Television

I finally broke down and did it.

I cancelled my full cable package and kept only basic cable because it cost less to keep that than to just pay for cable Internet.

Brilliant bundling.

I decided to make the cut in a few months ago after I started coming home, turning on iTunes radio and reading from my Kindle more than turning the television on. After a bit of exploration, I discovered I can watch almost anything I want on some Internet venue – either the network website or some other streaming service – or just check my Twitter stream if I am that desperate to know what happened with some housewives.

I never am.

But I know how if I want to.

Television’s benefit to me was noise in an otherwise quiet house. After exploring the variety of iTunes radio stations and finding favorite stations in various genre of music, I decided I could do much more with a techno or classical beat than I could with the visual distraction of the television across the room.

In two months I read three novels - three more than I had read in the last 4 years.

I rediscovered the joy of staying up past my bedtime just to read another chapter – and then another. I have a few more books on my Kindle to make it through, but may be saving those until I get through the traditional paper books I have purchased in the last few years that I have not taken the time to read.

I also have a stack of professional books I want to read and reread.

First in my queue stands a book written by one of my former students. I anxiously await his take on the Gospel – and I promise to leave my red pen aside.