Hello. My name is Allison and I’m a recovering TV addict. This is my story.
I grew up in the eighties. It was a time of family sitcoms, an MTV that played actual music videos, and fabulously dishy serial night-time dramas (my parents taped on their VHS recorder to watch the next day so I could see them.) I watched them all, and it’s safe to say it was the start to 3 decades of an obsession. Go ahead, ask me about any episode of the Cosby Show. I probably know the answer. Who’s the Boss? Check. Yes, I know who killed JR.
Present day: Our TV died this past July. Our wonderful 50-something inch TV just died. There was no warning. There was no time to say goodbye. One morning, it was just cold and lifeless, with no sign of justified failure to anyone. To compound our loss, we were one week from moving and had no time or money to buy a replacement.
Luckily, it was during summer and I wasn’t really missing any of my shows. Had it been March or another high ratings month this story would have a different ending. It would have involved my husband running to Best Buy at 2am and forcing him to sleep there until someone came in the next morning. Well, maybe not that extreme. Maybe.
My biggest concern was not having a TV for my daughter A to watch HER shows, which only made me realize I was turning her into a TV addict, too. I had lost count of how many events we were slightly to significantly late to because she couldn’t miss the closing credits to Daniel Tiger or The Cat in The Hat. I shutter to think how we would have made it to preschool this year on time if she had been put into a morning class.
Well, we moved. A week became a month. A month became a few more months, and you know what? I missed the start of the new TV season and I didn’t really care that much. At first I thought I would miss Scandal, but I also knew that the end of last season was probably the end of my obsession anyway. I thought I’d miss Dancing with the Stars, too, but a quick run through my newsfeed on Facebook the next morning featured everything I’d want to watch anyway. I discovered the glory of PBS’s website, where we can watch all of A’s shows when we want. So they’re not new everyday? It’s a three year old’s dream to watch the same thing over and over and over again, right?
Little by little, neither my husband nor I have cared much about TV. Granted, we had a lot of unpacking to do, but we spent the end of summer up until now filling our time with other entertaining things. We got a few projects done on the to-do list (that list is way too long). Most importantly, we played with my daughter. We went to the park more and had more playdates. We baked cookies. We played with her doll house. We now have a standard craft time. I’ve even lost some weight.
Yesterday my husband told me there was enough left over from his bonus after purchasing the necessary things we need for winter in our new house (ie. a good snow blower) to get a new TV. Part of me is grateful I’ll have something to use as entertainment when we’re snowed in, but part of me is a little worried I’ll go back to my old ways. HELP!
How do you feel about your and/or your family’s relationship with TV?
