Wednesday, September 5, 2007

TV kills your brain cells...but what about DVDs?

I strive to be this hippie, earth-loving, vegetarian, no TV person.... I always admired my dear friends from Marlboro College. You see, I went to this very small liberal arts school hidden in the hills of Vermont. There was no television and most people didn't wear make-up, carry a purse, or eat meat. I wanted so much to be like that but if you know anything about Alabama or where I grew up, you would laugh at the thought of me being a hippie or even knowing any.

I tried the no makeup thing for a few years. I tried the vegetarian thing for about 6 months. I try to recycle, but now I have no easy way of recycling. I don't carry a purse anymore, but now I carry an over the shoulder pack of some sort. I do associate with lots of hippies, though... Oh well. Ah, but I don't have television.

Well, I do own a TV, just no TV reception or cable. I never liked the TV but it is nice to watch movies (documentaries and independent films, of course). Now that we have Netflix, we end up watching TV shows by renting them on DVD. Does that count? I mean, I'm not subjected to the consumerism and the horrible press and other bad things that TV has. Have I lost any brain cells?

3 comments:

Tom and Jane Schell said...

As your friend...I think I am about as non-hippy as they come (and don't have any aspirations in that direction either). Yet I grew up in a home where we had no T.V. until I was 12 and when we got one it was a "monitor" for our Atari computer. We only got to "legally" watch The Cosby Show every Thursday night. I'm not sure I'm any smarter than the average because of that, but I am still a believer in limiting the amount of TV usage (but I probably watch more than I should). I must write an Ode to TVo, because now that we have it I'm not sure I could give it up.

Kim said...

I'd say you're doing better than most. Around here, we've been passing around this statistic: You actually burn more calories when you're sleeping than you do while you're watching TV. But the boob tube goes on every night anyway. Me, I'm usually not interested in Eric's selections and I don't care to make my own -- other than Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I just read my book.

BlankHeart said...

Heh. Well, we're definitely with you there. We have greatly enjoyed watching Monk and Avatar without commercial interruption.

We recently got Blockbuster online and suddenly I found a bunch more movies to watch that actually look good!