This past week was National Turn Off Your TV week, sponsored by the Center for Screen-time Awareness. This week encouraged people to turn off the TV and to find other things to do with your time. With the rising rates of child obesity in our country (and increased laziness), this was a great week for families to try and get the kids to read a book, go outside, play a board game, etc…

I decided to try turning off my TV this week. I figured it would not be hard at all—I am at work all day and then usually have busy evenings, so I figured I wouldn’t even know the difference. By Monday morning at 7:00 a.m., I realized this would be much more difficult than I thought. I normally watch the Today Show every morning while I am getting ready for work. I like it more for the background noise than anything else, but I realized that by the time I got to work, I felt like I had no idea what was going on in the world. My morning routine was thrown off, and worst of all, I had no clue what the weather was going to be like that day (and yes, I’m well aware that a newspaper would fill these voids – but I don’t get a subscription or have time to stop and buy one).

As the rest of the week wore on, I found out how dependent I am on television, and how quiet it can be when it is not on. I found myself doing things that I really needed to get done, e.g. finish a book I started about two years ago, balance my checkbook (which I don’t think I’ve ever done in my life), go for more walks, and learned to occupy myself in other ways than sitting in front of the TV. (However, I will admit that there were times that I had to cheat—how else would I have known that no one got voted off American Idol?)

Television is definitely an integral part of our lives, but it doesn’t have to consume our lives. Overall, I think I did okay without TV this week—but what do you think, could you do it?