I am coming towards the end of my month without watching television. It has been an interesting experiment.

On the plus side I have regained a sense of discipline around things that have/need to be done such as my Buddhist chanting, writing and increased levels of activity. I haven’t missed watching any specific programme (not even Neighbours to which I was highly addicted!) though I have missed the act of relaxing on my sofa while watching TV. Every week of the experiment I have particularly noticed this on a Friday evening.

I chose to eschew all forms of visual entertainment though I did watch a couple of episodes of the West Wing last weekend at my boyfriend’s house. I blipped a little this week too on Tuesday: I’d had a bit of a dodgy back during the day and really needed to relax in the evening so I watched a couple more West Wings. It was absolutely heaven to recline on my sofa and soak up some well written drama.

What happens next – will I give up TV forever? No. I think there is nothing wrong with watching some quality programming so I will be retrieving the cabling between my Sky box and the TV from my boyfriend’s house and plugging it back in next week. I will however change the way I watch. I think the secret is to record a couple of hours of decent programming during the week and then watch it at the weekend thus freeing myself from the tyranny of plonking myself in front of the box and channel surfing of an evening. I’m also going to gradually work my way through a few more episodes of the West Wing which has become a surprise winner in this experiment.

Thanks for following my journey.

This week has been a week of temptation to which I am proud to say that mostly I have not succumbed. Although the cable between my Sky box and the television is residing at my boyfriend’s house for the duration of this experiment, if I really wanted to cheat I could always re-deploy the cabling for my DVD player. Or indeed I could replace television viewing with watching DVDs instead or I could watch programmes over the internet. However, I wanted this month of life without TV to be about eschewing all ways of visual entertainment and doing something else instead.

Early on in the week I had a sore throat and a bit of a fever and was worried that it might develop into something a bit more sinister (such as oink-oink flu). At that point I thought that if I’m laid up ill at home then I definitely want to veg in front of some mindless TV. Thankfully by Wednesday it turned into a cold and I began to feel much better.

It was also a week of interesting programmes – I quite fancied the BBC drama on Iraq called Occupation so maybe I’ll catch this another time or maybe my life would be just fine anyway even if I don’t ever get to watch it! The other temptation on the horizon is the fact that the new series of Ugly Betty starts soon and this has always been one of my favourite shows!

Again on the plus side this week I found that I was gaining small pockets of time and getting jobs done such as choosing some concerts from this year’s Proms season and actually getting around to booking them. My Buddhist practice is firmly back on track and this in turn makes me feel in a good rhythm with life. Part of the reason for switching off the TV was to find time to be more active. I’ve been going out on bike rides (whether small local errands or riding just for the sheer joy of it) as well as paying attention to the calorie content of treats and desserts, and I am pleased to announce that I have lost six pounds in weight since the beginning of this experiment. If I lose a further six pounds then this puts me back in the healthy BMI range.

So where did I succumb to temptation? Actually I’m not sure whether I broke my own rules or not because I spent the weekend at my boyfriend’s house and his television habits are not within the remit of my one month experiment. No, I didn’t sit glued to the box for the weekend but we did watch two episodes of the West Wing on DVD. (Incidentally, he is a huge West Wing fan, has the complete box set of DVDs and has seen every episode several times.) I did not watch the West Wing when it was originally broadcast and initially, when introduced to it by his good self, struggled to like it mainly because the dialogue is very fast and there seem to be a lack of chairs on the set so everything is said with the characters walking down a corridor on the way to their next crisis. However, over time the quality of the drama and the writing grew on me and I finally got to know the characters and now enjoy watching it on an occasional basis.

The first episode we watched this weekend was the last episode in Season 2 where it is Mrs Landingham’s funeral. For those of you who know the West Wing, I think the scene where Jed Bartlett is alone in the National Cathedral having a rant with God is awe-inspiring. The other one we watched was the opening episode of Season 3 which was a one-off storyline written as a fund raiser and tribute to 9/11. Again, just fantastic writing containing debate and discussion of the fears and issues of that time.

I don’t think TV is wholly bad when it is used as medium to watch and debate fantastic stories. Human beings from time without beginning have participated in story telling whether it be tales handed down through generations told around the camp fire, a good novel or a trip to the musical hall or picture palace. There’s nothing wrong with a good story and some TV programmes achieve this in a highly creative and brilliant way.

I guess that just needs to be balanced against the dross and manipulative drivel which also fills the airwaves and the amount of time we can waste getting drawn into it!

It’s been another good week. All positive apart from the same pang on Friday evening when I realised that flopping down after a hard week mindlessly in front of the box was not an option. Instead I listened to Friday Night Is Music Night on Radio 2 which inspired me to spend a little while playing the piano, and I also did a bit of writing.

Last night was particularly interesting because I was incredibly tired. I had been attending a course all day and could really have done with having a lie-in rather than getting up and getting out to the course. So when I came home about 6.30 pm I was particularly shattered. I decided to cook dinner, do a couple of chores and then go straight to bed. Had I have been in TV mode I would have probably, despite my tiredness, got involved in watching something or putting a film on and not gone to bed until normal time. However, last night I stayed true to my early night promise and was in bed by 9pm. I never usually go to bed that early but occasionally tiredness requires it. I had the most glorious twelve hours rest and got up this morning feeling a whole lot better.

I’ve survived my first week without television. Yee-hah!

Positives:

And now the negatives:

In conclusion, there have been many benefits particularly with regard to my Buddhist practice and I have enjoyed breaking through very entrenched habits. To be honest, I can’t imagine getting rid of the telly forever because I think it does have some value, but I am more than happy to continue with my one month experiment.