Cutting The "Cord"

On this Cinco de Mayo, a day that is sure to have taverns brimming with people for the simple fact that it gives them an excuse to drink, I celebrate (minus alcohol) for an altogether different reason: my family’s emancipation from Time Warner Cable, an entity whose inflated product had us all trapped on our couch for far longer than we’d care to divulge.

It all began about two weeks ago when a slight yet nonetheless crucial price increase on our monthly cable statement caught my eye. At the time, my husband and I had been examining our monthly finances and were trying to devise ways of cutting costs in the effort to save more money. That particular sit-down opened my eyes back up again and those discerning eyes, no longer hexed by laziness and Time Warner’s corporate propaganda, began to twitch uncontrollably from curiosity and vexation and it was then that I decided to thoroughly examine just what it was we were getting for what we paid. What I found was troubling, to say the least.

I printed out a list for the Basic Tier and Standard Tier (the services for which we were paying) and laid them out in front of me. After briefly skimming the 30+ channels altogether offered (we had two ESPN channels and neither of us watch sports) and circling only the ones we watched consistently and truly enjoyed (a mere 7 channels total), it was no wonder that my husband and I had had our thumbs permanently parked on the Channel button on our remote control, flipping through one channel after another and grousing that there was nothing to watch. I even noted that that the letters on the aforementioned button were pretty faded, considerably more so than the rest. At the conclusion of my evaluation, I realized we’d been right all along: there really wasn’t anything to watch.

Yet there we sat on that couch, our asses making noticeable impressions in the microsuede. So adapted were we to the steady stream of junk we were fed that its ill effects manifested in all the unfinished projects within our home, in the dust on our furniture, ceiling fans and virtually every corner of every room. Worst of all, it showed up in our lackadaisical attitudes, the very attitudes which kept us from finishing those projects or cleaning those corners. We were passive and boring, living life vicariously through the programs we enjoyed. We watched National Geographic Explorer and Animal Planet instead of experiencing the nature that lie just outside our front door and discovering and/or examining what wildlife was local to us. We watched Discovery Channel to see Mike Rowe talk about other people’s jobs because we were so disinterested in our own. We watched the History Channel because we put too much emphasis on the past instead of the future. I watched the Travel Channel and swooned at vistas I only wished I had the money and time to go see with my own eyes; in the end, it only made me sad that I was still stuck here. Add to that the multitude of debasing yet addictive reality shows coupled with popular sitcoms and dramas and you have a recipe for disaster on productivity. The only channel that seemed to have a good effect on me was Food Network, something that always got me in the kitchen with renewed vigor and a sense of adventure while providing for my family. It always offered inspiration, something that both of us so desperately needed.

For us, TV represented a depression of livelihood and we were exhibiting all its loathsome symptoms. We had the power to stop it but our growing indifference kept us suffering. Susan Powter, a dietitian, personal trainer and motivational speaker once known for her obstreperous TV persona and catch phrase “Stop The Insanity!”, really did have a good point. Stop the insanity, indeed.

So I did, minus the platinum blond military-style ‘do and over-the-top approach. Given that we had to take all or nothing instead of picking and choosing only the channels that we would like to keep (which I think cable companies would be wise to make an option for the customers that want to save money, lest they lose their business), we decided to just cut it off at the source. Within a week of my phone call, a Time Warner van was parked outside of our house, removing an extraneous portion of the umbilical cord that has long been tied to the underbelly of this home. Since its genesis in the 50’s and its maturation over the years, it has been nourished by a consistent flow of electricity, water and natural gas (DSL became a part of its diet in the last few years). It was only just recently that we realized it was experiencing dysfunction just as we were from all the unpalatable and insubstantial junk it ingested from cable television. We, its vital organs, were starting to shut down and needed immediate detoxification. So we pulled the plug. Or rather, Time Warner pulled the plug – we just told them to.

It was one of the best decisions we ever made.

Now we spend more time together talking, reading books, playing board games, even going for the occasional walk around our neighborhood in the early evening as the weather improves. Our daughters are no longer turning in their seats during mealtimes to catch some cartoons or network shows while they spill crumbs on the floor, nor are mine or my husband’s eyes glued to the screen as we mindlessly consume our dinners and don’t even think to ask the other about their day. This disconnection with cable television has reconnected us. It has made us realize how the TV routine can make us lose focus on things that are important, little as they may seem at times. I didn’t realize how important it was for my husband and I to talk to one another on a regular basis, really talk to one another, until the talking stopped. The comfort of our entertainment took precedence over integral communication and aided us in the worst way in avoiding festering problems (but only temporarily). We were wrong to let it get this far and we are getting back slowly but surely what TV took from us.

Television once ruled all. Now we wear the crown.