The White Dot

I have fond memories of a young curly-headed me turning the old TV on and off so I could see the picture reduced to a tiny white dot that buzzed with fury before surrendering to the dark. On-off. On-off. Hello Gilligan’s Island, Goodbye Gilligan’s Island. Hello Star Trek, Goodbye Star Trek.

Maybe that experience is what started all this. One day, a decade ago, I simply turned off the TV, and I haven’t turned it on again since. I didn’t do this for some high purpose – no, it was just serendipity. I’d moved to a house that didn’t get reception and I was harried, broke, didn’t want to climb up on the roof, didn’t want to pay for cable. After about a month, I realized that my life was functioning better. I was happier, healthier, had more time, got more sleep.

Were you to ask me what some of the best decisions of my life have been, turning of the TV would rank high. My last decade has been sweet, quiet, full. Plus I’ve gained a whole year of my life. According to research, I’ve saved about 4.5 hours a day, or a total of 38 days per year, meaning that in the last decade, I haven’t spent 388 days in front of a box. I don’t regret a minute of it.

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But lately I’ve started to question my own No-TV philosophy. For one thing, I’m getting older; my brain is tired at night. Sometimes my eyes hurt too much to read; Scrabble is losing its appeal. Also, what about the Colbert Report? I hear it’s funny. The Olympics? That opening ceremony was probably fabulous. The State of the Union Address? Could be interesting.

So yesterday, I asked my husband: “Hey, husband? How does one go about getting TV reception? Especially after that switch-over thing.”

He eyed me with suspicion. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Well, have you ever wanted TV?”

“No.” He chewed on his sandwich and went back to reading the paper.

“You know,” I said, “It might be nice. For example, tonight. It’s 8:30 and I have a few hours.”

“Go for it.” He sounded sweet, but clearly was going to remain uninvolved.

“Maybe I’ll go lie down in bed and think about it,” I said.

“Okay,” he answered, swallowing. “I’m going to read this paper.”

I wandered into my bedroom and flopped onto my bed. To TV or not to TV, that was the question. Instead, I found myself daydreaming. I watched the sky darken, the stars come out. I considered my day, my kids, what had made me laugh recently. My husband came to bed and, well, I’ll leave it at that.

I woke up this morning with a clear thought: I don’t want a TV. I don’t believe I’ve missed many memorable, life-sustaining moments of programming in the last decade. On the other hand, I believe I’ve gained quite a lot, even if it’s as simple as watching stars, those bright white dots in the sky.

END

The author is the author/editor of five books. After writing this article, she discovered a web site called The White Dot (www.whitedot.org), which was founded by Jean Lotus (oddly enough, a friend of Laura’s sister). Jean founded the White Dot International Campaign Against Television and White Dot magazine in 1996 as a quixotic and comic examination of the appliance that everyone takes for granted.

Fact checking:

http://www.bizreport.com/2007/08/adults_watch_but_do_kids.html