My wife and I cut the cord about four years ago. Like everyone else thinking about making the switch, we fretted about what we might miss. Additionally, I was shocked about how little I missed.
When we had cable, my wife and I would watch about 2-3 hours of TV a night. TV became a bit of a routine. I would watch shows I thought I enjoyed. However, looking back, I realize I had a pretty low TV bar just to fill the routine.
We had a TV antenna, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. If I wanted to watch a show on cable TV, I would buy a season pass to the show from Amazon. This had the unintended benefit of forcing me to assign a monetary value to a TV show. It made me realize that only about five shows I watched were worth the cost.
Now we watch about an hour of TV a night. Not to mention that 15 minutes of commercials per hour on cable at 3 hours a night turns into 11 full 24 hour days a year of wasted time.
So now I feel I’m watching much better quality TV shows. Furthermore, I got all this free time back in my life. Below are some examples of things I’ve done with all this extra free time.
- We have a keyboard for our kids to take piano lessons. I started learning how to play.
- I started a tech blog (mainly about cord cutting). I started it because I wanted to improve my writing skills for my career. It took off, and now I’m debating making it my full-time job.
- Our family started a game night. We discovered that board gaming had vastly improved since the days of “Monopoly” and “Sorry” being in every one’s closet. We are always trying new games and having a blast with a more interactive experience.
- I taught myself how to juggle.
- I discovered podcasts. I had no idea that was so much great stuff out there. I’m also shocked that I enjoy a good audio drama. Furthermore, since my hands are free, I can do stuff around the house while I’m listening.
- I like podcasts so much I started a weekly one. We just did our 38th episode.
My life now is entirely different than what it was before I cut the cord. I highly doubt I would have done any of these things if I could just passively sit in front of the TV for 2-3 hours a night.
TV is more of an activity that I actively chose to do. Previously, it was mainly a device used out of routine. Has anyone else had this experience? Please share the ways cutting the cord has changed your life in the comments.
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