Living Without TV and Internet....anyone want to try?

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BeverleyMarsh

BeverleyMarsh

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Christine62 said:
In trying to focus on Mr. King's best writer's advice: read a lot and write a lot. I have come upon a couple of things really getting in the way: the internet and the television. Now luckily, I don't have internet where I live anymore (because AT&T is the Devil in the form of a corporation). Unfortunately my roomate is a television junkie. It's on as soon as he gets home and he watches all manner of stuff from European Soccer, NFL, NBA, MSNBC, Fox News, Jon Stewart, Andy Griffith, Mrs. Doubtfire EVERY SINGLE TIME IT IS ON, and 16 thousand movies he's already watched.

I can pretend like I am superior but am I? I watch PBS, CBS Sunday Morning, Super Soul Sunday, Sherlock!, The Mentalist, Columbo, tons of cooking shows and the history of the hot dog and the X Factor, and American Idol (don't tell Mr. King) Plus tons of movies I've seen before: Remains Of The Day, You've Got Mail, Jaws, The Sand Lot, My Cousin Vinny, Knocked Up, Love Actually,etc, etc.

TV and the internet is a monumental time eater because I watch stuff I've seen or lollygag on my laptop at the library or my daughters, going to facebook, looking random crap on Google and checking the sites where I have my stories posted. Oh and I don't consider this site a waste of time because I actually write on here (and you are all always so nice to respond).

Anyway, I turned off the TV today and was straightening up my apartment and usually I put my current King book on cd on and listen but today I didn't. Didn't turn on the radio either. It was just me and silence. It was very uncomfortable at first. It made me kind of anxious but soon I got comfortable with the nothingness and my mind became less fragmented and I was able to think, and I started to think about something I was writing. I could see if I stayed in silence then the trickle of thoughts might actually flow down to that story stream I used to float on years ago.

So I'm going to give it a shot---anyone game? I'm not talking forever...how about a morning, or afternoon or maybe a weekend or longer who knows we just might get the hang of it---no internet, no T.V. or music...just us and our own thoughts.

If anyone wants to go on the journey with me..please post your experience.
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You've been reading my mind Christine. I have become increasingly allergic to the internet these past few months, the internet and any screens in general. It's true, thinking of it, the first thing I see when I wake up is the screen of my phone when my alarm goes off. I go to work, and I spend 8 hours in front of a screen. I get to the gym and there's a screen on the treadmill, I go home and I feel compelled to turn my computer on in case someone has tried to get in touch and I'm maybe ignoring someone without even meaning to, so the first thing I do is check out Facebook even though I don't particularly care for it and then I get bombarded with pictures of people's lives (or what they want their lives to look like) on my feed. And they're not even people I care about just people whose friends requests I have accepted just to avoid any awkwardness, work colleagues for example. And I truly have had enough of screens!:blarf:
At least, I haven't had a TV for the past 10 years, and I have not missed it. Too much of a time eater like you say and such a passive "activity". I have been trying to avoid the internet invading my life as much as I could ( there's nothing smart about my phone for example, I can call, receive calls and take pictures, that's about it) it doesn't seem to go away, it's just getting worse. And to make matters worse, I'm in the wrong job, I'm a digital marketer, so I kind of have to be on top of the whole internet thing. Some days I just wish I could just take off and go to a remote African country or somewhere where this whole obsessions with screens hasn't taken over everything.
Now this forum is different. There's a genuine friendly vibe about it and it has been my refuge recently. This forum and Stephen King's stories, as always. And I have to say that your post has inspired me. I know that when I get home, I'll pull some candles on, serve myself a nice coffee with Bailey's and start the Dark Tower (an actual book) and won't open my internet, with the exception of this forum. Thanks and good luck for your internet free adventure.
 
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Christine62

Christine62

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BeverleyMarsh said:
You've been reading my mind Christine. I have become increasingly allergic to the internet these past few months, the internet and any screens in general. It's true, thinking of it, the first thing I see when I wake up is the screen of my phone when my alarm goes off. I go to work, and I spend 8 hours in front of a screen. I get to the gym and there's a screen on the treadmill, I go home and I feel compelled to turn my computer on in case someone has tried to get in touch and I'm maybe ignoring someone without even meaning to, so the first thing I do is check out Facebook even though I don't particularly care for it and then I get bombarded with pictures of people's lives (or what they want their lives to look like) on my feed. And they're not even people I care about just people whose friends requests I have accepted just to avoid any awkwardness, work colleagues for example. And I truly have had enough of screens!:blarf:
At least, I haven't had a TV for the past 10 years, and I have not missed it. Too much of a time eater like you say and such a passive "activity". I have been trying to avoid the internet invading my life as much as I could ( there's nothing smart about my phone for example, I can call, receive calls and take pictures, that's about it) it doesn't seem to go away, it's just getting worse. And to make matters worse, I'm in the wrong job, I'm a digital marketer, so I kind of have to be on top of the whole internet thing. Some days I just wish I could just take off and go to a remote African country or somewhere where this whole obsessions with screens hasn't taken over everything.
Now this forum is different. There's a genuine friendly vibe about it and it has been my refuge recently. This forum and Stephen King's stories, as always. And I have to say that your post has inspired me. I know that when I get home, I'll pull some candles on, serve myself a nice coffee with Bailey's and start the Dark Tower (an actual book) and won't open my internet, with the exception of this forum. Thanks and good luck for your internet free adventure.
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My son in law is from a tiny little village in Ghana and my daughter said that when they went there the streets came alive at night. Everyone was out talking, hawking homemade food, and dancing every night! Can you imagine? And believe it or not once the month all the people get up at dawn for dawn prayers--Christians, Muslims, Jewish folks and Baha'is all praying together. Not everyone has a tv, and fewer still have computers, cell phone service is spotty...but my daughter loved it and she can't wait to go back!
 
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Christine62

Christine62

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The rest of my day consisted of squabbling with my daughter, wrestling with my grandbaby and having an interesting conversation with a stranger--he teaches classes in his own studio adults to paint and gonna add childrens lessons too. He charges 80 bucks a month for four 3hr sessions. And in my snatches of silence I thought...hey I wonder if that would fly with writing? I know there must be a few 9 to 12 year olds who like to write or maybe seniors who want to write their memoirs one story at a time? This morning I stayed in bed in silence and pondered it. Then I got up and sat in the living room without turning on the TV (miracle) and pondered it some more. It kinda made me excited and while I was at the protime clinic to find out if my blood thinner was still high, I started writing a little intro speech if I did such a thing. So far this thing is working well--so far. And my blood thinner was still high which means I can eat kale for lunch! HOORAY~! Did I stay completely without TV? No, watched the Thunder STOMP the Heat and watched Jon Stewart. But I allowed more silence to predominate---didn't constantly need background noise--drove a couple places without my audio book or the radio. It was nice.
 
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VultureLvr45

VultureLvr45

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Much better day today guys. Thanks for your encouragement. I actually wrote today! No TV, radio, or screen..yeah. It was frigging awesome!
Tomorrow will be better because I will be able to write for a longer time. Am watching a movie with the family (Sunny...The Lone Ranger). Have a good one guys.
 
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Christine62

Christine62

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HollyGolightly said:
I'm not really a TV girl and I do my best to discipline my inet time. But I still have little kids needing me, and a full time job, so the little time I get doesn't amount to enough to give up. Don't ya'll go leaving me here with no one to talk to.
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I'm not going anywhere---it's nice to have a place where everyone knows my name!
 
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Christine62

Christine62

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VultureLvr45 said:
Much better day today guys. Thanks for your encouragement. I actually wrote today! No TV, radio, or screen..yeah. It was frigging awesome!
Tomorrow will be better because I will be able to write for a longer time. Am watching a movie with the family (Sunny...The Lone Ranger). Have a good one guys.
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I got up again this morning and read in the quiet. Been having interesting dreams last couple of nights --should write those down.
 
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doowopgirl

doowopgirl

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I love my quiet mornings. When I get home from my morning duty times( I work as a school warden. basically a crosiing guard) I love a quiet half hour or more with a book and a coffee. House work has to be done, lunch calls for a book to go along. Afternoons, don't even talk to me until I've had more book and more coffee. There are some TV shows we like, but it never goes on just for noise.
 
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Christine62

Christine62

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doowopgirl said:
I love my quiet mornings. When I get home from my morning duty times( I work as a school warden. basically a crosiing guard) I love a quiet half hour or more with a book and a coffee. House work has to be done, lunch calls for a book to go along. Afternoons, don't even talk to me until I've had more book and more coffee. There are some TV shows we like, but it never goes on just for noise.
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I love it! Sounds like more book and more coffee is a great prescription for damn near anything!~
 
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Christine62

Christine62

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Well my experiment with silence to write and read is turning into a SK story. The upstairs neighbor has a leaky toilet tank---refills five or six times every hour and I can ear everyone--even in my sleep! I wake up every morning at 330 am listening to the blasted thing! I took to wearing ear plugs last night and I still woke up at 330 am! I tell myself. I should get up and make some coffee and use this time for reading and writing and maybe cleaning up a bit but I usually doze back off and have very vivid dreams--story dreams. I usually wake up around 7ish and then my roomate comes home and turns on fox news --blech.
 
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