Monday, January 22, 2018

The End of Cable

The ladyfriend and I got rid of cable recently. Our DVR was acting up (making a weird clicking sound, it had dumped everything we'd saved, and it wouldn't record anything new), so we called our provider who told us that the box we have is no longer in use or being serviced and that we'd have to switch our internet service to them if we wanted to continue having cable.

Now, we've talked about getting rid of cable for awhile. We have a number of subscription services (Netflicks, Crave, Amazon Prime, and NHL Centre Ice) and like many, found that we frequently tried to find something on cable to watch only to have something random playing in the background.  The need to switch internet providers sealed the deal (not that our provider is so great but still).

Here's what we've discovered.

We have more frequent and more in-depth conversations. We take the time to talk to each other, and without the white noise of the TV in the background, there's no sense that we need to finish up quickly so we can get back to the TV.

We have to actually think about what we want to watch. Cable makes it easy for you to scroll through the channels and find something, even if it's not what you were looking for. It was easy just to turn on the TV for accompaniment. In order to avoid the "what are we going to watch tonight" time suck (ever scroll through Netflicks looking for nothing in particular?), we've actually scheduled shows to watch on given days. Yes, it's kind of like old school TV. It's Monday night? We're watching Big Little Lies. Tuesday? It's a wildcard day, which is for shows we're interested in but haven't committed to. I'd really like to make a spinning wheel for this. It'd be fun.

There are shows I thought I'd miss, like Top Chef, but when it's not an option, it doesn't really come to mind. Plus there's content that we access through YouTube and online.

It's good to be without cable although I will say that we've bought an antennae to get the broadcast channels. Nonetheless, I don't think we'll be going back to random switching on of the TV. It's a good change.

2 comments:

  1. LOL - we recently dumped all the satellites and land line in favor of cable everything. You are right that TV can suck up too much time, it is something we have to pay attention to. But it is so nice to be able to sit and watch a movie when it is stormy out. Never could do that when TV and internet came via the skies. Still, I understand the peace you now feel, and the change in your life by not being addicted to the box. :-)

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    1. Well, we still watch TV, just via subscription services, but it's a lot less, and that's a good thing. Also, you have more stormy nights than we do. :)

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