Follow up to my television addiction

Wow Friends, I never expected to get so much useful feedback on such a trivial blog! I feel like I should be paying you all for your wise council and validation. It really helped a lot. I have made a few changes based on all of your comments. I haven't gone as far as cutting the cable, but I have cut way back on my television viewing. Also, I bought a used treadmill from craigslist and have made a rule that I can't plop down to watch TV until I've done at least an hour on the treadmill first. The hour on the treadmill gives me 100% justifiable TV time. I could even justify watching the Bachelor if I was on a treadmill the whole time, but I won't. I won't. You all called me out on that one, and I'm really grateful. (I guess I'll have to rely on Brian's blog for my pop culture fix.) I've also talked to Chris about canceling our satellite subscription and upping our netflixs from 2 movies at a time to 4. This would definitely make all of our TV watching much more deliberate and conscientious. (BTW Dave, I have The IT Crowd in my Queue but it hasn't been released yet.) I think we'll do that when this season ends and everything goes to reruns.

I had mistakenly thought that if I wasn't watching TV then I would have to be doing something more productive, like paying bills or doing a special cleaning or organizing project around the house. I guess I thought that there was something wrong with down time. So now that I've realized it's not an either/or situation I've taken your suggestions and started mixing up my down time a little more. I've read a couple books, played guitar with Chris, and engaged in more deep and meaningful conversations with my husband (which may or may not be a euphemism for sex). My ultimate goal is to discontinue commercial television all together and only watch DVD's, but I'm not there yet.

Thanks again, friends, for all of the great comments and insights. You rock my blog and my world.

Might as well face it I'm addicted

My name is Shannon and I'm addicted to television.

Seriously guys, it's bad. I don't watch TV during the day but every night it's the same thing: I put the kids in bed by 7:30. I tidy up and from 8:30-11 my fat butt is planted on the sofa in front of the telly.

Here's my line up:

Monday: House and The Bachelor (Although The Bachelor just ended and I am vowing to never watch another season again.)
Tuesday: Scrubs and Law and Order SVU
Wednesday: American Idol and Lost
Thursday: American Idol, My name is Earl, Kath and Kim, The Office, and 30 Rock
Friday and Saturday: 20/20, SNL, Catch up with the DVR, and Netflix or Redbox movies
Sunday: Desperate Housewives

I record Oprah, The View, and Ellen daily, although I'll only watch it if there is something interesting on.

(And all this is just with our basic cable subscription. If we had more stations I'd have to add Soup, The Daily Show, and who knows what else.)

We have a DVR which allows me to efficiently maximize my television viewing, but all in all I figure I watch close to 24 hours of television a week. Guys, that's 1/7 of my life (more than 1/5 of waking hours) spent doing NOTHING but sitting like a zombie and being entertained!

Think of all I could accomplish if I were to put those hours to good use. I could learn to play an instrument, learn a language or a craft, have deep meaningful conversations with my husband, or catch up with an old friend. I could exercise. The list goes on...

But here's the thing, at the end of the day all I want to do is watch TV. I LOVE television. I find the mind numbing effect it has on me so therapeutic. My day starts at 6AM and doesn't officially end until 8:30 PM when I'm sitting on the sofa with the remote in my hand. (Oh how I love the feel of the remote resting in my palm.) I am spent. I have no energy left to do anything requiring any degree of thought. Even now it's all I can do to get through this blog with thoughts of the new episode of House waiting for me in my DVR.

Am I trying to justify my laziness? Do I need help? Are there support groups out there? Is my brain turning to mush? Should I do something drastic like cancel our satellite subscription? What are your thoughts?