thursday thoughts on television

You all know of my LOST vice. (Awesome season, BTW) We download from iTunes. . . commercial free.

For the nearly 14 years of our marriage, we've had a television and enjoyed selective videos, but we have never had cable or had continual access to network television. Its made me a bit culturally irrelevant. Our kids don't really understand commercials and think you should be able to rewind tv shows, when they see them. Its one of our grand parenting experiments. Seems like so many families I know are making a similar choice.

I ran across these several quotes on the World Magazine Blog this morning:

Television is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome.

Television is called a medium because it is neither rare nor well done.

The television business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs for no good reason.

If you spend all your time watching TV, then you deserve what you get. You don't get much by simply sitting and staring. The drooling fool in the corner can do that. (Might apply to our computer screens, too!)

What do you think? If you've "shut it off and shut it out," what's been your experience? Do you miss it? What has been the impact on your life, marriage and family?