Early-February 2016: no more cable TV. I made the conscious decision to stop watching television. Not even Netflix or Apple TV. Long gone are the typical sitcoms and Saturday morning cartoons. Technology has shifted my screen time habits.
There are several reasons for this shift. Anything I need to watch is on YouTube (TEDtalks being one of the very few channels of interest). For me though, even YouTube is irrelevant. I gather my videos from a number of different channels online, and it’s harder than ever to capture my attention.
Overall, I’ve minimized my video screen time to focus more on creating and building.
By eliminating the typical unproductive screen time activity, I have increased my free-time by 2-3 hours per day to do a number of more productive activities, like start this blog, exercise, read, and cook food.
Is television extinct? No, I think people enjoy winding down after a day of hard work. Television manufacturers are getting more and more clever by integrating Internet and applications into the mix. Televisions are now allowing for a cinema-like experience as consumers can purchase 70″ and 80″+ screen sizes.
I’m not sure if the generation after me will be buying a television. How do you compete with phones and tablets, which are ubiquitous wherever you go? For now, I say farewell to cable television.