How much TV do you really watch I wonder?
Is it worth what you pay for it?
When we moved into our home about 12 years ago, with relatively young kids, it wasn’t at all a question of whether we installed a TV service but rather: “which one?” There were a number of choices for broadcast TV but we were still in the days of Blockbuster and DVDs so streaming services were, as yet, unheard of.
We chose a satellite provider and I seem to recall the cost was around $60 a month. By this summer, that fee had grown over the years, without adding any channels, HD etc. to over $110. Here’s the rub though: we NEVER seemed to watch it. We have no interest in reality TV and/or most of the serials and miniseries. We can get news online and honestly, with the broadcast news these days, it is more and more partisan talking heads than hard news anyway.
So, after some deliberation, we cut the service. We no longer have live TV in the house and we haven’t missed it for a second. I sometimes wonder whether live sports would be worth having but it isn’t worth paying for all the other dross along with it and, frankly, most sports channels are talking heads rehashing the argument over whether Lebron or Jordan are the greatest ever.
We still have Netflix and Hulu, and that gives us more than enough but, joy of joys, there is more time for other things like socializing over a meal, playing games or, of course, reading.
There’s no judgement here. If you watch a ton of TV and get value from it, great. But paying over $100 and never watching is foolishness, at least it was for us. There are too many books to read, not enough time. TV is a time suck and most of it isn’t very good anyway!