Here’s an article I wrote that was just published in “The Informer” magazine.

Kill Your TV.

By: Kole McRae

Here’s a mission for you. Kill your TV. There’s tons of ways to kill it. Each one more fun than the last. You can throw it out a tenth story window. You could hit it with a hammer. You could hallow it out and do puppet shows with it. Whatever you do, make sure that TV you’ve been glued to for most of your life is DEAD AND GONE.

Here’s some simple math I’ve put together from my own person viewing habits. In my younger years I would watch TV from when I got home from school till about 7 or 8. That’s 4 hours of TV a day. For some it’s less, for others it’s more. Doesn’t sound like much, only 16 percent of your day. But take sleeping out of the equation and it turns into 25 percent.

25 percent of your life is being washed away by the boob tube. Kind of a scary thought. It’s why I got rid of mine. About 4 years ago I did that math and decided to quit TV cold turkey. Was one of the strangest and yet most liberating decisions of my life. For 4 years I’ve lived with not a single TV show. No Opera or Jon Stewart. No CNN, no MTV, no reality shows. No TV whatsoever.

At first it was insanely tough. I literally had urges to turn on my TV… Over time though I started to feel a lot better. Life felt more fulfilling. It sounds corny but my brain actually stopped melting. (The brain ooze dripping from my ears over the years stopped.) Not to mention the amount of money I saved. If you take a simple 30 dollar cable plan (usually they cost far more) and multiply it by 4 years at 12 months a year you get C$1440. I’ve saved C$1440!

So what about awkward social circumstances? What do you say when someone brings up last nights episode of The Colbert Report? It’s strange, that never happens. I know it may surprise you. But these days there’s far more to talk about. I worked in the radio industry for a while, which is all about staying in the know on everything that happens, and not once did anyone bring up what happened on TV the night before.

Alternatives. So here’s your nicotine patch. Firstly, you can buy the DVD’s of your favourite shows. No commercials, lots of extras and watch it on your time. No longer controlled by the TV networks scheduling decisions. Next, if you want to watch your shows as soon as they come out, say hello to online TV watching. You get the episode about a day after it’s been played, free of charge, no commercials and on your time. Don’t ask me if it’s legal though.

TV takes up far too much of your time. It does very little to help your brain and it costs quite a lot of money. Kill it. Kill it before it’s too late. I don’t care how you do it, but if you don’t the costs will be dire.

My next mission? Kill your facebook and e-mail. This is going to be fun…