I hear it's officially TV-Turnoff Week. Those who know me know I'm more likely to respond negatively to social pressure like that. Still, I'm not about to turn on the television just to be different.

But if TV is a regular part of your life, do yourself a huge favor and turn it off. Start with a week, but don't stop there. What would you give for an extra four hours in your day? More than 20 more hours in your week? Even if you are one of the very rare folks who watches only half an hour a day, think about what you could do in that time. With just half an hour each day you could learn to play a musical instrument, learn a foreign language, read many books, keep in touch with far away friends and family, create your own weblog, spend time in serious, concentrated prayer, get some much-needed sleep, learn to juggle, create a garden, get in shape...and accomplish at least one if not many of those things you say you'd love to do, "but I don't have time." Go for it! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

Here are some more interesting links:

The TV-Turnoff Network

Excerpts from Marie Winn's The Plug-In Drug

Ruben Bolling's fabulous comic, Flowers for Trinitron.
Posted by sursumcorda on Monday, April 24, 2006 at 7:28 am | Edit
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How exciting! I wish I could cut back from my zero hours of TV so I can do some of the things on your list! Actually, I have learned to juggle a little in the last month. It's so cool once you get past the first few weeks of being an absolute mess. . . I like your analogy of taking off our chains. I don't watch TV, but I'm a slave to other things (like eating!). I'm reading Colossians Remixed and he talks a lot about the power of the Empire (in Paul's case that of the Roman empire and in our time that of a consumerist empire) over our lives when Christ should be the only one we serve. In the book they (a homeschool family) make the point that the power of an Empire is to capture the imagination so that the subjects cannot imagine a different or better existence. There are interesting parallels with TV, but that's just one medium for the Empire that is pervasive in our world. It is Christ that sets our imaginations free to live with the knowledge of heavenly things. That doesn't mean I we have our head in the clouds, but focusing on 'things above' frees us to do wondrous things in the world below! They put it much better than I do, though of course I don't agree with everything they say.

Posted by Harp on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 12:45 am
I know, I do get frustrated by all the advice that tells me how much more time I'd have if only I'd give up TV, and how much more money I'd have if only I'd stop smoking. I guess we should be accomplishing a lot more than most folks, and have more money, too, eh?

Posted by SursumCorda on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Ah...you all need to cut loose and watch American Idol. Just kidding, just kidding.

Posted by Mark on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 8:26 pm
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