- Television has become a staple in many people's routines, especially now that streaming shows and movies are available at the click of a button.
- As an avid TV watcher, I decided to rediscover my childhood love for books by replacing television with reading for two weeks.
- It was difficult, and I found myself missing my evening television viewing, but I've shifted my entertainment habits as a result of this experiment.
When I was nine, my parents moved our family to a house in the suburbs and bought a huge flat-screen television. Suddenly, TV, which until then had been limited to a half-hour after school — but only if I didn’t have homework — became an essential part of my daily life.
After this shift, reading became an educational activity rather than the pure entertainment it had been before.
Recently, I found myself missing reading for fun. Plus, I have a stack of books next to my bed that are more decorative than anything else at this point. So I decided to give up my two-hour post-work TV habit for two weeks and replace it with reading.
By the end of the experiment, I was able to make a dent in my bedside reading stack. I finished a new book (Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House”), reread another (Tina Fey’s “Bossypants”), and started “Tenth of December,” a collection of short stories by George Saunders.
The experiment also impacted me in ways I wasn’t expecting.
SEE ALSO: 8 facts that will convince you to read a book instead of binge-watching TV tonight
1. I listened to a lot more music than usual
I work from home, and I quickly figured out that I had been using the television to simulate having someone else in the room while I worked.
With that gone, I was acutely aware of how solitary my job is. I quickly restarted the Spotify premium membership I’d recently cancelled for some much-needed background noise.
2. I realized how blurry the lines are between TV and digital culture
The rules of engagement for this experiment were not as cut and dry as I thought they were. Was I allowed to watch Instagram or Snapchat videos? Could I watch a news clip on Twitter?
Watching video online felt like cheating, so I decided to avoid it (with the notable exception of dog videos). This decision made me feel left out of certain events, like the White House correspondents’ dinner. But with the speed of the news cycle, I got over my FOMO quickly.
3. I focused a lot more on what I was giving up than what I gained
“The Haunting of Hill House” was suspenseful and reminded me of how much I loved sci-fi books as a kid. Tina Fey’s memoir made me laugh and think about how much pop culture has changed in the last seven years. George Saunders’ collection of short stories was delightfully unpredictable and made me want to pick up creative writing again.
Though the books I read were all entertaining in different ways, I often found my mind wandering to what I was missing on my favorite shows. For that reason, it was difficult to fully enjoy the reading part of this experiment.
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