13 things that have happened since I stopped watching TV two years ago

Cadence Bambenek

Freshman year of college, I quit TV. OK, to be fair, by that time it was streaming — but the point is: I stopped.

Up until then, TV had always been a big part of my life. Growing up, I would always come home from school, plop down on the futon, and flip through the television channels.

Watching TV became a bonding activity. My brothers, mom, and I would sit around the TV and watch a show or two together every night. By high school, I had my own laptop and started streaming episodes of my favorite shows off of Hulu.

This habit intensified when I got to college. I would return to my dorm room and binge watch, burning through one episode after another. It got to the point where I was watching more shows than I could even keep up with: Grey’s Anatomy, The Mindy Project, NCIS, Law & Order: SVU, the list goes on.

Was it an addiction? I’m not sure. But every time I flipped open my computer screen, a sense of anxiety would swell in my chest. Anxiety that watching TV wasn’t productive, that I was wasting my life consuming the carefully constructed lives of fictional TV characters instead of building my own.

And so I stopped. I couldn’t tell you the exact date I stopped, just that one day I decided to take a break from watching TV for a while, and I guess that break never really ended. This is what has happened since I stopped watching TV over two years ago:

1. Some people don’t know how to respond when I tell them I don’t really watch TV anymore.

I think some people see my rejection of television as some sort of moral action, some sort of pious self-denial. But it’s not like that at all — this choice just happens to make me the most happy with the life I’m living.

2. I've missed out on a lot of pop culture.

Entertainment is deeply embedded into our culture. By not watching TV, I essentially threw out one of the easiest ice breakers to reach for when first meeting people. I have to find other common ground to connect on. But often I’ve found that it’s actually led to more meaningful conversations. 

And, no. I've never seen an episode of "Game of Thrones."

3. But I no longer feel like I have to “keep up with” anything.

With entire seasons available instantaneously on Netflix these days, I guess I’m not even sure if people have to wait to watch most shows anymore. In any case, I like being free of the commitment to stay up-to-date on shows or to finish a series.