I think it’s important to ask ourselves occasionally,
“What are the most valued things in our life?”
Do we feel we have time for those things? More than likely, not. What is preventing us from giving enough time to them?
When I ask myself what’s most important, here are my answers: Faith, family, health, home. I’m sure your list looks pretty similar. Maybe add a hobby or job into the mix..but over all, pretty much the same I’m guessing.
Over the past few months, I’ve had this on my mind. I’ve tried to be more mindful and pay attention to what is distracting me or taking my time away from giving myself to my “list.”
The number one culprit has been our electronics. Not just for me either…I see my kids getting distracted by them as well.
I was beginning to see our brains oozing out until there was nothing of worth left inside. Just emptiness in our brain where we used to have conversations and laughter.
Sometimes, I feel like we are overtaken by TV and the never-ending list of other electronics that have taken over our home. I feel like I wake up checking my Facebook news feed and end my day checking my Facebook news feed. FOMO the (Fear Of Missing Out) is such a real thing. Even when I tell myself, I don’t REALLY care if people like my stuff, I must because well-there I go again…checking to see if anyone commented on that picture I posted. I’ve caught my kids saying, “post this picture on Facebook!” YIKES!
Even as I write this, it’s hard to focus because I want to switch over to the internet and check to see if my hubby is on the list for promotions in the Navy. Why can’t we just FOCUS anymore?!!?!?
So, I decided it was time to do something about it. It was time to get rid of some of the distractions…starting with cable and internet.
DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN!
Okay, pick up your jaw. I bet I lost a bunch of you by saying that. But…..I am a blogger so obviously I’m not going without it all completely.
We don’t watch much on cable (I observed we tend to watch Netflix) so getting rid of cable was a no-brainer. My intentions were to keep internet because…well it’s the internet. In these modern days, that feels like it belongs on the base of our “Hierarchy of Needs” with air, water and food.
My dad just sold his cellphone/internet company this year and retired…so, as you can guess, Internet and technology has been a big part of my upbringing. But, when I stopped in the cable office to drop off my cable boxes, I found out I would still be paying a ridiculously high amount just for internet. So, in a moment of frustration, I got rid of it too.
My phone can turn into a hotspot and we have unlimited data. Switching over to my “hotspot” is something I found myself doing quite a bit anyway as I was blogging because our internet was so unreliable. They told me the price would be cut in half if I waited a month and returned as a “new customer.” Sounds shady. But, I figured…I might as well give it a shot. I figured, if I can’t “rough it for 30 days,” then our electronic dependency problem is worse than I thought! Right?!
Well, I’ve lost track of when our “30 days” runs out. But, I honestly think it’s going pretty well. We have been using my phone for a hotspot for my blogging as well as for Netflix with no big issues.
My only “drawback”… it’s a little inconvenient because we have to “log in” each time. But, I really don’t mind it that much. If anything, it makes us more mindful of what we are doing and less likely to just “pop on the tv” unintentionally and camp out on the couch. We choose what we want to watch, and sit down and watch it rather than flipping channels like a zombie.
Through this experiment, I have found us to be on our devices much less and the kids have spent A LOT more time playing in their rooms and being creative!
Best of all, we are saving over $200/month!
Talk about a WIN!
I will probably look into the internet again soon just for conviencnce…but for now, it is working out good. But, I have NO DESIRE to get cable/satellite or any other TV subscriptions. I just don’t need the distractions. I’ve had about a month without it and I don’t miss it at all. In fact, I like this better. I’ve never been one to watch a lot of TV anyway. So, for ME, it doesn’t feel like a huge change. But, the huge change it DOES bring to the house, is the overall atmosphere. We now can have KLOVE playing our favorite songs softly in the background rather than TV as background noises. I can close my eyes and hear the kids laughing and building a tent in their bedroom–because they aren’t stuck in front of the TV.
I’m sure we will have to re-evaluate this once my husband is home for sports season (which won’t be any time soon so it’s not an issue.) But, what I told him was “this is a FAMILY EFFORT to be more focused on each other.” That includes him. He can easily sit and watch football or basketball ALL DAY LONG. Which, I get it-he enjoys that. But, I would much rather load us up and head to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch a game together of the teams he cares about instead of watching a random game just to watch it. Luckily, he’s spent most of his life living on a submarine. So, he is used to things being a “little inconvenient.” Driving somewhere to watch the game is nothing new to us either. Depending on where we have lived, sometimes the teams aren’t shown on local TV anyway.
Some of my favorite memories are of us packing up our 4 week old baby boy (in the cutest little Duke Basketball onsie ever) and going to a “hole in the wall fan bar” to watch Duke play when we lived in Washington. We went there so much, they got to see our little guy grow up. We loved it!
Living in Hawaii for the past 2 years has changed my mindset on so many things. I’m learning to live a simpler life and to focus on the things important to me.
By doing away with the distraction of TV in our home, I’m hoping to see us drawn together as a family more. There are so many other things we can do to work on bringing us together. But, this is a great start.
My kids are still small so this is something I want to establish NOW so that it is just NORMAL for us and less of a challenge when they are older. We already have enough other distractions taking us away from each other-work, school, sports, dance…why not wash away the things we CAN control???
I posted on my Facebook about this journey not too long ago. I was surprised to hear how many of my friends don’t have cable. How about you? I’d love to hear about it!
With Aloha,
Lacy
Featured Blog Posts:
Be the Mommy You Want Her to Remember
Adventures of a Busy Mom 
We cut cable TV but not internet. That is not as severe a cut as you made.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You may not think it’s big. But, you’ve already taken a step not many can say they have had the courage to do. You should be proud of that. I’m curious as to your reason behind cutting cable. Do you mind sharing?
LikeLiked by 1 person
The reason is that we did not really want to watch what was available on cable. Previously we used it for children’s programs and CNN, but we could get all the news we wanted by searching and the children were going off to college. Also with TV there is no interaction such as what we are doing now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s great to hear another perspective! Thanks for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
When my husband and I first got married we did not have cable. We saw it as a good way to save a little money, but my husband is also an avid sports fan and became frustrated with not being able to watch games at home, so we have cable now. We still mostly just watch Netflix, other than sports, so I would gladly get rid of it again, but I know my husband likes having the option to watch games at home. Maybe one day I’ll convince him to go without again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We shall see how long it lasts. It’ll be fine for the kids and I. I know we have about a year before he’s back and can complain about it 😉 haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
Saving $200 is definitely a big incentive to cut out cable!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it sure is! I figure, each month we go without will add up to even more! We can use that money to do fun stuff each month instead!
LikeLike
Good for you! You will not regret this. (That is my Teacher/librarian perspective talking – don’t want to go looking, but can guarantee you there is research that correlates student success limiting screen time!) We did this several times when the girls were little, we loved it. Well written, fun to read. Good Luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the support! The kids dug out the Lincoln logs tonight. We painted yesterday…I am loving it!
LikeLike
Cable? yes. I did that.
Internet? Never. I occasionally go camping so I can take a few days off the grid but Wi-Fi, I think, is the best advantage of our generation.
Kudos to you
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I still have access to the internet via my smart phone. I can connect it to my computer/tv like I would wifi so it’s free! So far so good!
LikeLiked by 1 person
haha. yes, I understood that after reading your whole post. Either way, I think it’s a great decision.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought maybe I worded it confusing. Thank you!
LikeLike
this is great!! my husband is a techie for a church so its so hard for him to unplug himself from his phone! my 8month old will throw a fit if he has found my phone and i take it away, i never give him my phone so i dont know where he got that! but its sad, i hate it! ive been thinking about trying to make and set boundaries in the house! i love to hear how other people manage to eliminate things like that. life is just too important to watch it though a camera lens!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your last sentence! That’s so true! My kids have adjusted really well. Instead of coming home from school and watching tv, they play. If they want to watch tv, I’ll say they can either do it then (which is fine if that’s what they want) OR we can watch a family movie with popcorn after dinner. That’s what they typically choose which means they are creative ad keep busy until dinner.
LikeLike
That is a great idea! I love that! Plus the whole family time is so important now a days! And for them to play and keep their imagination going is so good!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I love how they play together. It’s helping them grow closer to each other too.
LikeLike
Good for you! We haven’t had cable, or even an antenna for that matter, for over 20 years. Our tv and movie interests have been totally supplied by DVDs and Blu-rays. This allows us to watch on OUR scheduke and at OUR pace. For the infrequent times we find a new show we may be interested in we just buy the hard copy, sometomes checking out a few clips or episodes online first. It’s worked out great for us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a great idea. My husband buys a lot of series via DVD/bluray for when he’s on his submarine for deployments. They don’t have anything else like the surface ships do. I was thinking of looking through his stash. I’ve just assumed it’s all boring “guy” shows. But I should look! Maybe he’ll surprise me! I always giggle when he tells me they watched something like “Finding Nemo.” I guess it’s how they miss their kids.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have been without cable for at least 3 years and haven’t missed it. I went about a year without internet but needed it for work since I work from home and was tired of going to the library
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s awesome and encouraging! Thank you! I think we may eventually get internet back. So far, my kids are little and don’t need it for school yet. When they do, we can get it back. Until then, my phone can hook to the computer/tv like a wireless hotspot. Thanks for reading and commenting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We cut cable too. But we’re not sports fans. Internet we keep b/c I like doing my browsing on a nice big moniter. We like Netflix – great choice (although some nasty stuff there too) – but NO Commercials.
When our kids were young we had no cable – only “rabbit ears” and a separate computer for select (non-online) games – allowed each kid one hour/day. We survived. haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
The sports thing has been the only reason we’ve kept cable this long. Ugh. I’m not a sports person either . But, my husband really is.
My computer can hook to my phone as a free wifi hotspot (it’s an iPhone). That’s how we get Netflix on the TV and also how we can still use our computers/tablets/laptop 🙂
We limit our kids to an hour too-unless it’s a movie which is longer. I’m glad I’m not the only “mean” parent out there! 😂🤣😂🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s’s very interesting about using your phone as a hotspot – I wonder if we can do the same with Samsung S7 – I’ll have to look into that. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Go into your settings where you pick which wi-fi you want to connect to. You should see a spot that says “personal hotspot.” You can set the password to be whatever you want 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for that hot tip Lacy. I will check it out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope it works for you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We cut cable, we have a firestick, but we hardly watch that much tv anyways. Internet would be super hard because my husband trades in the Forex market. We have made small changes though and need to keep with the rules on iPad time for my 4 year old because she is so addicted to watching kids play with those toys she has at home lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, my gosh! My kids are the same way! That’s the down side of only letting them on youtube/internet when i’m in the room with them….I have to watch or at least listen to it too. The sound of the egg plastic as they take it off drives me nuts! There is one dad/son they like to watch which I like too. They play with different toys while they are on a discovery to find dinosaurs. It’s corny but cute!
Maybe with less tv time, they will pick something better to watch? I can only hope! ha
LikeLike
I haven’t had cable in well over a decade, and honestly don’t miss it at all! I have internet and phone as a combo, which is only 100 a month here. My little one is nearly a year and I’m hoping to help keep him off electronics for the most part, but understand it’s a pretty basic part of life now. We’ll see what happens. Great post!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your support and comment! A whole decade? Wow! That motivates me for sure! I can’t wait until I can say the same for us!
LikeLike
A month and a half ago I signed up for Uverse TV, it was so stupid of me because since the downsizing I don’t even watch TV. During the fall I do. So changes are in the making…I have a contract so I can’t cut it off, but I can most certainly drop down my programming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Check and see what the penalty is for breaking contract. If you think of what you’d be spending each month to fulfill the contract, it still may be less to just cancel it. Then, you can be done with it!
But, dropping to less channels is a good option too. Just keep an eye on it. I dropped to the most basic plan too. However, when I went to cancel and looked closely at the bill, I noticed they were still charging us for extra channels we never even subscribed for! So shady!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep I had a shady company and dropped them, they claimed I still had a contract. Thanks for the advice we are prob going to be dropping by the time we move.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How exciting! Good luck:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
How much I would like to do it !! I am not a TV person , but I do love watching good movies . Again , saying that doesnt mean I am glued to tv . I hardly get time amd its been atleast a 3 years aince I watched a movie peacefully. But my husband wants TV , my elder kids wants to watch movies ( God knows what she understands ) , but i prefer days without TV , internet etc . I feel I get lengthier days and more time , energy and peace to think /act .
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s such a true point! The days have more time when they aren’t wasted away with tv.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes phones or internet are very useful to make our life chill. But we get addicted to internet or tv or phone.
We look every time to our phone and tv. Sometimes we should give a time to tv or mobile phone to see us 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s so very true! I have a love hate relationship with them! ha But, as much as I love them…I need to step back and use them less so that I can enjoy real life a bit more! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. Real world is real life not phone ☺️
LikeLiked by 1 person
! Somemeters we should sacrifice a meter to tv or mobile telephone set to go out us 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person