I need your help with weaning myself off watching tv!

ElTam

Thu, Jul 07 2011, 12:19 pm

I think Cheerio had the best ideas. I quit cold turkey several years ago and after a while I didn't miss it.

We still have a TV for watching videos, so I do watch occassionally now after a long (years) break of no watching at all, but after being without it for so long, I find the pull isn't strong. I can watch one show and be done for the week. I also find that I am much more sensitive to what is on. Things I used to think were okay, I would shut off in a second now.

Hatzlacha!

Depressed

Thu, Jul 07 2011, 12:27 pm

Do what I did, I went from being a "Bold and the Beautiful " addict to an ImaMother addict...

amother

Thu, Jul 07 2011, 1:16 pm

718 wrote:

get rid of internet. For me thats the onlything that works.

If you got rid of your internet, how are you on here?

TranquilityAndPeace

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 12:44 am

This is going to be a controversail post, so if you don't like controversy, just skip it:)

Firstly, about 5-6 years ago I was on Netflix and I watched while exercising only, which I thought was very noble, as I wasn't wasting my time. I ended up exercising about 2 hours daily for a year!

I gave it up when I saw that DH was starting to get into it.

Anyway, here is what helped me get away from secular entertainment. And I'm by no means perfect, I still like to watch movies and read trashy beauty magazines here and there. But I got away from it being a regular part of my life.

This sounds odd, but it's one of the most important realizations we Americans must have: We are in Galus!

God puts us into a galus of a nation that has the bad middos that we have, so that we can work on them and improve ourselves and the world. That's why, if you read Sefer Shoftim, the Jews were attacked by so many different enemies. If you don't know this it looks like a boring sefer: The Jews sin, the non jews fight against them, the Jews repent, rinse and repeat in the next perek. NO! Each time the Jews were attacked or thrown into a foreign nation, it was because the foreign nation did the sins that the Jews had to work on fixing.

Many Jews are currently in the Galus of America. (Many of us have no clue we are in galus and just keep fixing up our houses as though we really belong here, but that's another story.)

The ideals of Americans are foreign to us. The value in TV on looks, arrogance, money, getting to the top, etc... are all contrary to Torah values. And watching the shows on a regular basis changes our perspective, don't fool yourself into thinknig that it doesn't affect your point of view of the world.

If you lived in Germany in 1900, back when people called it the Jerusalem of Europe, would you want to attend German theaters? UGH!

If you lived in Spain in 1480, would you want to attend Spanish theaters, knowing that in a few years the Inquisition's auto-de-fe's would also be public entertainment in this theater? HOW HORRID!

I have no idea if the Jews will one day be expelled from the US or not as the future turns into the past. But we all have to know that we are in exile. And we are in exile to improve upon the sins of our host country. America is known as a medinah shel chessed. But they have their sins, which are so evident in their TV shows. Just to name a few, that success = money + looks. A lot of frum people think that success = money + looks because we don't live in a vaccum. But if we purposely spend hours involved in their culture, we have less of a chance of making decisions throughout our day based on Torah values rather than plain American values.

Don't get me wrong: Money and beauty are WONDERFUL! It's just the warped secular culture which makes them out to be EVERYTHING. Life is very transient. None of us have a guarantee that we will wake up tomorrow. Americans can eat, drink and be merry, as they think that Olem Hazeh is all that there is. We know that we are in this world for a limited time, and the point is the next world.

Try substituting some TV time for watching shiurim on sites such as Naaleh.com. Rebbitzen Heller's question and answer sessions are entertaining and thought provoking. Find the speaker that speaks to your heart, and replace one show at a time with a shiur or some other activity.

I hope this was helpful,

From a former fan of Desperate housewives, Gray's anatomy, and much, much more!

PinkFridge

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 9:27 am

[quote="TranquilityAndPeace"]This is going to be a controversail post, so if you don't like controversy, just skip it:)

Firstly, about 5-6 years ago I was on Netflix and I watched while exercising only, which I thought was very noble, as I wasn't wasting my time. I ended up exercising about 2 hours daily for a year!\]

One day I'm going to read one more post like this, take to heart, and it'll be bye bye imamother...

Soul on fire

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 12:54 pm

[quote="PinkFridge"]

TranquilityAndPeace wrote:

huh?

PinkFridge

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 1:06 pm

[quote="FrumMamaPA"]

PinkFridge wrote:

TranquilityAndPeace wrote:

huh?

One day I'm going to read an impassioned plea to distance ourselves from the media and outside influences, I'll take it to heart, and say bye bye to the world wide web. Maybe...

Soul on fire

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 1:08 pm

[quote="PinkFridge"]

FrumMamaPA wrote:

PinkFridge wrote:

TranquilityAndPeace wrote:

huh?

One day I'm going to read an impassioned plea to distance ourselves from the media and outside influences, I'll take it to heart, and say bye bye to the world wide web. Maybe...

ahh ok, I didn't understand what you meant. I do now. Wink

flowerpower

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 1:25 pm

Drop some of the tv shows you like to watch. Pick two and only watch those. Give yourself an amount of time to watch and only watch then like from 9-10 at night when all is done and dh is at mariv.