My Silly Paradigm

Cutting the Cord

Written by cbte on April 22nd, 2010

I don’t really “watch TV”, per se.  I do, however, watch bluray movies.  I absolutely love seeing high definition content and hearing 5.1 surround sound.  But wait… if I enjoy this experience, why am I getting rid of my media setup?

Minimalist bloggers everywhere are getting rid of their televisions.  They talk about how TV consumes much of our valuable time that could be used traveling, making money with a small business, or sharing some love with someone you love.  The common theme, however, is that they are mostly referring to cable TV.  The only cable TV I watch is one episode of American Idol and one episode of Glee – some weeks.  Not even every week.  So again I ask, why am I ditching my TV, PS3, and surround sound?

I see my media setup as a “comfort zone”.  It’s a fallback plan when I can’t think of anything else to do.  If I’m too bored or the night is too quiet, I can enter the world of Jason Bourne at the press of a button (or three).  The TV makes it too easy to put off doing far more important things.  Even if I’m only watching one movie per week, I can still feel the “availability” of the media system pulling me away from making a difference in my own life and the lives of others.

One goal of mine is to be able to travel anywhere at any time.  Yes, it’s possible to transport my media setup, but why bother?  The TV weighs at least 30 pounds, the subwoofer/amplifier unit alone weighs 55 pounds, and the PS3 + blurays + games + surround speakers probably total out around 15 pounds.  That’s 100 pounds of “stuff” that I won’t have to transport between places when I move next.  It’s also quite a large volume.

And you know, it’s a bigger deal than just that.  Getting rid of such a substantial part of my life is going to be huge momentum to get rid of even more.  Once I get down to less than 100 things, it will be ridiculously easy to move around, and it will be ridiculously cheap to live.  As soon as I get rid of my car, my cost of living will drop even more – to almost nothing, really.  Although this is one fantastic freaking benefit, it’s not why I’m getting rid of my media setup.

I’m doing it to fully commit to being the man I want to be.  I’m cutting the cord to focus on the things that matter most to me.  I’m losing the THX certified sound to make my own music, with my own instrument – more often.  I’m getting rid of the PS3 to have meaningful conversations, rather than to frag n00bs.  I might not use it that often, but when it’s gone, something magical is going to happen.  I can already feel it.  Can you?