Last Thursday we got rid of digital cable. We returned our digital HD DVR cable box to Comcast. Wow, that's a mouthful. And a walletful. In a very calculated response to the influence of media in our daughters' lives, and the high cost of cable we rarely watched as a family, we cut the box out of our lives.
Ron and I came home from the Comcast office, screwed the cable cord from the wall into the back of the tv, and waited. Not for our twelve remaining channels, but for the unknown response of our girls.
No more Icarly. No more Spongebob. No more Mystery Machine. No more I shouldn't be alive because our boy scout leader took us hiking in the Grand Canyon without enough water.
We held our breath.
Our girls walked in, turned on PBS, and began watching a show on possible ancient hobbit-sized ancestors. And then they went to bed.
It took two days for them to realize the 200 channels were gone. And then they still didn't care one single bit. There has only been one complaint in the house this entire past week- and that was from Ron and I as we lamented football season.
Our girls don't care about tv shows. I will reason to guess most kids don't. It is simply something to fill up their time and minds.
Yesterday afternoon Ainsley was watching Arthur on PBS, wondering in anticipation what show would come on after DW saved the world. She sat stunned as a news show popped on the screen. She was very confused and came to ask me about it.
"Mommy, I was watching kids shows and a news show came on. I think someone changed the channel."
I explained to her how the channels we have now only play cartoons for a certain amount of time, and then other shows come on. She has grown up on Sprout, Noggin, Disney, and Nickelodeon, and has never heard of such a thing. I could see her processing this new and fascinating information for about 15 seconds. Then...
"Oh. Can I go outside and play?"
She skipped outside and forgot all about the media universe that used to exist in our televison. I am very happy about that.
And I can't wait till Saturday morning cartoons. :)
2 comments:
I am sorry we lost you as one of our customers. If you decide to come back to us, let us know. We are here to help! :)
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_can_help@cable.comcast.com
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your kind comment. We do still have Comcast internet, the fastest internet around, so we are still customers. :)
Thanks!
Val
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