Why cancelling cable made me a better person.

*Title courtesy of my lovely husband. Isn't he clever?

About a month ago, my husband and I decided we should cancel cable. We rarely watched anything on the 9 million channels we had (just flip-flip-flip-flip), we were spending hours zoned out in front of the TV, and it was getting progressively more and more expensive.

So, after much debate, we called up Time Warner, and did the deed. On Monday, we had an incredibly epic snowstorm, so I braved steep hills to turn in the cable box. Doug was out of town for work. I came home and automatically turned on the TV for comfort. Static. Instantaneous cancellation, like ripping off a band-aid. It was too quiet and I felt a little creeped out. And then I thought about that: I was totally uncomfortable without electronic noise filling the house. That's probably not a good thing.

So, for the first few days, it was no TV at all. I got comfortable with the natural soundtrack of my home--the groan of the stairs, the click of the washer, the echo of the pipes. It was much, much quieter...and more peaceful.

Then, we went out and bought antenna to catch some basic channels. They were dirt cheap--I think the "good one" set us back about $20--and the "old-timey-ness" of adjusting the rabbit ears appealed to my nostalgic sympathies. We can catch a few of the major stations (CBS, NBC, Fox only upstairs, PBS channels, and a very fuzzy but highly entertaining religious channel).

Our media deprivation didn't last forever. We have Netflix and our TV has a computer input option, so our gaming systems and an old refurbished laptop became our new "cable boxes" for when we want to watch something specific on Hulu or streaming video.

So, did anything change? Yes and no. We still watch TV with dinner most nights (shame, I know) and watch a lot of movies. We have a few select shows we try to catch (Bob's Burgers,The Office, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). I miss Food Network sometimes. We watch a TON of PBS(and secretly love it: Create channel, you complete me!)...but most importantly, we watch less. We talk more, read more, think more. Our house is quieter, slower, more relaxed. We broke free of the cable chains...and best of all, our wallets are thanking us.