TV Withdrawal Thoughts...

Recently I resigned from my cable TV subscription. I was sick of commercials interrupting whatever I was trying to watch every seven minutes with streams of belligerent, psychotic ads about every possible bodily malfunction with the usual cartoon cure that only masked the causes, or dozens of other blurbs telling you that either you are loser or not... It was and is mind pollution.
We are drowning in a media-fed series of fantasies. We are the first entire generation in human history to have our lives shaped, not by Nature, but by the beguiling images of the electronic media. We spend more hours watching nature shows than actually experiencing the real thing; more time laughing at infantile TV jokes with flashing signs that tell us when to laugh, than joking around ourselves; more evenings experiencing virtual sex than actually having sex ourselves...As we forego the role of participant in the real world, we become mere spectators in the ever flickering world of make believe...
We stand at a pivotal moment in the human story. For 20,000 generations or so, our species lived in nature; we were nature, taking our cues from the sky, the wind, the sea, the animals around us. We only entered the electronic environment perhaps 3 generations ago. Now we are getting our cues from glowing screens. We watch watch nature shows instead of venturing into a wood or forest. We laugh at recorded insults masked as something funny and drool over over internet graphic sex instead of being intimate with someone that you actually care for or turning them off sex because of the bizarre and usually violent images you've seen under the guise of 'lets try this...'
Slowly, we move toward a goal that the great Swiss author Max Frisch once described as "arranging the world so that we do not experience it".
Eliminating Tv from your life allows the mind total freedom of thought. An awesome predicament for many, I'm sure. One's own thoughts can be downright inspiring...
Some unconventional thoughts on what to do when withdrawal symptoms arise...(not necessarily with tongue in cheek), find a relatively busy place, full of people and do nothing for ten minutes, or watch TV for a half hour without turning it on. For the next week, every time you ride in an elevator, step in and remain facing the rear. For elevators that have mirrors in them, take off your clothes and simply observe yourself in the mirror, see yourself naked for five minutes, then see yourself nude for five minutes...get dressed, smile at anyone aboard and leave...