Recovering from TV addiction

[Rose]

Hi Everyone,

I am not sure what "White Dotters" means...I just joined this website today. I should go to the home page next and maybe it will explain it to me. I am thrilled that there is a group of people dedicated to dealing with life without television.

I am interested in going through the 12 Steps with a "TV" focus...if anyone is interested please reply to me. I have had success in getting over other addictions using the 12 Step program and would like to use it to get over my persistant TV addiction.

Rose

[jlotus]

Hello Rose,

Thanks for stopping by. Please check out our wonderful sister website, http://www.trashyourtv.com for some addiction-related help!

Jean Lotus, White Dot

[Guest]

Hello Rose,

If you are not sure about the 'White Dot' thing then you may be too young to remember the days when TV was turned off at the end of the evening and the screen image shrank until a white dot remained at tht centre of the TV for a while and then faded.

Anyway, welcome to the wonderful world of life without television. It's good that you've recognised how addictive it is. That already puts you ahead of the majority of people, in terms of being able to give up.

Good luck,

Jim

[Rose1]

Hi Jim,

I am grateful for your comments and encouragement. Yes, I do remember the white dot - I am old enough for that - and what I remember most was the feeling of absolute emptiness as I watched the white dot disappear and the screen go blank and being suddenly left alone with no shows to watch, it was kind of a vacuum that I fell into. The house would be dark and silent and I was the only one who had stayed up so late, everyone else had gone to bed and left me there sitting in front of the television unable to break free from its grip until it turned itself off. I would be wide awake, blinking in the dark, suddenly I would feel the cold of the night time and wonder how I had lost so much time stuck in front of the television and wonder if I had hurt anyones feelings by being abrupt when they tried to talk to me while I was watching a show. Yes, the addiction was there from my earliest years.

And it has continued.

The post that I wrote was written in 2007 and right now I am writing the response at 2:00 in the morning on April 7th, 2013. Almost 6 years have flown by and my spiral into television addiction has gotten worse. I will not go into the details right now but I am trying to pull myself up out of it and in doing that I began, once again, to search for help on the internet and that is where I found this posting that I had written so long ago. I had to reset my user name because I had changed emails and could not retrieve my old password, but this is me... I wrote that back in 2007 and what a shock it was for me to find it again after all of this time.

I am starting 14th day of being free from the television and I am going through quite the withdrawals. Glad that this place exists for support. Thank you for being here and I would really like to hear from other people who have struggled with this addiction.

Thank you.

[Rose1]

Thank you Jean... I will look for that information.

[Gutenberg]

Hi Rose!

Welcome back after so long! I wasn't a member back in 2007, but I'm glad that someone who used to be a member here has returned! Good luck battling your television addiction!

A few things that could help:

- Have a meaningful hobby
- Read good books, newspapers and magazines
- Daily walks
- Supportive friends

Another suggestion is to decide that you're done with television once and for all. If it is possible, you could then get rid of your television physically. The temptation to indulge in television would be less when you know that you haven't got one in back hand. Only caveat here is that you need to be fully certain that you don't want to watch television anymore, in other words, don't come complaining here if you throw away your television and have regrets afterwards!

Anyway, good luck and I hope to see you around! (PS. I could help you to get your old account back if you want to use it instead of the new one.)

[Rose1]

Thank you for your reply. i am grateful to say that I am now 2 weeks without watching the television. Actually i watched online through my computer and I need my computer for work. However, I do not need the current 'plan' that I have of 65 G per month as when I use my computer just for work and some research i do not need that much... I could probably just get by with wifi in cafes and connecting to my phone at home (although if I go over on that it gets expensive). Anyways, I actually DID cut off my home internet a few months back but then at that point had not been able to give up the television part of it (i watch through netflix and by watching shows posted on TV stations after their broadcast dates)... anyways, I did give up the home internet for awhile but went screeching back into the addiction and then re-connected it and, of course, they charged me a re-connection fee. Anyways, I am in the tentative early days of withdrawal and recovery from this addiction but I DO know that I DO want to be FREE of it FOREVER... and this is something that I have been consciously striving for since I tried to get a "TV Addicts Anonymous" meeting started in the early 90's. I have noticed that there still is no "official" TVAA meeting anywhere... but this is good too... thank you for the forums and for your reply. I am not sure about my old account... it is with an old email I have not used for years... I will get back to you on that. Thank you for your offer.

[Rose1]

PS

Great name you have there!

[Gutenberg]

Aha, I see... Internet isn't the same as television, but if you watch movies and series on Netflix and Hulu, then you do get your television "fix".

I guess it's possible to block individual sites such as Netflix, but the problem is that if your craving is strong enough, you'll just disable it again. (Unless you get someone else to do it for you, so that you wouldn't know how to find a way around it.) It's often possible to block individual sites in the settings of your router, and I know that it is possible to install extensions in your browser that'll make it possible to block sites of your choice. See for instance https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefo ... blocksite/

But I guess "denying" yourself access to Netflix is a temporary solution at the best. The best solution to your problem is to build enough self control to be able to stay away from streaming content on the Internet. I guess giving up Internet at home and using wi-fi in libraries is an ok solution if it is the only thing that works for you, but I guess it is a bit inconvenient if you need Internet for work.

Anyway, good luck to you! Please stick around and keep us updated on your situation!

[Gutenberg]

PS

Thank you!
@>-;--

[Rose1]

Hi
Thank you for your reply. I agree with you that there are ways around the addiction and denying myself access at home does not work either as I remember going to a local cafe and watching shows there because I had cut off my internet. Then I did realize that I needed it and it was actually not very good going to cafes as I had the work I needed to do here at home so I got the internet again but instead cancelled my Netflix account. Anyways, the addiction can be found everywhere. And it is becoming more and more common for people to have shows on their tablets and devices. I was even at a "Social Event" where after dinner and a "suitable" time for "conversation" someone suggested watching a show on the new Big-Screen TV so everyone settled in (these are people who have not seen each other for a long time) and then came the decision as to what to watch, one person "won" and got his show however other people were bored with it and slowly the tablets and cell phones came out and while "sitting together in so-called social time" people were sitting there with their own devices watching their own shows sitting in front of a big-screen which a few of the older people who did not have TV on their devices were watching and then after a few hours of this the evening was over, everyone was exhausted even though they had not actually done anything other than sit for a few hours and after some good-byes everyone went home and claimed that they couldn't wait to "get together" again in a few months. I kind of sat there at the end of the evening as I reflected upon this long-awaited 'social event" where I had really been looking forward to seeing these people and wondered what is going to become of the next generation and is there any hope at all?

[Rose1]

And on a happier note...

I am starting Day 18 of being TV-Media Free!!!!!!!

[Gutenberg]

Hi Rose!

That “social event” you described seemed very dysfunctional to me, almost as if they were trying to avoid the awkwardness of having to spend time in conversation with other people.

I do believe there is hope if enough people realize how subversive television really is. I believe a strong “no-TV” counterculture would have a positive influence on society at large.

[Gutenberg]

And on a happier note...

I am starting Day 18 of being TV-Media Free!!!!!!!

Sounds really good!

[Rose1]

Hi Rose!

That “social event” you described seemed very dysfunctional to me, almost as if they were trying to avoid the awkwardness of having to spend time in conversation with other people.

I do believe there is hope if enough people realize how subversive television really is. I believe a strong “no-TV” counterculture would have a positive influence on society at large.

Yes, it was dysfunctional but maybe TV in general leads to people having dysfunctional relationships with each other after all, for instance what are people actually doing when they watch TV except staring at a box in a darkened room and getting annoyed if anyone around them talks or makes noise. Strange world we live in. It truly is subversive but I am finding out that a lot of people do not want to hear about the down side of television.