Rosecrans,

I think you are blowing the no-TV thing way out of proportion. I know plenty of people in New York who don’t own televisions—at least three in my office alone, and that’s not counting friends. When people ask me if I’ve seen the latest episode of Friends, or one of them there newfangled reality shows people are always talking about, I say “No.” And then generally they say something like “Oh man, you should have seen it,” and they continue expounding on whatever it was that resonated with them.

It’s pretty easy to matter-of-factly just not own a television without its being some sort of political statement. My biggest problem with television is that I, much like birds and kittens, have some sort of “shiny thing” fixation and when I see something oh-so-shiny I just love to stare at its wonderful shininess. And the hours seem to fly away, and I’m left with this dirty feeling like I’ve zoned out in a dank basement rather than taken a nice relaxing siesta in the sun. I consider the Discovery Channel to be the most insidious, because I actually rationalize it as I’m learning things rather than practicing my ability to go into a trance.

People apparently watch like six hours of television a day, or something absurd. I watch zero and there still isn’t enough time to do all of the things that I want to be doing.

Like having time to mail letters to the editor.

Will Schenk