According to Nielsen, the average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of TV a day! When I read that stat I nearly fell out of my chair. I knew it was high, but nearly 5 hours a day! What?

I killed my TV two years ago when I left my husband. Most of his waking moments, outside of work, were spent plopped in front of the tube. Our bonding time, in turn, revolved around our favorite TV shows. And when we separated he took the TV with him.

I never replaced it.

It wasn’t by choice. I was broke, so broke that buying a TV was completely out of the question. Now, I could buy one – but I won’t. Then I’d have to pay for cable. And if I had one, I know I would watch it. I’d get re-addicted to Project Runway, Desperate Housewives, anything on TLC, re-runs of Northern Exposure, Deal or No Deal…you get the idea. I loved it all. Now I can’t even remember what it’s like to watch TV every night. I don’t even know how I’d find the time.

When I have friends over they tell me it’s refreshing to sit down in a living room without the TV blaring in the backround. And then we talk. The old-fashioned way.

If I go over to someone’s house and the TV is on I just sit there stareing…TV, TV, wow, TV. Then I ask them to turn it off so I can focus on what we’re talking about.

Digression: You know what? I just realized why I might be single. I’m weird. Really weird. I hate TV. I truly do. I’m not sure if I would ever want one in my house again. Uh-oh. That leaves like 1% of the population for me to choose from. I just need to find someone else who’s addicted to their iMac. We could have two little iMacs in our living room. Cute? Or weird?

Okay, back to the no TV thing…every mom out there knows there comes a moment in any day where a quick TV show prevents you from either – throwing yourself out of a window or locking the kids in the closet.

You all know how much Benjamin and I LOVE Handy Manny, Thomas, Mickey and Elmo. We watch all of these fine programs on my 20″ iMac courtesy of iTunes for $1.99 a piece. And, unlike a TV channel, when they’re over – they’re over – and Benjamin moves on to another activity.

Plus I save $70/month in my non-existent cable bill. There are other options too, like audio books from Giddio.com. I was skeptical. But when I popped one in Benjamin was mesmerized by the story. But instead of staring at the computer screen like a zombie he played with his train set while he listened.

This week (April 21-27) happens to be National TV Turnoff Week. And Mom UnPlugged has posed a challenge to all of her readers…to turn off their TVs for a week! Think you could do it?

If you killed your TV, what do you think you’d do with all of your spare time?

What if your kids never saw another commercial again?

What would you do with that extra $840/year? You know what…that would be just about enough to buy a refurbished (used like new) iMac. Just found one for $999.00! Holy crap. And no, I don’t work for Apple. Just love my iMac and I hate TVs.

[Photo Credit: Find this fabulous photo by clicking here]

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