How Much TV Do We Need?

I keep getting messages about joining the new Discovery + TV subscription. It is streaming service for channels like HGTV, Food Network, TLC and lots more. Now I already get these channels on my cable subscription and am perfectly happy to watch whatever shows happen to be playing at the time, just like those of us who grew up with over the air tv have always done.

Do I need to pay $4.99 to stream with commercials or $7.99 without commercials every month to just have the same shows on demand? Apparently there will be some content that will only be on streaming, but if I don’t know about it will I miss it? Probably not.

This got me to considering how many different channels we already subscribe to; Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple, Hulu, Disney, Acorn, HBOMax, YouTube and there might be others I don’t even know about that we are paying for. This and we also have cable with DVR’s and all that entails. How much TV do two middle aged people need?

I probably need to keep a log of what I am watching on which networks and start to whittle down what we purchase. I am hoping that when COVID subsides we won’t be so TV dependent. The TV has just become company replacing real people.

We also have been listening to a lot more podcasts, and audible books as well as reading real books during lock down, which eats into possible TV time. That is a good thing, so if I didn’t have all these choices might I just read more?

I venture I spend at least an hour or two a week just scrolling through channels to decide what I want to watch. One way that time gets cut down is by finding one series and binging on that until I have exhausted it. I particularly like to find a show with at least four seasons and watch nothing but that for a few weeks.

I think the advent of Discovery + has made me decide that I don’t need it, but that I don’t need a lot of what we have. Time to cut back. Covid will end and maybe I can spend time with real people and not the imaginary ones on TV.