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Even though I'm from an earlier era where people actually had to get up and change the television set, and cable television was limited to HBO, I was raised without a television and am very thankful to my grandmother for being so progressive. Sure, there were times that conversations turned to whatever bit of TV trivia entertained my contemporaries. Frankly, I found their conversations infinitely boring. I still do.

Because I wasn't subjected to the mind-numbing garbage I developed alternate ways to spend my time. I have an intense passion for reading, painting, writing, rockhounding, hiking and playing guitar. Time very well spent. Time that I would not have had otherwise. I also was consistently the top student in my classes. I wasn't socially outcast, a "nerd" or considered weird. Nor was I overly preoccupied with material goods, my looks, or ever developed an eating disorder.

I still don't own a television set. I don't feel that I'm missing anything by not having a TV. When I go to friends' houses and they're glued to the boob tube, I find it boring and oppressive. Not to mention that many of them seem brainwashed into materialism and neoconservatism.

I'm raising my young son without a television, and I hope that someday he appreciates all the free time and enrichment that not owning a TV can bring.

Learn more about this author, Melisande Luna.
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