海角大神

Back in late March,聽, and I have never once regretted it.聽

There's plenty to read out there about how to cut the cord, or how much you can save when you do, but not a lot that talks about what happens after that.聽While there isn't much in here that's practical, and I can only speak to my own experience, I felt it was important to follow up my post from March with an update on how this grand experiment is going.

Life is a lot more peaceful.

One of the things I couldn't take with me when I cut the cord was the nightly national news broadcast, and at the time that upset me.聽I could easily still tune in to the 10pm local broadcast over the air, but frankly,聽meh.

Eight months after giving up cable,聽I'm living聽without the "breaking news" hype, without the urgent tone, without so many soundbites delivered by angry voices. Without聽the commercial breaks that barrage me with the ickiness of negative聽political ads, pharmaceuticals that claim to be the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, and on and on and on.聽Even the news' theme music is carefully crafted聽to create dramatic聽tension.

And so much of that news is inane.聽So聽inane. You won't even remember it tomorrow, but you internalize that tension anyway, and it lingers. It's an edginess I never even realized was there until it suddenly wasn't.

I thought that maybe this was just in my head until I found聽, author of聽The Art of Thinking Clearly. In it, Dobelli asserts that聽watching the news really is actually bad for you, neuropsychologically speaking.

"It constantly triggers the limbic system. Panicky stories spur the release of cascades of glucocorticoid (cortisol). This deregulates your immune system and inhibits the release of growth hormones. In other words, your body finds itself in a state of chronic stress. High glucocorticoid levels cause impaired digestion, lack of growth (cell, hair, bone), nervousness and susceptibility to infections. The other potential side-effects include fear, aggression, tunnel-vision and desensitisation," he聽writes.

Dobelli聽never backs聽up this claim in his essay, and it probably goes a bit far in its assertion that聽allnews is bad,聽but a little more digging on the topic uncovered an enlightening聽article about聽聽by Dr. Michael Murrell, Psy.D.

"The limbic system is so very sensitive that it only requires an image of something threatening to get a 'fight or flight' response," Dr. Murrell explains. "For example, if you are watching a movie and there is violence you may notice that your limbic system has misinterpreted the images on the screen to be categorized as a threat. When you are deeply involved in a movie, novel, television, video game, radio program, or even a conversation your limbic system is busy examining the content of the thoughts and images presented for any indication of threat."

These days, I check the headlines online and read whatever catches my eye. I'm definitely still keeping up with what's happening in the world, and my Facebook friends can confirm that I have strong, informed opinions about current events (perhaps a little too often, even).聽I'm consuming that news on my own terms, much less influenced by the story's packaging and the product marketing that bookends it.

But the news is still there if I need it.

While the terrorist attack in Paris was unfolding in November, I wanted to stream a live news source. CNN wasn't an option without cable, but I found聽. I聽ultimately ended up streaming聽聽on聽my laptop, blessedly free of聽American political punditry. It was the first time that I had wanted live聽access to breaking news since canceling my cable in March, and while it wouldn't聽ever work as a replacement for a daily聽news broadcast, it was nice to know options are out there when something important is happening.

I'm exposed to a lot less advertising.

The only place I see聽commercials is on Hulu Plus, and then聽it's rare that there are more than two聽or three shown during a commercial break. Best of all, I haven't seen any political ads on Hulu. I don't know how long that will last as the 2016 presidential campaign heats up, but my fingers are crossed.

If I聽wanted to completely cut all TV commercials,聽. I'm considering it. Especially if the聽political ads find their way over to the streaming platforms.

So what effect has this had on me? I'm less frustrated聽by endless commercial breaks. I'm not constantly bombarded with toxic ad messaging.

While I didn't expect it to happen, my spending is a lot less impulsive now, too. I'm happier with what I have, and maybe removing that influence played a role in making me more frugal.

There's plenty of literature聽to back this one up, too. Marketers and ad agencies are consumer psychology experts, and every ad you encounter is a data-driven, carefully calibrated attempt聽to convince you to buy something. U.S. News and World Report recently rounded up聽, including emotional manipulation, appealing to your desire to make people jealous, leveraging your fear of missing out, of being labeled uncool, implying you'll be instantly sexier, and the list goes on and on.

If a friend in your life acted like that, you might call them a sociopath聽and show them the door, but we absorb all of that messaging all day every day from the media we consume. Cut those master manipulators from your life and it makes sense that you then might聽be less聽likely to spend money on things you don't need.

My聽TV is never used for聽background noise anymore.

With streaming media, it's a lot harder to turn the TV on just to have some noise in the house. Every movie or TV show I watch is a deliberate choice. If I need something in the background, I usually聽put on some music. I've聽really been digging on my Mom's old vinyl collection this year. I'm also a big fan of custom Pandora channels.

Is it possible to use streaming TV for background noise? Sure. Just pick a series and let it autoplay. (I admit doing this with Firefly occasionally.) Or let Hulu do its thing where it cycles through a bunch of related programming. Or turn on CBSN. Or if it's summer and you have MLB.tv, pick any random baseball game that happens to be on. Whatever you settle on,聽you'll probably have to think聽about it more than when you we're just flipping over to聽HGTV again.

But dancing around the house to some tunes while I'm cleaning is so much more fun.

I read a lot more books.

With the way things are set up now,聽I usually聽run through my Hulu聽queue by 9pm.聽Lately, this is the point where I shut everything聽down, make myself a pot of tea, and聽wind down with a book.聽, but I make an exception for ebooks from the public library. Seriously, whoever figured out how to make that happen聽deserves a Nobel Prize.

I honestly love this ritual. I love my little聽. I love curling up with a good book and a cup of tea. It's quiet, cozy, and I'm reading some really great stuff that I've put off for years because I "couldn't find the time."

I watch my favorite shows from wherever I happen to be.

If I'm traveling, because my services are all online and I always have my laptop and/or iPad with me, I don't have to wait聽until I get home and a聽DVR full of everything I missed when I was away.

Over Thanksgiving,聽once my family had turned in for the night, I loaded up the latest episode of Doctor Who on my laptop. I logged in to MLB.tv to watch聽Cardinals baseball聽on an oceanfront patio during a trip to聽the Virgin Islands. While in Paris, upon learning that my travel buddy had never seen Am茅lie, we pulled it up on Netflix for a night in watching a movie that takes place in Montmartre while staying in Montmartre. (It was very meta.)

Lack of access to cable-locked content is sometimes frustrating.

For those who are keeping up with presidential debates, unless you're a cable subscriber, you are plain out of luck. When a debate is broadcast聽only on a cable channel, with no simultaneous live stream online,聽.

Or, when the Cubs play the Cardinals, triggering an MLB.tv territory blackout for the city of Chicago, but the game is only being aired locally on cable. Hell hath no fury like a baseball fan聽who must trick MLB's servers into thinking she's in the UK聽so she聽can聽watch a game that's being played 2 miles from her apartment.聽(And they wonder why MLB viewership is down every year.)

I聽really am聽happier without it.

Traveling in a country where I don't speak the language, there's an incredible sense of quiet, even in the noisiest of places. Advertising has no effect on me since I can't read it.聽I'm not聽drifting in and out of聽overheard conversations. Stepping off the plane in a foreign country, all of the media聽that bombards us every day, that we don't even realize that we are tuned into and absorbing - all of that is stripped away, and we're left only with ourselves, totally inside the moment.

Maybe for some people it would be unbearable, but for me, that sort of total quiet聽is my very favorite thing about traveling solo, a sensation that I actively chase after. 聽It's my happy place.

I'm describing it聽here, in a post about quitting cable TV, because doing so has allowed me to carve out similar quiet spaces in my life at home.聽It's amazing how much time and energy is sucked away聽by TV, even when we're not really watching it.聽Exercising聽the kind of control over my media consumption that I've described above, my life isn't just聽less angsty, it's also easier to disconnect from the outside world entirely when I need it.

But quiet doesn't mean empty, and it doesn't mean not noisy in this context, either. Others might call this boredom, but I'm honestly never bored. Maybe I fill that space with a聽leisurely bike ride along the lakefront. Baking a treat while listening to a crackly old聽Edith Piaf record. Learning a guitar chord.聽Plotting a roadtrip to Montreal. Practicing my Portuguese on Duolingo. There's always something interesting to do that's 100x better when聽TV isn't there as a聽distraction.

The聽moral of the story?

I like that I'm saving money every month,聽the transition has been smooth, and I'm even finding that I'm happier without it, less stressed out, and I'm reconnecting with things in my life that I love.

It's not going to be right聽for everyone, of course.聽Many people聽won't have access to聽internet fast enough for streaming video. Others will be unwilling to give up their NFL Sunday Ticket. And many won't find what I have in the experience.

What I can say, definitively, is that there is life after cable, and it can be wonderful.

This article first appeared at