I don't have cable TV anymore. I've never been a person who hated TV before. I've done a lot of watching. I hate movie theaters because people who attend them are obnoxious. But I've always been a TV-watching person. All of the sudden, though, it just made sense to stop. I didn't realize how many good reasons I had until I started writing them down.

The main cause was that I just got busier. I took a full-time job - which isn't necessarily more work than being an undergrad, but it keeps me out of the house and off of the couch more.

What finally pushed me to cancel my cable service was, oddly enough, buying a TV and getting HD service. For the first 4 years of college, I had my cable hooked up to a 17-inch monitor on my desk, and I usually kept it on for background noise. When I got a bigger screen, I put it in the common area so my roommate could also use it. When it wasn't on my desk anymore, it stopped being convenient, and I stopped watching it.

I would be remiss to not blame Comcast as well. The equipment was extremely unreliable, customer service was terrible, and the subscription is bloody expensive. I began to think about the cost in comparison with the number of time I spent on it, and I realized that it would be cheaper to purchase DVD copies of everything I watch than to continue watching it with advertisements.

I never thought I'd be the person to say this, because I've always been a fan of lounging around doing nothing when hanging out with people, but I actually started hating how it kills social situations. Even a friend who actively speaks out against owning a television at all, I noticed, would always be looking at the screen, no matter what was on. It made it harder to get everyone out of the apartment when we wanted to go do something. If we would watch a movie, once it was over, I would have to make a point to turn the thing off, otherwise no one would talk. We'd just end up watching nothing in particular.

I'll admit, I've replaced it, to some lesser extent, with other forms of video. I pirate a handful of TV shows. I've always liked watching a show all at once instead of weekly, anyway, so this is preferable to me. I also have a Netflix subscription, which I think I picked up as a gateway so I'd be more comfortable with dropping cable. I like it because it exposes me to more movies than I would see otherwise, but I still don't use it all that much.

The only thing I really miss is that we used to DVR Monday Night RAW and watch it after trivia. But, um... as fun as that was, I think one season (and two pay-per-view events, I am not proud of this) may have been enough wrestling for one lifetime.

I wouldn't say I have a strong anti-TV attitude. I'm not going to preach about how it's destroying minds. But I do think there are probably more people for whom cable is just not the right choice, but like me just a few months ago, they're just keeping it up out of habit.