Last night I went over to a gentleman's house who I've been priveleged to befriend over the past 2 years since my graduation from College. He's one of the theology professors at my College, and he's been a great friend of my family. I don't get out to see him as often as I'd like (which is probably better for my health...and you'll see why), but whenever I go to visit I spend on average a minimum of 3 hours at his house. In the company of this gentleman and with others from the community we drink, we smoke cigars, we listen to jazz, and we talk. For hours on end smoke mingles with laughter and the blare of brass as we pass the evening enjoying one another's company. One of the things that makes the evening so unique is the fact that aside from the music in the background, the only 'entertainment' on the agenda throughout the evening is the fellowship afforded through conversation (and I guess the burning of only the finest tobacco the world's soil can offer).
While hanging out with Dr. Gordon, every once in a while he'll toss you a nugget of wisdom that only age, experience, and a broken heart can yield. Last night we were talking about talking (any surprise that I was implicitly trying to pry wisdom out of Dr. Gordon for my blog?) and with the wisdom and presence of a sage Dr. Gordon says (in so many words) "People don't always like to talk with each other. Having conversation can be awkward, uncomfortable, and unusual...in that regard it's like life. But even though conversation can be uncomfortable, it's something that you can't just not do." Boom. That's exactly it. Whereas conversation and communicating can be awkward and unwieldy, it's something that we humans we have to do if we really want to live full lives.
The word 'conversation' actually is a derivative of the Latin word con versare, which means 'to dance' or 'to turn'. Could there be a more appropriate deriviative for a word decribing how people interact? When you watch people talk, their hands, bodies, faces move to what the other person is saying. Since we know that conversation happens almost exclusively without words, it's in the movement of bodies where conversation is either made or broken. Think about it. Dancing is something that I don't think anyone is naturally good at doing . It takes practice, it takes awkwardness, and it takes a willingness to go through with the embarassment of being all discombobulated around another person. But once you know how to dance, everyone loves you! Guys want to be able to dance like you, and girls want to sleep with you!! Dancing is one of those things that, regardless of whether you are natually gifted at it or not, you need to learn how to do in order to be a well rounded person (and impress the ladies). The same is true for conversation and communication. In order to be good at it, it order to be comfortable with it, you need to do it. And not just converse in a halfhearted way, you have to be able to give and take. In other words...don't half-stand behind your booth at Pizza Hut with drink in hand and right arm akimbo hoping your moment of awkwardness will pass.
Someone who I love and respect very much once told me that when you are expressing your love for someone else, it's not always so much what you say that conveys your feelings but how you listen to the object of your desire. The same is true in dancing.Thus the same is true with communicating. You've gotta be willing to listen. I think of myself as a good listener. In fact I get paid essentially to listen to people. I mentioned before that in my job at X Christian Liberal Arts College I get paid to deliver information about my school. Inasmuch as I have to talk to people, I have to listen to people to decipher, through garbly mumbled adolescent lingo, 1) what kind of information they want out of me and 2) if this person is conveying that they would be a good fit at my college (yes, I do a lot of interviews as well). For example, I just overheard a family talking with Keith. He was telling them that while he was interviewing their son, they had talked for a while and took longer than they should have taken. Listen to this short conversation:
Keith: sorry we took so long
mom: that's quite alright I guess
Keith: Yeah, it's probably better to talk for a longer time than a shorter one!!
mom: Well I bet you have to talk for a while to get to know them!
Keith: shut the heck up you old bat!!
Alright I confess, Keith didn't tell the old bat to shut up (how sweet would it be if he would have, though?!). But I thought the mom made an interesting observation because with one statement she was both right and wrong! Sometimes it does take a while to get to know a student: their passions, their maturity, their insights, their life story, their ability to mesh with the students already admitted here. However sometimes it doesn't take more than 3-4 seconds with a student before you realize that the next half hour of your life will be wasted time which you will never...ever...have back again. The bridge of discernment between the two options lies in how you listen, and what you listen to. Setting all other distractions aside and taking just half an hour to listen to another human being speak yields unparalleled insight into the workings of their lives. If that's not reason enough to listen, to converse, to dance, then I don't know what is.
So I leave you with a few thoughts.
1) Think about how you communicate with your body...what are you telling people (Keith put your shirt down, I'm not talking like that)
2) Don't be afraid to communicate with people. Yeah it takes effort and it might be uncomfortable at times. But the key to a rich life is, I believe, being able to communicate richly with others
3) Listen. Communicating is reciprocal. Give then take.
4) Whatever you do, don't trivialize your conversation. You only get so many opportunities to make lifelong connections with your fellow humans.
That's all I've got kids. Go talk to each other. Go con versare
("Wait wait wait...what about the part about emo kids liking this blog? I haven't seen anything that tugs at my hopeless romantic heart yet!!!)
Alllllllllright I started with a song so I'll end with a song just to make everyone happy.
"we turn our music down and we whisper 'say what your thinking right now.' tell me what you thought about when you were gone and so alone. the worst is over. you can have the best of me"
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Listen to how this looks!!!
The other night I was watching "Hitch" with Keith. Yeah...I watched Hitch. It's a delightful romantic comedy where Will Smith, playing Alex "Hitch" Higgins wields words like a battle mace on a conquest to slay the hearts of women for oafish dudes. Somehow, over the course of the movie Hitch gets some stupid heiress, Allegra Coles to fall for some dude named Albert-a portly, maladroit accountant. Through the twists and turns in the plot line, (that's false by the way-the plot twists of "Hitch" would be comparable to the twists of a ruler) Hitch drops some helpful hints of information to us, the buffooning dudes. While most of the info that Hitch tosses us is probably made up to suit the bent of the movie, in light of my blog on Friday one little tidbit of information did stand out to me. Near the beginning of the film, Hitch is providing a voice over narration while we watch some hot young girl roll around in bed. In his narration he mentions:
"60% of all human communication is nonverbal, body language; 30% is your tone, so that means 90% of what you're saying ain't coming out of your mouth"
Bingo, Hitch!! 90% of what we say isn't what we say, it's what we do. I've done a little more investigating, and from what internet sources I can track down, I have gleaned that actually 55% of what you say to people is expressed in your body language (facial expressions, posture, etc.). 38% of what you say to people is expressed in how you say it (rhythm, tone, volume, etc.). So that leaves a whopping 7% of communication that is actually expressed by the words that come out of your mouf . When we look at communication, be it a successful event or be it the fleeting, inconsequential communication that happened between Steve and I in Pizza Hut, you have to almost exclusively look at how you are communicating...not just what you're communicating.
"Oh BIG DEAL Andrew I knew that when I was like 6 years old, tell me something I DON'T know!" you're probably gassing. Well if you know so much, then how come you don't pay attention to how you say stuff?!?! Take this blog for example. I can try my best to communicate with you time and time again. And in fact, I try very often to communicate to you in earnest. In the last blog, I implored everyone who might happen to read this blog to leave a comment. The only one who left a comment was Joel, and even then I think the only reason he left a comment was because he felt bad for almost getting me killed in a bar fight.
But on a daily basis, through a series of inflections, movements, and a few power stares I can compel even a total stranger to complete a favor for me with just a few words: fax me a copy of your transcript, write me a letter and tell me that you still like my college, don't come in tomorrow for an interview, go get me a cup of coffee. I place more complex tasks on the shoulders of those who I work with and for, and they more or less agree to go along with what I say. Why is that?! BECAUSE they can see me. You all in blogland can't, and that's why we can never actually communicate with one another (awwwww). Communication is nonverbal. In reflecting on my conversation with Steve, I was actually putting up a barrier between he and I. I was half standing behind my table, plateful of pan pizza piled perilously high on my plate, with a drink in the other hand clearly not ready to talk. For all intents and purposes you would think Steve was the guy interrupting my meal with some inane conversation, but I was the one trying to start one. How on earth was that going to work?
For those of you who know me, you know I like to play golf. For those of you who know me well enough to actually play golf with me, you know that my putting game is abysmal...simply abysmal. Among other taunts that either Keith or my dad toss my way when my putt stops rolling about 15 feet from the pin, they always inevitably say "Come on Smith, you have to give yourself a chance!!" I think the same thing is true with communicating. You have to give yourself a chance to get into a decent conversation with someone. Think about how you talk. Then think harder about how you act when you talk. Before you start talking with someone, try to engage your whole body and mind in the conversation. Not only will it help you actually further your relationship with people, it may also score you a date with Eva Mendes .
Up Next...the great dance!!
"60% of all human communication is nonverbal, body language; 30% is your tone, so that means 90% of what you're saying ain't coming out of your mouth"
Bingo, Hitch!! 90% of what we say isn't what we say, it's what we do. I've done a little more investigating, and from what internet sources I can track down, I have gleaned that actually 55% of what you say to people is expressed in your body language (facial expressions, posture, etc.). 38% of what you say to people is expressed in how you say it (rhythm, tone, volume, etc.). So that leaves a whopping 7% of communication that is actually expressed by the words that come out of your mouf . When we look at communication, be it a successful event or be it the fleeting, inconsequential communication that happened between Steve and I in Pizza Hut, you have to almost exclusively look at how you are communicating...not just what you're communicating.
"Oh BIG DEAL Andrew I knew that when I was like 6 years old, tell me something I DON'T know!" you're probably gassing. Well if you know so much, then how come you don't pay attention to how you say stuff?!?! Take this blog for example. I can try my best to communicate with you time and time again. And in fact, I try very often to communicate to you in earnest. In the last blog, I implored everyone who might happen to read this blog to leave a comment. The only one who left a comment was Joel, and even then I think the only reason he left a comment was because he felt bad for almost getting me killed in a bar fight.
But on a daily basis, through a series of inflections, movements, and a few power stares I can compel even a total stranger to complete a favor for me with just a few words: fax me a copy of your transcript, write me a letter and tell me that you still like my college, don't come in tomorrow for an interview, go get me a cup of coffee. I place more complex tasks on the shoulders of those who I work with and for, and they more or less agree to go along with what I say. Why is that?! BECAUSE they can see me. You all in blogland can't, and that's why we can never actually communicate with one another (awwwww). Communication is nonverbal. In reflecting on my conversation with Steve, I was actually putting up a barrier between he and I. I was half standing behind my table, plateful of pan pizza piled perilously high on my plate, with a drink in the other hand clearly not ready to talk. For all intents and purposes you would think Steve was the guy interrupting my meal with some inane conversation, but I was the one trying to start one. How on earth was that going to work?
For those of you who know me, you know I like to play golf. For those of you who know me well enough to actually play golf with me, you know that my putting game is abysmal...simply abysmal. Among other taunts that either Keith or my dad toss my way when my putt stops rolling about 15 feet from the pin, they always inevitably say "Come on Smith, you have to give yourself a chance!!" I think the same thing is true with communicating. You have to give yourself a chance to get into a decent conversation with someone. Think about how you talk. Then think harder about how you act when you talk. Before you start talking with someone, try to engage your whole body and mind in the conversation. Not only will it help you actually further your relationship with people, it may also score you a date with Eva Mendes .
Up Next...the great dance!!
Friday, April 21, 2006
"Hollow words will burn...
...and hollow men will burn" is the clarion call drilled through your skull in Shai Hulud's "Set Your Body Ablaze". I've been listening to Shai Hulud a lot over the past week and I can't get over how amazing their lyrics are. As much as I like to listen to Shai Hulud, there is one thing that I tend to listen to more than anything else. It's not a band. It's not a song. It's not a TV program (down with the beast!!). The thing that I listen to more than anything else is, you guessed it, my own voice. I hear it all the time. For those of you out there who may be new to my life, I essentially get paid to be the voicebox of a small private college. I talk for an hour and a half straight about the ins and outs of campus on a weekly basis. I talk for 20 minutes just about sports, music, and theatre programs every day. I talk about whatever it is you want to know regarding my school in as long, or as short, of a timespan as you wish. I get paid to talk and subsequently hear my own voice a whole lot.
Whereas talking allllllll the time has helped me in terms of how to relate to people in public speaking engagements, it's had a few detrimental effects on my personality. One of the most insidious baobabs which has taken over my personality is that of constantly relying on hollow words to carry my conversation. During any given day at work, I'm expected to talk and wax-eloquent about aspects of my college which, frankly, I could care less about or don't know about. In these instances I've seamlessly preprogrammed into my oration a whole lot of fluff statements that really convey no important information, but somehow manage to appease the inquirer.
"Like what Andrew? Everything you've ever told me has been sage-like in character!!" you remark! Ohhhhh stop it you're too kind, too kind. Let me give you some excellent examples.
Student: Tell me about your communicationssss program (emphasis on the 'S'. Our Communication program is called...a communication program, no 'S')
Andrew: Our communication program offers a very indepth, well rounded curriculum that lends itself well to going in a lot of directions within the communication field!
(duh...)
Andrew (delivering a public address): I think our college is unique because we really encourage you to grow in your faith. We want to make sure that you're given opportunity to grow in and outside of class. We have an authentically Christian environment.
(hmmm...how many ways can you say "Christian College" back to back? This time, it was 3).
Andrew (to prospective student's family who compliments him): Oh...well you know, I do what I can.
(seriously I say this all the time. of course I do, that should go without sayingWhat does that mean? Anything?)
I could go on and on people, but you get the idea. I realized today that the fluff and hollow words that I drop at work have taken root and are taking over my life. This was the conversation I had with a friend at lunch today:
Steve: Hey man what's up?
Me: Not much, just out for lunch. What about you?
Steve: Yeah me too, going to get some pizza at the buffet.
Me: Yeah man, you come out to Pizza Hut and get some pizza on the buffet! It's a good deal.
Steve: Yeah tell me about it
Me: Alright man I'll let you get to your lunch.
MEANINGLESS!! Nothing said on my end of the conversation was substantial talk, even for a 5 year old. A five year old would at least ask what kind of pizza Steve was getting, if he could have some of Steve's Moutain Dew, or how he got to be so tall. Ok those are dumb questions, but as you can see they would certainly carry the conversation a litle further than I did in my now 24 years (to the date) of existence. It was at this point that I realized that I've got to do something about my hollow words! And if I'm going to do something, then that means YOU should all do something about it too!
Over the next few blogs I want to talk about communication. Why do we do it? Why don't we do it enough? Why do we take it for granted? How is it that we can have entire conversations with people composed of purely hollow statements and topics?? I know that these questions are the stuff that communicationsssss classes and text books are based around, but I'm just presumptuous enough to think I can do a general overview in a few blogs. Will it work? Maybe if I can cut the fluff out of my blogs you'll find out. In the meantime, leave some meaningful comments for us...we love to hear your feedback!
Whereas talking allllllll the time has helped me in terms of how to relate to people in public speaking engagements, it's had a few detrimental effects on my personality. One of the most insidious baobabs which has taken over my personality is that of constantly relying on hollow words to carry my conversation. During any given day at work, I'm expected to talk and wax-eloquent about aspects of my college which, frankly, I could care less about or don't know about. In these instances I've seamlessly preprogrammed into my oration a whole lot of fluff statements that really convey no important information, but somehow manage to appease the inquirer.
"Like what Andrew? Everything you've ever told me has been sage-like in character!!" you remark! Ohhhhh stop it you're too kind, too kind. Let me give you some excellent examples.
Student: Tell me about your communicationssss program (emphasis on the 'S'. Our Communication program is called...a communication program, no 'S')
Andrew: Our communication program offers a very indepth, well rounded curriculum that lends itself well to going in a lot of directions within the communication field!
(duh...)
Andrew (delivering a public address): I think our college is unique because we really encourage you to grow in your faith. We want to make sure that you're given opportunity to grow in and outside of class. We have an authentically Christian environment.
(hmmm...how many ways can you say "Christian College" back to back? This time, it was 3).
Andrew (to prospective student's family who compliments him): Oh...well you know, I do what I can.
(seriously I say this all the time. of course I do, that should go without sayingWhat does that mean? Anything?)
I could go on and on people, but you get the idea. I realized today that the fluff and hollow words that I drop at work have taken root and are taking over my life. This was the conversation I had with a friend at lunch today:
Steve: Hey man what's up?
Me: Not much, just out for lunch. What about you?
Steve: Yeah me too, going to get some pizza at the buffet.
Me: Yeah man, you come out to Pizza Hut and get some pizza on the buffet! It's a good deal.
Steve: Yeah tell me about it
Me: Alright man I'll let you get to your lunch.
MEANINGLESS!! Nothing said on my end of the conversation was substantial talk, even for a 5 year old. A five year old would at least ask what kind of pizza Steve was getting, if he could have some of Steve's Moutain Dew, or how he got to be so tall. Ok those are dumb questions, but as you can see they would certainly carry the conversation a litle further than I did in my now 24 years (to the date) of existence. It was at this point that I realized that I've got to do something about my hollow words! And if I'm going to do something, then that means YOU should all do something about it too!
Over the next few blogs I want to talk about communication. Why do we do it? Why don't we do it enough? Why do we take it for granted? How is it that we can have entire conversations with people composed of purely hollow statements and topics?? I know that these questions are the stuff that communicationsssss classes and text books are based around, but I'm just presumptuous enough to think I can do a general overview in a few blogs. Will it work? Maybe if I can cut the fluff out of my blogs you'll find out. In the meantime, leave some meaningful comments for us...we love to hear your feedback!
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
TV Be Gone!
It is finished. No, not the final words of Jesus, but yes you are correct. I'm referring to our life with cable. As the clock switched over from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00 on the evening of April the 14th, our cable was shut off. We are now 100% cable free and actually internet free. Not by design, but I know I promised a third blog about life after cable and what you can do with your time. So here it is, although admittedly lame. So it will also be a recap blog, but short. Andrew wants to come back and talk to y'inz.
1.) You watch a ton of TV.
2.) TV makes you have a shorter attention span.
3.) Get rid of it.
That's all I have to say really. Look me in the eye and tell me that you couldn't use 28 more hours week to do other stuff. Now I know that was the statistic for children 8-21. So adapt it a bit. You get home at 5:30 from work, cook dinner and sit down at 6 to eat it. You watch an hour of Seinfeld, then maybe two other shows after it, so you're now at two hours of TV a night. Let's say you watch Lost for an hour and some other random thirty minute show. That's three and a half hours of TV a night, times 7 ... and yep you got it ... 24 and a half hours of TV a week. Heck, I'll dock it to 21 for you.
Tell me you couldn't use 21 more hours a week. When we're all soooooooo busy. Who isn't busy anymore? Get over yourself and do something about it. You could gain almost a whole other day. What can you do in this time?
1.) Read more ... obviously.
2.) Learn to play an instrument.
3.) Learn to paint or pick up a hobby (say origami or sign language)
4.) Learn a foreign language, and then learn to speak it in a really sexy way (ladies love that).
5.) Hang out with people. Life is not like Flavor of Love. Real people are not like Flava Flav.
6.) Get outside and kill an animal ... woops ... that's a bad idea.
Those are just a few suggestions. If you don't want to be as radical as we are and get rid of cable, get someone to keep you accountable to an hour of television a night. NO MORE! When you're done with that hour, throw a bed sheet over it. You're less likely to get up off the couch and take the sheet off, then you are to turn the TV on when you're bored. Just cover it up.
That's really the only point of my blog. Except to ask you to send suggestions our way as well. What should we do now that we don't have cable. Your input is greatly appreciated. And many thanks to faithful reader Trey for commenting and reading. I think that was a shout out. I'm so lame. Catch y'inz later.
1.) You watch a ton of TV.
2.) TV makes you have a shorter attention span.
3.) Get rid of it.
That's all I have to say really. Look me in the eye and tell me that you couldn't use 28 more hours week to do other stuff. Now I know that was the statistic for children 8-21. So adapt it a bit. You get home at 5:30 from work, cook dinner and sit down at 6 to eat it. You watch an hour of Seinfeld, then maybe two other shows after it, so you're now at two hours of TV a night. Let's say you watch Lost for an hour and some other random thirty minute show. That's three and a half hours of TV a night, times 7 ... and yep you got it ... 24 and a half hours of TV a week. Heck, I'll dock it to 21 for you.
Tell me you couldn't use 21 more hours a week. When we're all soooooooo busy. Who isn't busy anymore? Get over yourself and do something about it. You could gain almost a whole other day. What can you do in this time?
1.) Read more ... obviously.
2.) Learn to play an instrument.
3.) Learn to paint or pick up a hobby (say origami or sign language)
4.) Learn a foreign language, and then learn to speak it in a really sexy way (ladies love that).
5.) Hang out with people. Life is not like Flavor of Love. Real people are not like Flava Flav.
6.) Get outside and kill an animal ... woops ... that's a bad idea.
Those are just a few suggestions. If you don't want to be as radical as we are and get rid of cable, get someone to keep you accountable to an hour of television a night. NO MORE! When you're done with that hour, throw a bed sheet over it. You're less likely to get up off the couch and take the sheet off, then you are to turn the TV on when you're bored. Just cover it up.
That's really the only point of my blog. Except to ask you to send suggestions our way as well. What should we do now that we don't have cable. Your input is greatly appreciated. And many thanks to faithful reader Trey for commenting and reading. I think that was a shout out. I'm so lame. Catch y'inz later.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
TV Makes you Dumb
Did the title get your attention? I bet it did. I hope it did. I used simple little words so I wouldn't lose you. That's what TV does. I'm going to hit a few quick points, mostly opinions, on why TV makes you dumb. The article title of this blog is a link to a blog article about why TV isn't making us smarter. Click on it when you're done with my thoughts. It's an awesome blog about media being horrible actually. I'm going to link it on the side of our blog as well. The article is long. I know we all don't do long anymore, thanks to TV ... that and I'm a 23 year old hack writer who isn't even a writer. Anyway let's get it going!
Let me start off by saying that TV does some things well. It has a purpose and there are some things that are better off visualized ... if you know what I'm saying. You probably don't, because I'm referring to tying a tie. This example someone gave to me the other day. I'm much better off showing you how to do it than trying to give you written instruction. So TV CAN BE GOOD. I submit that it's best in moderation and for certain reasons though.
Reasons TV is bad include, but by no means are limited too:
1.) It exists to make money (a.k.a. not educate you but rather point you towards advertisements.) Some people may say shows educate us now by being more complex, but are we really learning anything? I think not. They're just trying to throw more information at us since we've become desensitized. I highly doubt the president of CBS wants you to learn more, but I DO KNOW that he wants you sitting there for the next Bud Light commercial.
2.) It takes us away from books. Think about your life. When you watch TV or look at stuff online, think about what gets bumped. Is it hanging out with friends? Maybe. Is it eating? No. It's usually reading. Your response is likely to be something like, well reading is boring and there are no good authors anymore. Yeah, but not really. This most likely just seems to be the case since TV simplifies everything.
It uses a more simple language. It keeps our attention for maybe seven minutes before a commercial. And it throws lots of little things at us. Example - the NFL draft coming up a week from this Saturday. Watch how many things are on the screen at one time. They will have two to three bars scrolling at one time on the screen, someone talking to you, while showing video. All of it teaches me virtually nothing. It says nothing. It shows no concept. Our minds struggle now to focus on one thought or concept for more than seven minutes, or even to understand/use big words.
Big words and thoughts don't keep you watching till commercial. Naked girls, gay people, and controversy do. We need to retrain our minds to think differently.
3.) So much crap is on. Do I really need 70 channels? Yeah maybe I enjoy Extreme Home Makeover on Bravo (I don't even know if it's on Bravo) but do I need a whole Bravo channel? Probably not. Condense it down so I'm not paying for crap. I talked to a guy at my fair tonight. He said that he did the math, with the shows he watches, he spends $9.00 per program he actually watches. It's ridiculous. Condense it for crying out loud.
4.) We're paying for stuff we don't need or want to support. Andrew and I, by having cable before, were technically giving money, albeit small amounts, to MTV. I don't want them to have my money. I haven't watched them in over a year, since I think they're a hypocritcal joke. I don't want to support them. So now they don't get my money.
These are just a few reasons. I've probably left out many more, but I don't need to rail against cable anymore. You get my opinion/point. Just think about what we say here. MTV is garbage, and probably deserve their own blog, and now they're not going to make me more stupid. I'm going to learn to think again. I'm going to pick up a book and read. I'm going to relearn to play guitar. I'm going to get outside and enjoy life. If the cable company decides to be part of Capitlistic America again and compete for my money, maybe I'll give it back. But until you offer me the ability to buy say five channels ... forget it.
We called to cancel the cable, and it's a long story (if you care ask me), and finally the lady laughed at us. She asked what we were going to do. Andrew replied, "Read more. I haven't read much since college." The lady laughed at us.
Well, we're laughing now. We're going to take our 50 bucks, get a good case of beer, and learn to read again. See ya' later Armstrong ... see you later.
Let me start off by saying that TV does some things well. It has a purpose and there are some things that are better off visualized ... if you know what I'm saying. You probably don't, because I'm referring to tying a tie. This example someone gave to me the other day. I'm much better off showing you how to do it than trying to give you written instruction. So TV CAN BE GOOD. I submit that it's best in moderation and for certain reasons though.
Reasons TV is bad include, but by no means are limited too:
1.) It exists to make money (a.k.a. not educate you but rather point you towards advertisements.) Some people may say shows educate us now by being more complex, but are we really learning anything? I think not. They're just trying to throw more information at us since we've become desensitized. I highly doubt the president of CBS wants you to learn more, but I DO KNOW that he wants you sitting there for the next Bud Light commercial.
2.) It takes us away from books. Think about your life. When you watch TV or look at stuff online, think about what gets bumped. Is it hanging out with friends? Maybe. Is it eating? No. It's usually reading. Your response is likely to be something like, well reading is boring and there are no good authors anymore. Yeah, but not really. This most likely just seems to be the case since TV simplifies everything.
It uses a more simple language. It keeps our attention for maybe seven minutes before a commercial. And it throws lots of little things at us. Example - the NFL draft coming up a week from this Saturday. Watch how many things are on the screen at one time. They will have two to three bars scrolling at one time on the screen, someone talking to you, while showing video. All of it teaches me virtually nothing. It says nothing. It shows no concept. Our minds struggle now to focus on one thought or concept for more than seven minutes, or even to understand/use big words.
Big words and thoughts don't keep you watching till commercial. Naked girls, gay people, and controversy do. We need to retrain our minds to think differently.
3.) So much crap is on. Do I really need 70 channels? Yeah maybe I enjoy Extreme Home Makeover on Bravo (I don't even know if it's on Bravo) but do I need a whole Bravo channel? Probably not. Condense it down so I'm not paying for crap. I talked to a guy at my fair tonight. He said that he did the math, with the shows he watches, he spends $9.00 per program he actually watches. It's ridiculous. Condense it for crying out loud.
4.) We're paying for stuff we don't need or want to support. Andrew and I, by having cable before, were technically giving money, albeit small amounts, to MTV. I don't want them to have my money. I haven't watched them in over a year, since I think they're a hypocritcal joke. I don't want to support them. So now they don't get my money.
These are just a few reasons. I've probably left out many more, but I don't need to rail against cable anymore. You get my opinion/point. Just think about what we say here. MTV is garbage, and probably deserve their own blog, and now they're not going to make me more stupid. I'm going to learn to think again. I'm going to pick up a book and read. I'm going to relearn to play guitar. I'm going to get outside and enjoy life. If the cable company decides to be part of Capitlistic America again and compete for my money, maybe I'll give it back. But until you offer me the ability to buy say five channels ... forget it.
We called to cancel the cable, and it's a long story (if you care ask me), and finally the lady laughed at us. She asked what we were going to do. Andrew replied, "Read more. I haven't read much since college." The lady laughed at us.
Well, we're laughing now. We're going to take our 50 bucks, get a good case of beer, and learn to read again. See ya' later Armstrong ... see you later.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Facts about the old Telly
Alright alright ... I'm slow. I know it. It's been my downfall as a blogger. I'm not on top of things as I should be. What truly matters though is that I'm here and I'm blogging now. So buckle up here we go ...
I mentioned in my previous blogs things I hope to cover. The first off was the quest of Andrew and I to get rid of cable! What that you say? This sounds proposterous? We must be stupid? Well you're right, we are stupid and TV is the reason why. So a few days ago Andrew and I began a quest to get rid of our cable. I'm going to try to keep this brief, since I know that none of you read long blogs. But I'm going to cover today why we wanted to get rid of cable. The next blog will be about the process of getting rid of it and why it's horrible. Finally the third blog will be things you can do after getting rid of it ... or more realistically how to limit TV time.
I'd been feeling discontent with my life one weekend. I spent the weekend doing nothing really of consequence. I felt like I had done some good things, but that people my age just had to be doing something cooler. I explored this thought further with our bartender out at Elephant and Castle and some of our friends and found out two things:
1.) I had watched far too much TV that weekend really.
2.) Everyone else my age typically does that as well.
The decision to get of cable began slowly creeping into our heads at this point and reached a head after Andrew and I spent an hour one night watching Flavor of Love on VH1. The show is so stupid and left Andrew and I asking, "Why do we care about who Flavor Flav (a bona fide idiot) dates and why is TV so lame?"
TV has overtaken our lives. Don't believe me ... check this:
1.) 66.3% of American Households have Cable. This is some form of at least basic cable on up.
2.) The cable industry makes over 95 billion dollars a year in terms of advertising and prices.
3.) Average price of cable is $41.17 dollars per month. This is absurd.
4.) 42% of those under the age of thirty say they feel watching TV is a bad use of their time, but of that 42% ... 72% say they plan to do nothing about watching too much.
Only a few more:
5.) The average child (age 8-21) watches 28 hours of cable a week, sees 20,000 thirty second commercials a year, and watches just under 1,500 hours of cable a year.
6.) The average child has 32.5 minutes of meaningful conversation a week with parents.
7.) If you live to be 75 years old, you will have spent anywhere between 7-10 years of your life watching TV.
The point is, TV is slowly taking over. No wonder either ... it's incredibly relaxing. Nothing is better than putting up your feet and laughing a little. You relax your mind. But that's exactly the problem, as I'll explore next time. There are now more voices telling you what to think and why. And we're just kind of believing it instead of critically thinking about it. So Andrew and I realized that we want those 7-10 years of our lives. Or at least 4 of them. We can get rid of cable and do more constructive things with our lives ... read, write, or talk to people.
Chew on that until I give you some reasoning as to how Cable is influencing your thinking ... without you even knowing.
I mentioned in my previous blogs things I hope to cover. The first off was the quest of Andrew and I to get rid of cable! What that you say? This sounds proposterous? We must be stupid? Well you're right, we are stupid and TV is the reason why. So a few days ago Andrew and I began a quest to get rid of our cable. I'm going to try to keep this brief, since I know that none of you read long blogs. But I'm going to cover today why we wanted to get rid of cable. The next blog will be about the process of getting rid of it and why it's horrible. Finally the third blog will be things you can do after getting rid of it ... or more realistically how to limit TV time.
I'd been feeling discontent with my life one weekend. I spent the weekend doing nothing really of consequence. I felt like I had done some good things, but that people my age just had to be doing something cooler. I explored this thought further with our bartender out at Elephant and Castle and some of our friends and found out two things:
1.) I had watched far too much TV that weekend really.
2.) Everyone else my age typically does that as well.
The decision to get of cable began slowly creeping into our heads at this point and reached a head after Andrew and I spent an hour one night watching Flavor of Love on VH1. The show is so stupid and left Andrew and I asking, "Why do we care about who Flavor Flav (a bona fide idiot) dates and why is TV so lame?"
TV has overtaken our lives. Don't believe me ... check this:
1.) 66.3% of American Households have Cable. This is some form of at least basic cable on up.
2.) The cable industry makes over 95 billion dollars a year in terms of advertising and prices.
3.) Average price of cable is $41.17 dollars per month. This is absurd.
4.) 42% of those under the age of thirty say they feel watching TV is a bad use of their time, but of that 42% ... 72% say they plan to do nothing about watching too much.
Only a few more:
5.) The average child (age 8-21) watches 28 hours of cable a week, sees 20,000 thirty second commercials a year, and watches just under 1,500 hours of cable a year.
6.) The average child has 32.5 minutes of meaningful conversation a week with parents.
7.) If you live to be 75 years old, you will have spent anywhere between 7-10 years of your life watching TV.
The point is, TV is slowly taking over. No wonder either ... it's incredibly relaxing. Nothing is better than putting up your feet and laughing a little. You relax your mind. But that's exactly the problem, as I'll explore next time. There are now more voices telling you what to think and why. And we're just kind of believing it instead of critically thinking about it. So Andrew and I realized that we want those 7-10 years of our lives. Or at least 4 of them. We can get rid of cable and do more constructive things with our lives ... read, write, or talk to people.
Chew on that until I give you some reasoning as to how Cable is influencing your thinking ... without you even knowing.
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