Over two years ago Brianne and I decided to end our cable subscription and sell our TV. And so it was that my sweet 19″ TV/VCR combo that I bought in college moved on to a better, more loving home.

I have to admit, I was a bit more skeptical than Brianne about how we’d fair without our 19” boob tube.  Thoughts like “what about major sporting events, what about staying current with news, or what about just staying current with trends in general?” all ran through my brain. 

Despite the hesitancy, the desire to create more time doing things won out over keeping our TV. We only had so much time in a day, and we realized it was way too easy to turn on the television set and let the evening go by.  Amazingly, the withdrawals didn’t last long once the TV was gone.  When you actually unplug your TV and it’s not an option, it’s easier than you might think to fill your time.

For more than a year we had no TV in the house. We instantly created more free time which allowed us to stay ahead on chores, get outside more, and in general communicate more. And when we got an itch to watch a show, we jumped online and watched it without commercials.  The beauty of this is we could watch it when the time was best for us (rather than us fitting our schedule around the show).

About a year ago we ended up buying another TV (a 42” flat screen), but its only purpose was for movies; we still have no cable. Even with this addition, our time in front of the TV is significantly less than what it used to be because we dictate what we watch and when we watch it.

If you are finding it hard to get everything done in your life – try disconnecting your cable. You’ll save some money and instantly create free time you can use for whatever else is most important to you.

And to bring this full circle and add a marketing perspective, this is one of those areas of life that is a true intersection for businesses. Digital online media is reshaping how we consume information. I have no doubt that in the future cable TV as we know it today will converge with broadband and the majority of consumers will view most if not all of their cable content online. It’s already beginning as TV’s are now being sold that can connect direct with Netflix, YouTube etc.

At the end of the day each of us will still be responsible for how much TV we consume, but for those of us who want to be specific about when and where we watch it, we’ll have even greater flexibility.