What's TV?

I realized I don't watch TV anymore.

What's caused this? Is it that the amount of "free time" that I have doesn't exist like it used to? Is it because I'd rather be out with friends after work vs. hanging around at home watching a show or baseball game? Are things on TV not as good as they used to be?

Well, part of the reason is because I'm not a fan of most shows on TV this day, except for Family Guy, of course.

However, I think the main reason is because of how much time I spend in front of a computer each day. At work, I work with computers. I don't actually write programs or do anything creative with computers, but I do service customers who work with computer software that my company sells. This being the case, my job consists of troubleshooting issues and mastering software applications that our customers use.

By the time I get home at the end of the day, I barely want to use my MacBook Pro, which is a computer that I bought about a year ago that I'm still in love with.

This story is coming from someone who uses a computer roughly 9 hours a day during the week. By the end of the day, I'm so tired of looking at computer screens that I don't use my home computer at home, and I also don't feel like watching TV. I can only imagine what kind of effects the computer screen may have on someone who works with computers all day every day for 10+ hours per day. Do these people still have the urge to watch TV or play video games at home? Computers and all that come with them are one of the best inventions of mankind, but what are the lasting effects of staring at computer screen day after day?

If I do watch TV at home at night, it's usually on my computer. I can't remember the last time that I watched TV, not DVR'd, and sat through commercials. It's interesting to think how the world of IT has changed my lifestyle. Now, I don't feel like watching TV after looking at screens all day, and if I do watch TV, I'm not even watching commercials. The marketing campaigns of 2011 are certainly not reaching me. As a result of my lifestyle, I'm consistently out of touch with pop culture and mainstream media. Sure, I go on Facebook, but that's really all I have for connecting to "what's hot".

I'm okay with all of this.