I think I set a retirement record for not turning on the TV! I did watch a on-demand movie, Molly’s Game, 3 days ago but that was the last time I hit the power switch on the remote. It’s usually at least on in the background, but my computer has been my sole companion this week. This oddity suddenly struck me today, as I sat here writing in silence this afternoon. It’s not as if I haven’t been exposed to TV at all. My wife has had it on in the living room and I’ve seen it on in bars and restaurants that I’ve visited, but I have remarkably not touched a remote control in all this time. A few more days of this and I might have to call the Guinness Book of World Records.

This was not my intent when the week started. I planned to watch the Cubs host the Cardinals, but two out of three of those games were cancelled because of the weather. I would have also watched the Trailblazer Playoff game, but got tickets to the unexpected loss at the Moda Center instead. I ran some errands, did my daily runs, and went to lunch today, but otherwise I was home with the dogs every morning and afternoon. No TV doesn’t sound like a remarkable achievement to you? It was my business for nearly 25 years, so the “boob tube” has been a mainstay for most of my life. Also, like most retirees, sitting in front of a television screen is a primary source of “cheap” entertainment, unless you have hundreds of channels to choose from as I do.

I will not be watching television tomorrow either. We’ll be on an early plane to Santa Monica, and stay in hotel rooms over the next four days. It will likely be a full week before I turn it on a TV again. The laptop was my alternative crutch the past few days where I do my writing, maintain diaries, read e-mail, check scores, and stream Amazon Prime programming. It wasn’t as if I lost touch with the world, just with the TV remote!

Streaming is the same as watching TV, you might counter. I will often have the TV on in my office and be fiddling with the two computers on my desk at the same time while checking the phone for incoming messages. It’s basic multitasking, a viewing habit that I developed many years ago! Watching a program on my computer and not turning on the TV eliminates one of these distractions, so I’m really much more focused on what I’m watching. At the same time, much of my commercial intake is eliminated, so it feels like a different experience. Plus, I carry the laptop from room to room, so I’m not stuck in a stationary spot all day like a “couch potato.” I could do the same with TV since there’s one in every room, but I don’t because there are too many remote controls involved.

I can watch TV both on my phone and on my computers, so as many as three programs could be on at the same time. That hardly compares to stretches in my broadcasting career when I had as many as eight TVs on different channels in my office, so I could constantly monitor the competition. I could see who was a breaking a news or weather story first, how the other stations were handling live coverage of local events, and who was advertising at any given time. As you can see, my working days were often consumed with television. In retirement, I limit most of my viewing to historical documentaries, current movies, and live sports, so I’ve cut back considerably on my viewing habits. This should explain why a week away from TV for me is worthy of the record books.