Cable Versus Brain Cells

WOW! I just spent the past week on cable - or should I say, hooked on remote control exercise. With cable, who has time for anything else?

Not having cable television at home, 60+ options in channels seems a bit overwhelming at first. Every hour on the hour was another walk through the numbers. What is on now?

It took until day two to realize the answer to what's on was clear - very little! I witnessed show after show, channel after channel of reruns, old movies, or reality shows where someone is saying something inappropriate every 10 seconds. I even became bored with American Chopper! Apparently they were hosting a marathon of show after show. I can honestly say that I love bikes, but found the show a little draining. I concluded that these reality shows are scripted with a set of rules.

Rule 1: Someone has to say something inappropriate - a lot.
Rule 2: Someone has to yell really loud - a lot.
Rule 3: Someone has to be obnoxious - a lot.
Rule 4: Social values and morals need not apply.
Rule 5: Rude, crude, and shocking = a reality show.

So then my thoughts as a teacher go to kids. This is the infusion kids are getting on a regular basis? I know parents try their best to monitor, but let's face facts - is it 100% guaranteed?

I'm convinced that cable destroys brain cells.

Of course, to every situation there is daylight - I did find the exception to the channel barrage - TLC, Discovery, and the History Channel. Well done with all three (although TLC was the channel hosting the American Chopper deluge).

So what would life without cable be? Some would say, myself included, it would be living.