오늘로써 30 chapter를 끝냈는데….
앞으로 남은 30장은 그냥 2페이지씩 해서, 빨리 끝낼 생각임.
그 뒤 덪붙여서 써야지, 평생 걸릴것 같음.
60장을 10 페이지씩 쓰면, 600페이지….
오늘 7장 쓴 chapter 19….
열심히 일하는데도 가난한 이유 19번째…..
집에 티비가 있어서….
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19
Keeping a TV
Having a TV is like spending your money to
get their advertisements.
-Brad Kong
The last time I had cable TV was 2008. That was 14 years ago since it is 2022 now. I do have an old CRT TV in brand new mint condition I bought at that time, but it has never really turned on. We used to connect a Blu-ray DVD player to it, but that happened in 2014. So the last time I turned on our TV was about eight years ago. The Blu-ray movies kept giving me headaches, so I eventually had to sell it.
I have had a peaceful life for quite a while and passed two difficult exams in the last five years: Medical Coder and Pharmacy Technician. My daughter’s grades from school have improved noticeably after she moved back into my place in 2018. She used to get poor grades when she used to live with her grandpa who has a TV. Having no TV is important. Eventually, my writing career has launched since my mental exhaustion stopped and meditation started.
In 2007, I still worked at the video game store and my mother visited me in the apartment in Rolling Meadows, IL. She stayed for about a couple of weeks and I ordered cable TV service only for her just in case she would get bored. I remember she watched the home shopping channel a lot. When I think about it now, the cable TV order was a total waste of money. I saw she played with my cat just fine even though she never had a pet for her whole life. She could have had relaxing two weeks without a TV for the first time in her life.
My father watched a lot of TVs when I grew up. He has been a self made millionaire. Just like many Korean fathers, he never had any hobby costing money. This generation really started everything from the rock bottom after the Korean war ended in 1953. They know what famine was like and it is impossible for them to spend any extra money to play. Naturally watching TV has become their sole hobby. Channels were free with air signal reception by antennas at that time. I was born in the 1970s and lived with him only until I graduated from high school in 1991. The house had two TVs: One in the living room and one in the master bedroom of our parents.
My brother watched a lot of TVs, too. But, for some reasons, I have never gotten into that habit. In fact, I really hated it when everyone else watched TV in the living room altogether while I was studying in my room. They pumped up the volume regardless. They should have gotten rid of TVs instead of having extra tutors for my study at home. I explained this in Chapter 1 already, but they could have saved tons of money if they did it so. They lost double the money on electricity bills and tutoring fees. Since they kept threatening me to improve my school grades while they kept interrupting my studying environment, they ended up making me a complete enemy. When I think about it now, these people are complete idiots. They were rude, stupid and thoughtless in that sense. Maybe that is the reason why I live without a TV now. I do not want to repeat what they did to me to my daughter.
We are living in an era having too much media now. By that time when my family had been crazy about TV, there was nothing else: No Internet. Radio, TV and movie theater were the only electronic media in the world. Maybe there were some analog newspapers, magazines, books, etc. Life had been simpler and healthier back then.
But, suddenly the Internet came out and there are too many electronic media hurting our brains now: Computers, laptops, smartphones, HDTVs, iMax theaters, Digital Dolby theaters, etc. There are more and more things to watch everyday. Even TV was simple back then until the 1990s: only 4 national channels received by antenna. Now even hundreds of cable channels are not enough, so some people order Netflix or something with an extra subscription. On top of that, I can borrow new movie DVDs at the library for free and a RedBox DVD rental machine for $2. There are too many devices, too much media and too many screens to watch. No wonder I feel insane and get a headache all the time.
I have a 16 years old CRT TV in brand new condition and I am glad I did not buy a HDTV. (I just keep this for antique value. Too mintish.) I have already wasted much of my life on the Internet. The big problem is our empty time to think about issues is diminishing. Rather, people get more and more advertisements through all these media and end up spending more money even while broke.
Technically, watching the media is like having another job. Biologically watching is working. Watching TV or social media becomes like your second job while you do not get paid. I see a lot of people looking tired for no apparent reason. They are addicted and keep watching all the time 24/7.
While we do not have a TV in my house, my family has two desktop computers, one notebook, one iPad and two smartphones. My wife has a strange habit of carrying her iPad everywhere. She agreed not to have a TV, but she’s watching TV all the time on the internet. We had a bit of an argument the other day since she did not understand my letter to one government agency. She said she thought it’s for my previous job. I told her, “Why do I make an effort to write a letter to my previous job now? I am done with them and don’t care what they do.” She clearly showed severe symptoms of confusion. Ridiculous thing is she did not get heavy exhaustion from working hard. She just got it from watching too much internet.
It is a long story, but I do not borrow free DVDs from the library or go to the movie theater any more. I used to borrow new release movies all the time and go to the AMC theater with my daughter every Tuesday since the ticket is $5 only on that day. We used to watch a lot of animations together. But, I just don’t do that any more. I think I have been burned out by too much media already. I hate those unique headaches after watching a movie in the theater. It used to happen to me after watching Blu-ray movies as well. I thought there was no reason to exhaust myself after spending money.
Also, I just got a new Dell desktop computer yesterday, but I will not download Starcraft II even though it is free. I used to play Starcraft a lot when I was in college and even II is free to download now. But, I am not downloading it to play. So there will be no TV, video games, DVD, movie theater or social media from now. Nowadays, I only borrow books from the library and listen to audiobooks from YouTube. I can save some money that way, but more importantly I can have some time to think.
Having a TV is like having an advertisement machine at home. Those companies should provide you one for free, but you just bought it at a high price voluntarily. The machine will maximize your shopping desire. You will get poorer and poorer while you do not notice. A lot of IT companies provide you one email or social media account for free. YouTube provides free videos without subscription. You are watching their advertisement for those free stuff. But, in the case of TV, you do not get a free TV, but you watch plenty of their advertisements.
I heard that Nazi used to provide free radio, so German citizens can listen to addresses of Hitler easily. Modern slaves do not think that way. They just buy expensive TVs since it is fun. They do not care if they get headaches, red cheeks, bad vision, high blood pressures, expensive bills, too much ads or media. They just buy since it looks fun.
If you are in a condition to be broke all the time, just get rid of those TVs, DVD players, Netflix, Disney plus subscriptions, etc. Just remove them completely out of your life. Sell them for cash, so make some money first and eliminate all the future spendings.
See if you can have some time to think alone quietly, keep a sane mind and figure out a solution to any problem in your life if that is the case. No one can really help you unless the person is in your exact shoes. You need to figure out a specific solution for your unique situation yourself. Please shut off everything and start using your brain.