OK, it’s time for an update, given that I am halfway through my test without TV or other assorted distractions. I will be truthful as possible and say that this has been quite difficult and certainly harder than I thought. After all, Monday, Wednesday, I have been to the gym, Tuesday, Thursdays, to the library. I was out on Friday and Saturday night.

Avoiding such time-wasting activities requires a lot of concious thought - several times I turned the TV on out of pure habit and it took of couple of seconds to remember that I was not allowed to watch.

I suppose the strange thing is, I don’t miss the actual programmes themselves, but I do miss something else which is hard to explain. It’s the same with computer games, and browsing mindless internet sites. There is not one individual thing that I miss but overall there is a small part of resentment that I do not have total freedom of choice.

What have been the effects? Have there been improvements?

As I predicted, this is not a quick fix solution. I’m not going to pretend that there has been a 100% gain in efficiency, because there hasn’t. My thinking is this: not watching TV saves you time. But, it only really counts if you do something with that time. My own opinion is that almost anything is more productive than watching TV.

For instance: instead of TV for 1 hour, go to bed 1 hour earlier. On the surface, this looks like there has been no gain. But, you have 1 hours extra sleep, you wake up feeling better. The next day, you are a far more valuable commodity. That’s worth a lot.

So, what have the other effects been?

I have been reading a lot more. I will read a few chapters before going to bed, as opposed to playing the Playstation or PC.

I have been sleeping better. This has been a good benefit. Bedtimes have been earlier by probably about 30 minutes each night.

Time has been passing slower. No kidding, but watching an film is an easy way to erase 2 hours. With no TV, time passes a lot more slowly, especially in the evenings.

With the gap caused by TV, naturally your mind looks to other alternatives for entertainment.

I have retaken an interest in producing DJ mixes, I am listening to more music.
Have an urge to go to more football matches, even crap ones. Football on TV was probably my favourite thing.
I have started to learn about the stock market, and now have an account to trade derivatives and indices. Partially because of my course, but partially because I am interested in it. 

Only another 7 days to go. I will provide more updates and insight when it’s all over. Hopefully there will be more developements.