Life Without Television is Like Life Without Junk Food

This article originally appeared in The Island Packet.

Lauderdale: No TV since 2004 clicks for Hilton Head family
BY DAVID LAUDERDALE

Carla Golden turned off the TV in 2004 and hasn’t missed it for a minute.

She recalls seeing her 3-year-old daughter standing in front of the television clicking through the channels. She thought, “Something’s wrong here.”

It wasn’t the television shows bombarding her baby’s mind that made her decide, “We’ve got to stop this.”

It was the commercials.

“I felt like somebody was shouting at me the whole time,” Golden said. “The commercials are so aggressive.”

Over the years, when the Goldens have seen television in a hotel room, it reinforced their resolve to keep it off.

It would make their young daughter want things she never knew existed. It made Golden and her husband wince.

“We learned that we didn’t see the drug ads,” Golden said. “We didn’t see the political ads. There’s so much junk, and we’ve just taken ourselves out of the audience.”

She’s not averse to screen time.

The Goldens now own a television, but it’s not hooked to cable. They have an Apple TV box, mainly to access YouTube and Netflix, which enables them to watch TV shows without the commercials.

“I think it’s better on the brain,” Golden said. “It’s definitely more peaceful.”

She thinks it has helped her child’s comprehension to watch a storyline from beginning to end without interruptions.

The Goldens finds it easy to keep abreast of current events and trends. They go to the movies a lot. She reads the local newspaper online. Her favorite YouTube channel is Casey Neistat’s, and her favorite podcaster is Rich Roll.

Technology is not what got turned off.

In addition to being a massage therapist, Golden runs a worldwide business from Hilton Head Island via the Internet. It focuses on holistic health, healing and nutrition.

Seven years ago, Golden’s favorite meal was a ribeye steak with a Jack Daniel’s and Coke. Now the only thing she can recommend in good conscience is a vegan diet. She runs plant-powered marathons. Her Facebook image is called “Pineapple Girl,” and it shows her surrounded by fruit.

Life without television is like life without junk food.

“What I put in my brain, my eyes, my ears as well as my mouth is important to me,” Golden said. “I’m very particular about what I will consume. I have a lot more control than I was led to believe.”

The issue is to take control of one’s life.

“Technology can be a toy to avoid life, or a tool to engage in life,” she said.

Her household’s goal is for 80 percent of technology time to be productive time, working toward a goal.

It reminds me of the time Hank Noble of Bluffton, then our children’s elementary school principal, told a gathering of parents to take advantage of the greatest technological advance of our time: the “off” button.

“It takes some confidence and bravery to live outside the social norms,” Golden said. “But there are so many rewards. I would never go back to the status quo.”