I don’t watch Television. Some people find it strange, but I find it liberating. I’ve been saved for 14 months now. What do I do with all the free time?

I might not know who was the latest winner of Idols but frankly, I don’t care. It doesn’t limit my ability to interact with people even a bit. Often times I have more interesting things to tell.

In Finland you have to pay a monthly TV fee that is quite a robbery in comparison to what you get. I calculated that the ammount I used to watch television wasn’t quite high anyway and you get distracted by a lot of re-runs and literarly rubbish.

So I switched the TV to a video projector and watch movies, documentaries and play online games when I have the time to sit down. The money I spend in renting the best stuff is less than the finnish TV fee.

I’ve also noticed that I also have lots of more time. I read more quality news, articles and books. I have more conversations, offline and online. I feel that my personal learning has sky-rocketed after I denied the intellectual lobotomy delivered through the black box.

When I need the entertainment -part of TV, I watch Youtube or any of the other social video sharing sites on the web. There are lots of free documentaries and other media, too. See for example here.

A little bit of searching and you can find lots of quality material that you can’t find from the mainstream media. Recently I’ve been using a lot of time at VBS.TV, they have really interesting reportage from around the world. The in-room flash player for watching is the best I’ve seen on the web. And yes, it’s all free.

First you find it quite strange that the tone on reporting is not sensational but just picturing the life and ideals of people in foreign cultures in a honest way. What’s the point in going to Baghdad and then interviewing you security guards? Well, watch for example the Heavy Metal in Baghdad or Inside Sudan series.

After you get over the need for sensationalism you notice the true value in seeing the hidden back-scenes of events that do not fall under the radar of mainstream media. The Sudan series is a good example of giving a very different picture.

According to finnish studies on TV hours spent, the ammount young people watch television has been declining slowly in the last five years. The younger generation increasingly surfs the web for stories, ideas, entertainment and community. If you need high-definition, rent or use peer-to-peer networks.