Chris said (September 21, 2013):

Dealing with addiction it’s all the same you just got to get the person away for whatever they are addicted to long enough for them to come back to themselves..i had it real bad with Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Just throw the power from your junction box located somewhere in your house. If your lucky and the box is labeled throw the power to where the TV is located and pretend you don’t know WTF is going on...or throw the power to the whole house and pretend there is a power outage..get creative! After she gets bored from waiting for the cable guys you were supposed to have called an hour ago take her out to dinner and go from there. Best of luck friend!

Richard said (September 21, 2013):

I concur with Anne's comment. The only cure for TV addiction is getting busy with another activity that fills in the 'vacuum' addicts feel when the TV 'world' is flipped off.

After all, TV watching turns a person into a 'couch potato' so when the TV is off there's an illusion that nothing is going on. But the feeling that TV world is real is a terrible illusion.

It's been my experience that 'cold turkey' works best. Happily, TV withdrawal is over within 5 days. The key is to contrive a situation where you are off the grid.

Maybe take a camping vacation this summer -- and 'lose' any internet devises too.

Peter said (September 21, 2013):

About half a second in the microwave with the remote control and it will never again be quite the loving friend it once was or teach her how to wire a plug by cutting it off with some snips might buy you a couple of days. Although the argument will be a doozie.

Christen said (September 21, 2013):

I am a woman and my feeling is that the husband, as the head of the home, and especially the income earner, has the right to decide not to pay for garbage to be transmitted into the home. I think he should stop paying for cable and DVR.

Buy some good old movies and tv shows from the internet so she doesn't have to go completely cold turkey, but has some more wholesome alternatives. I agree with the other posts that to make this transition, spend more time taking her out for awhile. I grew up in a Christian home, but even so, TV was on all day and night until everyone went to bed. From a young age daytime soaps were on every day, and by my teens I was hooked on them. When I had my first child however I began to pay attention to what was really being said. It was mostly arguing and sex!

I didn't want my child even hearing that and stopped watching the soaps. Over time, I realized most of TV is trash and expensive too. We have not had cable for almost 5 years and I really don't miss it at all. Many women I know also do not have cable anymore.

The writer didn't say if he and his wife had children, but I think having children can help you see how awful the "entertainment" on TV is today, not to mention you can be too busy (in a good way - kids are fun, mostly) to sit in front of the TV all night. That is unless you let them sit in front of TV's in their rooms, which is even worse than watching it yourself.

Dan said (September 21, 2013):

I can relate. in college in 1975 I didn't watch TV - a sleepover girlfriend gave a color portable so she could watch Saturday Night Live at my house. (She said it turned her on). I'd gotten rid of TV years later, but when I got married my wife brought a battery operated TV on our honeymoon --- which was camping all summer in national parks. Can you imagine camping atop a mountain in Colorado with "America's Most Wanted" and truck commercials echoing in the woods? Nine years later when we divorced the TV habit stayed with me for twelve more years.

I finally broke free in 2008 when the government offered a FREE converter box when they replaced the old UHF/VHF broadcast band with HDTV MAX MIND CONTROL. The neurophysiology of the old TV signals were bad enough. http://psychicdriving.com/disconnect/television.html

Satanist Anton Levay called TV the "Satanic family altar".

John said (September 21, 2013):

A few thoughts

She is looking for HELP and her husband has to step up and be a man ,

Get some good movies from the library and watch them with her, show her that all she is watching is crap,

Take her out , to the beach, dancing, get her to do stuff even if it is just walking around the mall,

GET HER DRUNK and ask what the problem is !

Ask your/her family what they think the problem is and get to work solving it !

Try praying,,something that you can do together.

Richard said (September 21, 2013):

My female partner is also addicted to TV in a different way. She sit in front of the TV, plays games on the computer and has Fox news or Fox business on. She thinks that Fox is always correct and the rest of the world is wrong. We cannot talk about anything news wise. If I bring up any subject, she yells at me and blames the DINO's for all the problems in this country and the world. When I mention RINO's she changes the subject. We do not talk.

I enjoy you website, very informative. THANKS

Alan said (September 20, 2013):

Advice for the TV Addict's husband & author - Michael. "For as a man (or woman) thinketh - so is he (she)".

Your right Michael, my suggestion is not to abandon or beat your wife over the head with what you know is right. But be like a farmer, plant good seeds, stand back and observe from a distance. The good seed takes time to take hold and grow. Eventually, each seed type (good idea) will take root and eventually your wife cannot help but take ownership and develop it into a thought she will believe was her own. As time wears on she will make these ideas a reality and then preach them back to you.

If you have family members or close family friends, you can sell one idea at a time by planting seeds with them indirectly. As they buy-in they will cross pollinate them and when your wife buys-in, wallah you will have no objection and harmony will prevail!

I used to try to get my wife to see the light of truth and it was a clanging bell to her. Now the family helps spread my seeds and ideas, then as they become embraced and maybe even hybridized , I don't care. The beauty is its movement in the right direction.

The biggest benefit of all is it makes YOU more humble because you don't need to take credit, it's not about winning arguments. It is REALLY all about teaching YOU again, patience. You see God loved us first, forgave us first and he teaches us long suffering.

Hang in there take the long haul, short term results are like the seed that does not take root, it gets uprooted in the next storm.
God Bless and if you think you need it, good luck.

George said (September 20, 2013):

Reference Michael's wife's tv addiction the adage "set yourself free, trash the tv" is appropriate. It may be strongly suggested that the husband and wife take a trip where (most 2nd or 3rd nations) daytime tv is not available due to travel, or in a language that is incomprehensible to her. Two, three weeks should go a long way to put a serious fracture into the addiction. Several, different locations with initially fast paced tour is likely the best. (I've completely cut tv from my life 5 years ago. I'm still alive! How did humanity live 3-4 decades ago or before?)

Best of luck to Michael and his wife!

Anne said (September 20, 2013):

Regarding the wife addicted to tv: Television puts one into a hypnotic trance. This has become much worse over recent years due to the extremely fast cuts and jerky camera shots. The only way to follow the images is to slightly unfocus your eyes and let your mind fall into a different kind of brain wave state. (Critical faculties have to shut down. There is no time to process.) Your wife is also addicted to the intense emotional excitement and the adrenaline. Maybe you could take a vacation together in a secluded natural setting for a couple weeks, where the only options are playing scrabble and hiking.

She needs some time to allow her desire for intense emotion to subside and return to normal. Then, when she returns, she needs something to do, a job, hobby, or her own small business. Idle hands are the devil's playground.

Robert said (September 20, 2013):

I know a man who had a private health insurance policy, which is quite rare, here in the UK as there is a National health scheme.

When his wife was close to giving birth, they decided that they would use this policy, and have a private room in the hospital.

His wife was struggling to sleep, so they sought the Lord for the reason, it was revealed to them that the Television set was the problem, they had the set removed and all was OK from that moment.

Adrian said (September 20, 2013):

It is not just wives. Through TV, radio, internet and mobile phones,the evil of Hollywood affects 99% of people on the planet, destroying
societies everywhere.

Michael needs to "man up" a bit and lead his family away from this evil, even to the extent of completely "upsetting" his wife, who has
become a zombie. Love is based on truth and justice. 3 pillars. Without earnestly seeking all three, "love" is the equivalent of puppy love.

It is essential for all members of any family that the marrying couple make "no TV in the house" a condition for marriage.

Properly selected video/audio media is obviously fine, but such material is quasi non existent on TV. A good source is mvgroup.org and material
prior to the 70's.