There's a drumbeat out there. If you haven't heard it because of all the political coverage, get ready. It's going to become more insistent right through to Feb. 17, 2009.
That's the date the government-mandated, digital-television transition, aka, DTV, kicks in. If your television reception comes via rabbit ears or from a rooftop antenna, you won't have "Oprah" or "Heroes" or "Dancing with The Stars" after that date. In fact, you won't have television, period.
Minority communities are most affected by this switch from analog signals to digital because we depend on over-the-air reception more than the general population. All the notices are quick to point out that the switch requires no one to buy a new digital television set; the old one will do just fine as long as people get the right government-subsidized converter box, something you can learn about here or by calling 1-888-DTV-2009.
But here's another proposition. What if the vast majority of African Americans used the switchover to switch off? What if the change came and we just failed to follow through?
Think about it. It's not as if television reflects African Americans particularly well. There are numerous sources—from Donald Bogle's Primetime Blues to Dennis Rome's Black Demons: The Media's Depiction of the African-American Male Criminal Stereotype and annual studies in between—that show the disservice that television does to African-American images most of the time. Once, we all high-fived. Now, we all hip-hop or rap. Just last week, I cruised past Fox News and found a four-way split screen of "commentators" all ranting at the same time about whether Sen. Barack Obama was American.
So it's not that we watch because we get a lot out of it or even because we like what we see. It's just that we, like the rest of America, are addicted. In fact, we're more addicted.
Blacks watched 42 percent more television in 2006 than the general population—73 hours of television per week, compared to 51 hours for the general population.
That's the equivalent of three whole days of television. Three whole days of life!
Imagine what African Americans could be doing with those three extra days per week.
Imagine the scholars, the athletes, doctors, librarians, teachers, artists that could be produced in that time. Heck, think of the better public high school graduation rates for blacks that might come out of it.
Certainly it would be a challenge to let go of television. Can't settle down with a book. Don't want to clean the gutters. Spouse is away. Kids are out of control. Ahhh, the tube, instant gratification. Maybe you can watch something new. Maybe not. Perhaps a cable movie like Knocked Up, Hav Plenty or Daddy Day Care, something you've already seen for the second, third, possibly even the fourth time. Something that requires no mental energy whatsoever.
I do it, too. It's a hard habit to kick, and with TiVo and DVDs, the seduction is even more powerful. So, I know, it ain't gonna be easy. But consider the upside of alternatives.
By listening to radio—especially public radio—for the news and weather, you'll catch all sorts of tasty and informative feature stories and lots of eclectic music you otherwise would have missed.
By amusing yourself with other things, say listening to or playing music, you may tap into new talents and passions. You might learn to play an instrument. Or sing. Or form a music group.
With all that extra down time, you might visit friends and relatives and practice the fine art of conversation.
You might…play cards, Scrabble, checkers, Chinese checkers, bid whist, dominoes, backgammon. Or get one of those 1,000-piece puzzles and put it together as a family, couple or by yourself.
You might eat meals with people you love instead of in front of the television.
You could put together a model plane, ship in a bottle, make a motorcycle from a kit. Knit, crochet, sew, embroider or learn how to.
Go to the park. Walk, run, exercise, jump rope with the kids.
Go to a museum. Make art in the evening with colored paper, chalk and crayons. Make a family mural. Make a visual map of your dreams with pictures and phrases cut out of old magazines.
Sure, there is interesting, enlightening, entertaining television out there. It's good for emergencies and for pulling the nation together in the wake of national disasters. But what will it hurt to take off a couple of months, let that deadline slide and discover life without that thing you think you can't live without? The prices will eventually go down on the new digital television sets. And you'll still have your cell phone and computer.
So turn on your brain—they're not changing the signal on that. As the singing duo Frou Frou advises in "Let Go":
"…hand me that remote, can't you see that all that stuff's a sideshow?"
Karen DeWitt is a Washington writer and former newspaper reporter for the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and The Examiner.