On topicality...

I sat down to write a blog and wanted to write about something topical, something on the pulse of the world that might spur discussion or thought. And then I realized, I don’t know what’s going on in the world. I don’t have TV, and I don’t have Internet at home. People keep asking me questions like, “Are you watching the Olympics?”. Well, no, I don’t have TV or Internet. I see headlines about people being sick of hearing about Michael Phelps. Phelps? I think I remember him from the last Olympics…presidential race? I don’t click on those links anymore. It just makes me mad and frustrated.

I’ve made a nice bubble for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I still follow the headlines, I surf the web and read mostly news stories in my spare time at work. But I’m not inundated with it. When I go home, I go away from all of it. From the repetition and bias and propaganda of the news, commercials, sit-coms and hour-long dramas with string sections. I’m not conditioned to it anymore, so that when I do see a new show (on Hulu, for example) the pander-down effect of most studio productions is glaringly obvious. Or the best is at the gym watching reality TV with no sound. I had no idea they actually made shows like that. I thought those were all just spoofs.

I like not having a clue. I’m happy that I didn’t know what “TTYN” meant (apparently it’s “talk to you never”, a Paris Hilton-ism). I’m glad that when I get home and I find myself with nothing to do I can’t turn on the TV and watch a rerun of “Everybody Loves Raymond”; I have to sit down and read a book instead. This lifestyle doesn’t necessarily make me feel any smarter for not watching TV and not having current cultural literacy, but it does make me feel more independent.