Too Much TV

We love our DVR. It's become the most-used appliance in our house. But like many "indispensable" conveniences, it has exacted a toll.

Used to be, when there were two shows on at the same time, we would have to make a hard decision about which one to watch, and we had to make that hard decision right then. Now with the DVR, we can just tape one for later. Easy peasy.

Until you start doing it with a couple of time slots a night. Which is OK, until the DVR reaches its capacity. Then you have to make even harder decisions. You're not just not watching one particular show, you're actively deleting -- murdering -- shows that you were fond of. I mean, you made a conscious decision to save that show, so now you have an emotional investment in it. It's kind of like a digital version of Hoarders, except the pile of 15-year-old magazines is an 8-month-old episode of Burn Notice.

The DVR has also enabled us to watch too much TV. The number of shows we are currently recording is staggering, so much so that I won't embarrass myself with a list. (I went through it in my head, and broke 30 without much effort). And we don't subscribe to any of the premium cable channels, or it would be a whole lot worse. Fortunately, a lot of the shows don't run year-round, so there's some stagger. But it's still completely unmanageable.