27 Apr 2009
I’ve been debating internally for the last few months whether to downgrade my digital cable to basic cable, so this is particularly interesting to me.
From the original article:
To put it into perspective, if you watch an average of 31.5 hours of TV each week (which the average person in the US does) and you value your time at minimum wage of $5.85 an hour, you are spending nearly $800 a month ($798.53) to watch TV. That comes to nearly $10,000 ($9582.30) a year. I would imagine that most people reading this value their time well above minimum wage, so the cost is likely several times that number. When you look at it from that perspective, watching TV is an extremely expensive and financial draining habit to have.
I would say I fall near the average, especially this time of year with the amount of sports I watch. Let’s say my time is valued at $100 an hour, and let’s also include the cost of cable itself ($90 for me). I waste $3240 a month in potential (and actual) income on TV.
On the other side of the coin, putting a monetary value on all facets of life may give one perspective on the priorities in one’s life, but probably isn’t the best approach in most situations.
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Well, I’d say that 40 hours of watching broadcast TV is a waste of time. But I’d also say that 40 hours of sitting in front of the TV playing Xbox is just fine.
But either way, that time doesn’t cost you anything. The idea that money you could be earning but aren’t is the same as losing money is one of the reasons that the RIAA is suing single mothers. It’s asinine.
Though I will say that, in my opinion, the $90/month you’re spending on cable very much is money lost.