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Lutherans—Unplugged — Can a self-described television addict kick the habit? Could you?
By Ingrid Case
 The Rev. Steve and Linda Kummernuss of Auburn, Indiana, don’t watch a lot of TV. Logging approximately 90 minutes of tube time a day, they are a good two-and-a-half hours shy of the nearly five hours spent channel surfing by the average American every day.
Steve, age 55, is a pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Auburn. Linda, age 53, is a professional violinist who performs and teaches in the area. The Kummernusses watch Good Morning America together, a ritual they both enjoy. But because their work schedules don’t match, other TV viewing is done solo. In the late morning, Linda sometimes turns on the television as background noise. “It helps me keep track of time,” she says. Beyond that, she feels little attachment to watching television.
Steve, by contrast, has a more ingrained television habit. When he’s alone in the evenings, he fills his time by watching news, current events programming, comedies, movies and political commentary. “I’m kind of addicted to this thing as a pacifier when I’m bored,” Steve says. “I’m home alone and I just turn it on.”
By contemporary standards, the Kummernuss home is a “TV-lite” environment. After all, a TV is on for more than eight hours every day in the average American home, according to a study by Nielsen Media Research. Even so, Steve’s television habit bothered him enough that he was willing to try a different approach.
Going Unplugged
That opportunity presented itself when Thrivent magazine asked the Kummernusses, both members of Thrivent Financial, to spend one full week without television, non-essential Internet and cell phone use, video games and MP3 music downloads.
Linda, not surprisingly, found the experience relatively easy, though she concedes one negative was that getting her news from the newspaper made it harder to multitask in the morning. “I can do other things while I listen to the television, and reading the newspaper takes more time,” she explains.
She also found that television news made her feel more connected and up-to-date on events than print news did. “I spent so many years not knowing what was going on in the world while I was focused on young children at home,” she says. “Now that our two children are grown, I really want to know what’s happening.”
Giving up television was harder for Steve. For the first 48 hours, he felt as if he were in withdrawal from a mild addiction, complete with feelings of craving combined with a sense of mild anxiety. “In my head, a little voice says, ‘Turn on the TV,’” he confesses. “It’s like if you want to eat or drink something. It’s a little hole and you want to fill it.”
Different Activities, New Insights
Steve’s anxiety, however, was coupled with a growing—and enlightening—realization that he had never found television particularly satisfying. “I don’t like television that much anyway,” Steve says. “I turn it on looking for something, and mostly it’s not there. I go through all the channels with the remote, thinking that things will have changed in the last two minutes.” Sound familiar?
Reading books, listening to the radio, going for walks and the occasional movie helped fill the void for Steve. “I did go into our chapel at the church,” he says. “I thought maybe I should use this time to focus on God.”
By the end of the experiment, Steve and Linda were both looking forward to their morning Good Morning America ritual. “The show makes you feel like you’re connecting with some very nice people, and that’s a nice way to start the day,” Steve explains.
While Linda plans to continue using the television as a source of news and “background company,” Steve hopes to use his week off as a springboard to watching less television in the evenings. “The plan is to go back to television, but not as much. I’ve discovered that I can do without it,” he says.
Steve even suggested that other Thrivent Financial members try giving up television for a week. “You might realize that you’re a little more addicted than you thought you were,” he says. “And you might also find that it’s easier to say ‘no’ than you thought it would be.”
But even this relatively tame TV watcher acknowledges that just one week without being able to pick up your remote can seem daunting. “You think you’re not going to survive without it, but you can,” he says encouragingly.
“I did.”
Minneapolis-based Ingrid Case is a past contributor to Thrivent magazine.
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