Where's the mouse?

I actually tend to agree with this. Being that I haven't subscribed to cable in... gosh... about 4 years at least, I certainly have a "cognitive surplus." This is not to say I spend hours on Wikipedia. No, no. I spend time reading, playing video games, talking to friends, etc. However, I do accomplish many of these things ONLINE.

The last time I watched TV, which I only do with the use of bunny-ears, I managed to bring in the Presidental voting statistics. I watched the results on TV, but I watched the speeches online the next day. Now how much of this actually serves to raise my "cognitive" abilities? Well, that I really couldn't tell you. But as Clay says, doing SOMEthing is better than doing NOthing.

Even my grandmother spends many of her hours of free time - yes, she is retired - on her computer. She can read the newspapers from Maine (where she's from and has family), chat online with her kids and grandkids, and she even sends the occasional humorous email.

As for sitting mindlessly on the sofa, well, yes, I do find ways to do that even without a TV. They are called DVDs. I can become strangly fascinated with watching TV series on DVD. However, I usually watch them with friends (or husband), which lends itself nicely to intellectual conversations about... well, okay, so watching "Supernatural" and talking about vampires and werewolves isn't the best example... You get my point. :)