Reading Vs. Television

Some people can read a book while the TV is on. I can't. It's too distracting. My house guest likes the TV in the evening. I'm tired of the" same old, same old " stuff that's on and would rather read. So, after I finish writing I'll retire to my bedroom and spend the rest of the evening reading. I often wonder what it was like to live before there was such an invention as television. Did people read more often? Did they play games in the evening? Did they listen to the radio? Or did they just go to bed earlier. Was there more conversation in the evening? I picture a summer evening without TV where I would sit on a porch swing and read a favorite book. When it got dark I'd sit there and watch the fireflies light up and smell the honeysuckle. If I lived in town I'd watch people passing by, out for their evening stroll. I wouldn't be sitting in in the air conditioning because there wouldn't be any. It would be cooler outside. I'd be enjoying the summer air and the summer season. I feel like I'm missing something today. I'm so used to having AC that I don't sit outside if it's hot and humid. I spend the cold winter inside and the hot humid summer inside as well. Oh, I'm thankful for AC, but I miss summers of my youth when we didn't have it. Our quiet street was alive with people visiting on porches and children riding bikes until it was time for the little ones to go to bed. That was much later than they went to bed in the winter. We weren't "stuck" in front of the tv in those days until very late in the evening. We seemed to enjoy each other's company more. Getting up before everyone else in the morning was a good time for reading also. It was quiet, and not as hot as later in the day. I know I'm being nostalgic, but although so much is "better" today, I long for some of the things we had or didn't have (AC for example) when I was young. I'd love to live in a neighborhood similar to the one I grew up in. Where we knew our neighbors and enjoyed chatting with them on a warm summer evening.