Digital TV Conversion

In about six months there is a required conversion from analog to digital TV broadcasting. Like many frugal people we do not have cable, satellite, HD, etc. We have our good old fashioned rabbit ears! We do use the TV as a source of entertainment - we love watching the Olympics right now, I am addicted to The People's Court (don't ask me why), we also watch the semi-annual General Conference for our church. In order to keep being able to watch our programs, we have to purchase an HD TV (worst case scenario as far as I am concerned) or a digital converter or we will just see static on our TV. I have been pricing these and they are somewhere between $50 and $60, however, you can get a coupon for $40.00 off from the government. We just received our coupon in the mail earlier this week. I am wondering though, not only from a frugal standpoint, but from a moral, physical, mental, and spiritual standpoint, would it be so bad if we didn't buy the digital converter and talke with each other a little bit more, read a few more books, and took a few more walks in the park?

I am curious to see how other frugal people are feeling about this change. Please leave your comments...