TV experiment - are you brave enough??

no the internet doesnt count.

as to value, that isnt really for me to say as i already make a conscious choice not to have a tv for various reasons. you would be better asking a drug user/alcoholic/smoker the value of going without for a month. i am not out to 'prove' anything other than the effect that tv has on a person and their perceptions and what can be learnt from the experiment in terms of mind/body/life/observations/addiction etc

the point of the experiment should by now be obvious from reading this thread and the one i originally brought it up in.

im still waiting for volunteers though - doesn't that tell you something??

. Everything he watches is educational. ie Sesame Street, between the Lions

Oh man Im 14 and I watch Between the Lions.
B .......... UG BUG
D .......... OG DOG
C ........... AT CAT
SH ........ IT and so on
anyway I would but my family wont hear of it

I saw a sitcom ages ago that had a character who realised that there were only a dozen plots to everything on television...

How often do you watch a sitcom and it has exactly the same plot as your've seen before on different sitcoms...

i.e, everytime someone on television gets drunk and drives they have an accident...everytime a man cheats on his wife he gets caught...everytime someone steals they get caught...

Television is utterly,utterly predictable and contrived, the worst example is 'reality television' which has about as much to do with reality as Scientology.

How can you call a program a 'reality' show, when a woman dates 12 different guys all wearing masks?...

I've met many,many womenfolk in my life and none of then have ever been with even 1 guy on a date who was wearing a mask...

Television - a medium neither rare nor well done...


[edit on 2-2-2005 by Flange Gasket]

Personally I don't see the point to this excercise. Especially since it doesn't include the use of the internet and computer games. If you want to see the effects of modern technology on our mental state then these things should also be eliminated. If however you are trying to prove we waste a lot of time watching TV, I spend more time online then watching TV, online time is also more stressful.

I'm still in, the Superbowl is Sunday. However, I watch so little TV now it may not matter for your purposes. With the NHL strike/lockout I could probably go until the NFL preseason.

Sorry dude, I would love to try this expierment but that would mean no world war 2 channel (history channel) or late night skinemax(just kidding). Plus, this means I would now have to talk to my wife

Originally posted by Vegemite
anyway I would but my family wont hear of it

did you ask them? if so, what were their reasons for not going without for 1 month? would they agree with you if you told them they were being brainwashed/hypnotised/controlled/incapacitated? if not, ask them what the last adverts were the next time you see them watching a commercial channel

Originally posted by Mynaeris
Personally I don't see the point to this excercise. Especially since it doesn't include the use of the internet and computer games.

the difference between computer games and the internet is that both involve some form of interaction, thinking, participation, brain activity etc. tv involves sitting in front of it and staring at it. big difference

Intrepid - i'd vote you way above if the option were there as you are still the only one brave enough to have volunteered yourself so far. i would recommend that you pick the picture no sound option to record your observations.

are there 2 more brave souls out there?

Hmm....

Interesting challenge here. I watch T.V. for a few hours everyday and play PS2 a few hours also....

Before I think about doing this I want to know if the no T.V. includes the radio channels? And does the no games include puzzle or card games on my PCs?

Hatchedcross - radio is acceptable as are pc games - i am talking only about TV channels.

if you are volunteering for the experiment may i suggest that u choose the sound/no picture option if your tv is capable of it

I will gladly do this AFTER THIS SUNDAY!

I have been waiting over 20 years to see my Eagles in the superbowl!!


After they win, I'll give up TV - I go without it a lot except during football season.

1 more thing - would this test include going to the movies?

Originally posted by American Mad Man
1 more thing - would this test include going to the movies?

I wouldn't think so, movies are a social event as opposed to TV that is pretty much solitary.

BTW, sorry to say but I think the Pats will repeat, I'm thinking the final score will be 24-20 Pats. Good D on both sides.

Originally posted by American Mad Man
1 more thing - would this test include going to the movies?

going to the movies is acceptable - however - watching them on tv is not.

can i count you in then?

I'm in... Although, I haven't watched tv since December... I guess another month won't make a difference.

My TV blew up a year ago, i happily did without it for a few months, i eventually got another one for free when my family couldn't stand the fact I had no TV assuming I couldn't live without one.

Anyway I rarely watch TV, although I do have it on mainly in the background when I'm doing something else, such as on the computer so I rarely give it my full attention, so it doesn't have the 'doping' effect it normally does. So I've essentailly done the experiment before, though I haven't gone a month just watching Tv without the sound before, that seems pointless unless you used captions

why don't you try giving up ATS for a month? now that would be more difficult.

Well then, I will do with out T.V. for the month then. You can count me in, starting tomarrow morning!

I think a part of the reason you dont have many volunteers is not that many poeple fit your criteria...even if its only in their mind. the people who are addicted to television probably dont even realize it. maybe a precursor to this experiment could be for everyone to record the exact amount of time they watch in a given amount of time. I very rarely watch television for reasons stated above...its too predictable. every show and every movie have been done a million times. I will only glue myself to the set during football season and only for 2 college teams. other than those games I dont really care for much sports programming. I often get into arguments with my wife though, she watches way too much t.v.! I would say she is addicted to it, but only to certain programs...and she gets ill tempered and aggressive if she misses them.

Originally posted by justyc

Originally posted by American Mad Man
1 more thing - would this test include going to the movies?

going to the movies is acceptable - however - watching them on tv is not.

can i count you in then?

I am in

I wish I hadn't gotten a new TV recently, cause I would have thrown my old one out my window to begin the experiment

Oh yeah - would you prefer no TV at all, TV w/ no sound, sound w/ no viual, or a mix of them?

Originally posted by intrepid

BTW, sorry to say but I think the Pats will repeat, I'm thinking the final score will be 24-20 Pats. Good D on both sides.

Yeah - they probably will, but damnit - I'm trying to convince myself otherwise!

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I haven’t watched TV in about a year.

Things I’ve noticed:

When people at work talk about television programs, I don’t know what they are talking about. This can be somewhat alienating, especially when people talk about sports. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell if they are talking about something real or something on TV. Sometimes they talk about TV characters as if they are real people.

I don’t recognize some of the more recent celebrities that I see in magazines.

I spend more time on the Internet. That’s a significant part of my relaxation, my news source and my entertainment. I have to remember that some of the sites (like ATS) that seem pretty normal to me are not necessarily mainstream for everyone else.

When I’m really tired, I miss the complete effortlessness and passivity of TV. Sometimes I miss the indulgence of planning an afternoon around a football game.

I read more, but not as much as I thought I would.

To sum up, TV is a big part of American culture. To not watch TV is, in a way, an antisocial act. It separates you from the mainstream a little. It gives you a chance to think for yourself. It gives you a chance to DO something.
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