Have You "Quit TV"?

good lord this thread is pompous. "I only watch documentaries"

I watch TV. all the time. I suspect some of you who claim not to still do too. I know enough people on ATS watch enough to make a new thread every time Jesse Ventura turns up on TV.

And are there NO sports fans on ATS? No fans of South Park, Family Guy, HBO/Showtime series'?

and I know a whole bunch of you guys watch Through The Wormhole.

Originally posted by drsmooth23
I do watch alot of DVDs, mostly of TV shows like arrested development. I am a cinematographer, technical director, writer and producer so shows like Arrested Development I consider to be much like a Masters-Course. Truly one of the Few worthy shows of the new millennium. The amount of running gags, sight gags and forward planning in that show set the bar to an all new level, and thus makes most every show seem like utter garbage in comparison.

Off topic-ish apology...
Man I am having some major synchronistic events lately. Just last night my English-major daughter (who hates TV) said this is the ONLY show she watches - on DVD (b/c it was canceled, due to the fact that most people are too stooopid to understand the intelligent humor

I got rid of TV in my life for a little over 5 years (2003 to 2009) so I could
focus on business building.

When I reactivated the TV (Direct TV Satellite) service last year, I was
astounded to see how most of the shows seem to cater to the population
with the lowest IQ's. Not just the "Reality Shows", but CNN, FoxNews,
MSNBC, news channels are now very demeaning to the viewers.
It used to be that when CNN flashed "Breaking News!" across the
screen, it was a really big story unfolding. Now, they flash all
kinds of "ALERTS" for stories that have no importance to the
masses whatsoever.

Thankfully, there are hundreds of channels now. I use the DVR to
record the science or action-adventure shows and then watch them
at night after the family is asleep. But 90% of what's on now is pure
crap. I wonder why in the world advertisers pay money for their
commercials to air. Surely noone actually sits through commercials
any more?
-cwm

reply to post by EnkiCarbone

it's simple: why should you tv, if you have internet? global net gives wider possibilities than tv, in any case.

reply to post by SarK0Y


I can do both at the same time. Multitasking keeps the brain frosty. Besides, if I miss NCIS, I'll freak. Abby is hot. Also, I really enjoy FRINGE, V, The Good Guys, House, Flash Forward, etc.. There is still good programming there.

/In before some self absorbed schmuck goes off on a rant about the word "programming" and how superior they are to all the mindless "sheeple".

reply to post by jjkenobi


I do too but now i'm convinced sports (mainly the nba and nfl) are just like 'wrestling entertainment' in that they put on a good show but the results are fixed e.g. Tim Donahue. I think the main purpose of sports programming is to keep people distracted... it's really sad that so many people knew more about where Lebron was goin than the deep water disaster.

If you love sports I suggest playing them, for me it's way more fun to play them than watch on tv.

infact watching sports makes me want to play.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
So I'm curious:

Have you quit TV? (All broadcast TV)

Yes. For about four or five years now.
I still have the TV but if you turn it on you'll get static.

Why did you do it?

It seemed incredibly unhealthy for us at the time to continue to watch it. We felt inundated with junk, and no doubt whatever Psyops of the month they were beaming into our household.

I realize how addicted one can become to the boob-tube.
Even as background noise. Right now, it's either music or silence.

Have you found it to be a positive or negative change and why?

Positive. Definitely.
I feel less burdened and addicted.

It was different because I grew up in a family with TV's everywhere and a million channels to choose from. When I go back home I'm still amazed at all the stuff my family watches. Even more amazed at all the shows that are on and how crazy they seem.

It's like nothing but watching humans do silly things or outright fail. Especially that "Real" TV stuff. I start to wonder where schadenfreude comes into play.

I still read the news online of course, and we occasionally will watch something like a movie or even a good show if I find out about them from people. Recently just stuff from the BBC or simply a Nature show and usually I find out about them a while after its aired. Mostly we just look something via the computer.

When I had cable or broadcast TV I felt like I was just flipping through the channels to watch something when I knew there really was nothing to watch.

There is still good stuff out there and I still love watching shows about animals.

What have you noticed in your life since you quit?

Spiritually I feel more energized and motivated.

A lot of time to reflect. To write, draw, design, and be creative.
The ability to hear the "quiet voice" within us all. The one drowned out by incessant stimuli. I like what it has to say. I'm still trying to listen.

My wife and I are in our early 30's and we're not getting any younger so we try and spend a lot of time in nature or outside. We've both been abroad (she was born in Europe) but separately so recently we've been discussing traveling to places we haven't been to.

Probably Tokyo is on the table real soon.

It was a good thing for us to quit TV, even if I had no idea who Lady GaGa was till about a month ago and I think that was through this site.



- Lee

I quit TV a few years ago. It is a serious addiction for many people, including virtually every member of my family. It takes away from your life by putting its own thoughts into your mind.

TV is not all bad. Some "programs" are not bad. But virtually all of it is mass-consumer garbage.

My life has gotten much more peaceful and enjoyable since quitting TV. I have way more free time to enjoy MY LIFE as opposed to watching other people's lives.

Since I was a teenager I have never had an interest in watching television. I watched it as a kid growing up, but ever since I stopped I've realized what television really is. My life is much more enjoyable without television, and I can guarantee that once you stop you will feel the same way. My family still watches TV everyday, and I can see how it affects their thought processes and interests. Television programming is a tool of TPTB to sedate our potential for infinite creative thought.

IMHO all you really need is music, it is the ultimate form of expression.

Not only have I not quit watching tv, I am watching tv right now. Salvage Code Red is on.

I get up in the morning, turn on the tv and see what the weather will be like that day. I turn it on when I come home to watch the local and then the national news. Then it's off to history/space/discover/learning/A&E whatever. I haven't watched a sitcom in years, but most anything else is fair game. Lately I've gained an appreciation for Wipeout.

I did have a period of about a year where I didn't have a tv. The only difference I noticed was I went to bed earlier and I got caught without an umbrella a lot more often.

Originally posted by EnkiCarbone
No. I find that people that say they "Quit TV" or are all so happy to tell you in their smug tone "Oh I don't own a television" are either:

1. Lying.
2. Some self absorbed pretentious asshat I wouldn't want to associate with anyway... the kind of people that sit in their ivory towers masturbating their so-called superior intellects, yet haven't a clue as to what's going on in the real world.

So if we don't watch tv, we're either liars or clueless asshats?

Nah, I just got sick of watching guys drinking horse semen or sticking crap up their arses and going to have them x-rayed or animated kids standing around a dog's erect penis chanting "Red Rocket". I got sick of my kids comming home to Jerry Springer's 400th episode of "My Pre-teen has Multiple Sexual Partners" and my wife sitting through hours and hours of Cheating Housewives and commercials about how stupid men are.
The damned thing is poisonous, if that makes those wise enough to avoid it pretentious to you, perhaps you are well on your way to the defensive stages of your own addiction.
I don't consider myself superior to people who watch television at all, but watching the angry reactions from some folks at the very suggestion that it might not be all that great of a habbit is a little scary, I've been around enough crack heads and junkies to recognise that behavior. I've got my own vices, we all do, but underestimating television as one is pure folly.
9 Billion hours a week in the US alone, I wonder how that stacks up statistically to the time spent on Cocaine or Heroin?

I quit watching the news. It occurred to me that they are just as bias as everyone else is. What I do now is just read about what's important to me and make decisions based on what I think is true.

I havent quit TV so to say I still have some in my house but for actually following it? heck yes. No more do i daily listen to the 'news' and the lies of the media. but I have been watching it laughing at the all the lies and bs . some people take everything they here from cbs nbc abc as the total flipin truth its so sad. brainwashed to do what their told. not me. as I said I laugh at their faces when they tell me this #. If you want the truth you look for it, it will not come to you.

amazing how the "sitcom" is dead.....

20 yrs ago thurs night "must see TV" was the biggest thing out there.

Internet and all the specialty channels thankfully killed the sitcom.

exept for the good ones of course...they will live on in syndication.

Have you quit TV???

This is weird. I was going on break today someone goes lets go watch this show don't remember the name he said. I go if you must you must. LOL
I am like nah I will pass don't really watch it much. He goes WHAT??? I read my book outside...He thought that was very weird. I do still have my TV, but try to cut it about 2 years ago, but they offer the this very basic package with the internet for 30 bucks which I still have. I called last week to see if I could cut it cable again they go your bill will be about the same with or without. I guess I locked in this price way back then don't remember but if that is what they say who knows.. So left it on.
I did turn it on like Month ago with crazy weather we had just to see the weather folks reaction and they had this blank look on there face I thought that was weird.
I Turn it on Last week we had flash flood warnings and heard The helicopters over head they do have better view then me, just checking how close the rushing water was. I was in the clear. That was enough...

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I have been TV-less for most of my life.

My mother was a TV addict, (she could not not watch it if we had it) so she banished it from our home, and made us all read instead. Then I worked on an isolated island for 8 years, and we had TV, but crappy TV and the time zone was way off so we would get their late night stuff at our "prime time" so not worth watching. In school I just didnt get cable because I was so busy (full time work full time school) I didnt have time for it, but I had the networks with an antenna but never really watched it. And now, I have cable for the first time in my adult life and still rarely watch it. I like House, but thats the only program I try to remember to watch. And often fail (I forget) and have to watch it on the internet anyway. And at night just before I go to bed I like to watch a couple episodes of "Forensic Files" on Tru-TV. (Which is the only channel my TV has been on for months lol)

As soon as my contract runs out on my cable I wont renew it. Its not worth the money it costs at all. And I dont really notice I get more done whether I have it or not, because even if I have cable I dont watch it except right before I fall asleep anyway.

The big drawback for me is that I sometimes miss news that might be important. (Weather warnings, etc) The up side of it is that I miss news that is just propaganda. I never watch the news. Its utter tosh. I never listen to the radio either, though I do think I will get an emergency radio soon for weather and stuff.

Another plus of not watching TV is that I really dont want anything. I dont know any of the latest gadgets, cars, any of that, and so I have virtually zero desire to go to any store but the pet food store and the grocery store. Its nice.

I can't remember how long ago I gave it up...it has been gradual. These days I can barely stand to be near the TV when it's on. That's not including video games and DVD's, just TV programs. Sometimes I watch a sports match, but even that is rare and the ads and commentary are terrible.

The only good stuff on is animal documentaries, and then you have to deal with a ton of ads. So I don't even bother with those.

Awesome thread! Like many people, I grew up in-front of a television. The tube's grasp on people's minds is disturbing. Commercial after commercial, fantasy after fantasy... The hours add up when you watch television daily. People actually spend YEARs of their live's watching commercials alone! You could do so much with your life...Why would anyone want to waste precious time being seduced to buy, buy, buy!? Television is the greatest tool the elite have ever had. It's so effect at dumbing people down that they choose to go back to it again again...

"You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on." -- Steve Jobs

TELEVISION KILLS! ATS=LIFE

- Values_Truth

[edit on 15-7-2010 by Values_Truth]

[edit on 15-7-2010 by Values_Truth]

reply to post by twitchy


And yet no one forces you to watch those programs. There are these amazing devices that can control what channel you're watching. They're even wireless now!

Read my reply carefully. It's about not taking things too seriously, and knowing moderation. Declaring it poisonous is a bit reactionary. If are weak willed enough that you can't draw the line and know moderation, then you probably shouldn't own a television. Of course the downside of that is that you shouldn't be around anything with addictive qualities either, probably shouldn't be subjected to too much stimulation, or information, other people, direct sunlight...

I gave up TV almost 2 years ago. I didn't want to at first. I never watched much anyway, but I got behind on my cable bill so it got cut off. I then purchased a converter box and realized how much it sucked, so I stopped watching it altogether. My 4 year old daughter and I play and do other things together instead of sitting around drooling at the TV. I know we get a lot more done. It is such a time waster! I do, however, miss the History Channel sometimes. But if there is ever a need to catch something that sounded good I can always find it online! I would take my PC over a television any day. I am happy without it in my life and will never go back. It's not because I feel I have to, it's because I simply don't care to watch it. Not a priority, thank goodness! =)