Have You "Quit TV"?

Interesting thread ! SnF.

I've put tv aside a few years back. I was a total CNN freak, news in general freak and sports freak.

I still pay for the service, I hardly ever turn it on anymore. I enjoyed the World Cup. I enjoy the Olympics.

Two sacred events that I never miss: The Superbowl and Oscar night.

Besides that I don't miss it. And I surely don't miss the ads.

Not only was I encrusted in the negativity of the news but I found it was such a waste of time, a waste of pieces of my life.

Now I rather spend that time in nature, outdoors. It's a personal choice.

Great thread to make you think.
The wife and I gave it up 18 years ago after moving to a home without cable.
The new house had only a antenna and by the time we got all settled in we had gotten out of the habit of having it on all the time.
The only time it is on now is for things like the Olympics or the Stanley cup finals.
The last time (10 yrs ago) the tv needed service we were told it was broken because of not using it enough..(twice a year)
The change here is remarkable, we garden together, both of us are now avid readers, we have dinner and actually talk during the meal.
We do surf the net a fair bit but mostly for news and Yoga stuff.
Not to mention that we have not paid over $10,000.00 smackers for cable tv and the accompanying brain washing in the last 18 yrs.
The next thing to go here is the Newspaper, I do more cussing reading that crap than I do at the kids who walk on my lawn. :-)
S&F from us here for a uplifting thread.
I winder & wife

reply to post by Le Colonel


To those who have given the tube the boot........Congrats and welcome!...

Mine made it out the door back around the mid-late 80s or so. Have not missed it a bit!
Seemed to be nothing but trash and the propaganda machine was in full swing at that time also.......

Everything that needs to be reviewed is available online....there are many TV outlets if one really must have the soap fix,movies/documentaries have several URLs available,the majors all have websites to spread "the word" if you want to see what the masses feed on, and don't fret about your 40+ inch flat screen not being used as it can be used as a BIG monitor with the proper vid-card & cord.

If your one of the many unemployed as I am (located in Michigan.....the place where they used to make the cars....way back when) now is the time to play on E Bay.It will keep the bills paid if ya do it right and thats something the Lemming Box never ever did for me!

The Internet is a tool that can be used and applied to whatever one cares to........( for now).............Take advantage of it!

Later............................

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Brilliant topic here, S+F'd.

I still own my TV, and pay the £45 Sky bill every month, and however much the TV liscensing is nowadays, im only 20 so ive never even had the thought of getting rid of it.

However, sat here thinking about it, the only time i actually watch the box is when there is something really interesting on there, for example; a documentary i want to see etc. Also, reading the posts from other users that have "Quit TV", i can honestly say, i aim to do the same as soon as possible. Anything that i want to watch i can get online, and the sport i watch is always on in the pub, even better.

Thank you very much Benevolent Heretic.
Much love,

MrWebby666

Hell no.

I have fibromyalgia, early onset arthritis and degenerative disc disease. Plenty of evenings, tv is all I can do. And it helps me escape from the pain.

But ..

I have a dvr service. I record the shows I want to watch. And out of 990 channels there are some interesting things. And I have a few guilty pleasures as well.

But I record them. I can watch them on my terms, when I want, and I can zip through the commercials.

reply to post by CX


I was going to say. I wonder all these people who got rid of the tv but have a computer, how much time they spend online.

Well over-due thread. I'm somewhere in the middle. I haven't had cable TV for over 6 years. I do watch movies and sports occasionally because I do feel a great football game and a good, well written movie can enrich one's life. That said, I think any kind of news, gossip, or reality show is brain rotting and only promotes lethargy and ignorance.

Cable service is also a joke. Pay a guy $60/mnth to connect a cable in 5 seconds for 1000 channels, 7 of which are worth watching. no thanks....

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by CX

 

I was going to say. I wonder all these people who got rid of the tv but have a computer, how much time they spend online.

As said in my above post we surf quite a bit, not even close to the time we used to watch the boob tube.
The main difference is that with the internet you seek out information while with the tv it is fed to you as they see fit.
Good point though.
I Winder & Wife

Yep...I stopped watching TV more than a decade ago. One of the curious side effects (same as the OP's sis) is that I find I have a more in-depth view of news and current affairs without it than I ever had with it. I follow news and events via various resources, can check out all of the newspapers (globally if I wish), and in many instances get a first hand eye witness account....all from the net.

I would also agree that there is probably even more dross on the net that there is on TV....but I can control and sensor that to suit myself.

TV engages both left and right hemispheres of the brain, and is consequently the perfect hypnotic tool. The sub-conscious mind reads every piece of information available to it. Even if the TV is on in the background while you're conscious mind is otherwise occupied e.g. conversation or chore, that subconscious steam engine just keeps gathering all that info just the same. Whether paying attention to it or not the images and sounds emanating from the TV penetrates our minds. One can sit in front of the TV and just 'switch off' - many use it for that very reason - its hypnotic potential is maximised at that time.

I once heard a chap describe it as 'the sewer in the corner of your living room' and I couldn't agree more.

I've not watched TV for a couple of years now. Any shows I'd like to watch (which is few) I watch online.

I mostly work my fingers to the bone, after that's done, the little free time I do have is spent scanning ATS and an episode of The Office/Simpsons.

I quit in 1995 and relapse only when something serious is happening.

911, I'll admit, I watched CNN & FOX for about a week and the same when they were charging to Baghdad.

I've quit 99%+ of my old tv life but I do still flick it on from time to time to catch local news or see what the fools are doing with our money on CSPAN.

There is no regular show I watch, reality TV isn't an option and watching people do karaoke anywhere but a club makes me feel like I'm doing something filthy hahaha.

I have all the episodes of every show I have ever liked and sometimes I will get hooked on something new. In which case I will seek the commercial free episodes in dvd form.

Some great modern productions (Sci-Fi) I've never watched on tv but strongly endorse:

Battlestar Galactica (The re-imagined series -4.5 Seasons)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2 seasons)
Caprica (1 Season, going on second, a prequel to Battlestar Galactica)

reply to post by nixie_nox

I have postherpetic nerve damage morphing into fibro-
it is a curse no doubt. i'm helped by 1800mgs of neurontin a day.
before that suicidal.. i take tramadol for pain.
i also take cymbalta, remeron but i dont notice it.
vistoril takes some edge off. i think pot works on a better mood.
but , yeah- i'm an old dog on the porch anymore.

I certainly don't watch TV like I used to. I enjoy watching programs on the Travel channel, like Anthony Bourdain or Andrew Zimmern's shows, where they travel to various places throughout the world and talk to people, eat with them, share their culture. It's usually pretty interesting.

Other than that... I don't really watch TV. I watch a lot of movies though, and that will never change.

I'm like a few here. Don't watch much tv at all. Mostly everything I glean is from the net, in some way, shape, or form. The only reason I still have television, is because the cable company goofed. I told them just the high speed net is sufficient, so they should cut it off and just nail me for the net. My bill got cut accordingly, but because I have access to the net, they must have overlooked something, because my boob tube is still operational with programming. C'est la vie. hhcore pulls one over the eyes of the man! lol.


Doesn't change the fact that there is still squat worth watching on tv though.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Or it could just be that nothing good is on

Before my girlfriend moved in I had an old school console tele with basic cable - in other words, I didn't watch much except SyFi, History and ESPN (gotta have my sports fix).

When she moved in, she brought a 42" LCD flat pannel and DirecTV HD with a DVR... now? I don't watch much but SyFi, History and ESPN (gotta have my sports fix).

It's all perspective - television isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you're fat & lazy, jobless or just have no drive to think for yourself - in which case I agree with everyone who says it dumbs down, well, pretty much anyone that's in front of it for too long.

Too much to do to waste my life in front of it, but it does offer a few gems now and again...

That being said, I will add that DVR technology and being able to skip over crap advertising during live television are the greatest inventions since the wheel

I gave it up about 6 months ago...

...AND I WANT IT BACK, DAMMIT... I want my mind numbed...I miss my sports center highlights...

...in reality? I miss the history channel, and FoxNews (yes, foxnews). But not enough to start it up again at this point...come football season...maybe. But I listened to the World Cup on the radio, so maybe football season'll work that way too...

reply to post by MrWebby666


I loved your post! Thanks and good luck to you!

reply to post by nixie_nox


I can certainly understand that! I have recently had a flare up of a knee injury and I just want to sit in front of the TV with ice on my knee and zone out with the TV. But I'll meditate and read instead. But if I were disabled somehow, I'd go a little bit crazy. Most likely I'd send my husband to the video store and have myself a marathon.

I am actually spending less time online, too. Looking at my ATS posting history (and I belong to a couple other boards) my posting has gone WAY down recently. I think I'm pulling away from the outside world and I'm going to concentrate on making more of a sanctuary of my home. My sister's house is like that and it's right in the center of town. It feels like a respite from the world and I want that for us.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Just before I left the west coast, I made a thread about how TV has had a hypnotic impact on me and how I wanted to severe the bond between the tv and my family. It wasn't until we got cable that my family really started watching tv to the max and it is becoming quite a distraction. Now I have no tv here in El paso because movers took it away and I have been happy ever since. I just hope I can encourage my family to give up the boob tube as well.

I've seriously stopped watching tv, after a game show. I realized I needed to be pretty hammered to be entertained from it. That was about 2 years ago.

Before this I only watched a few sf-series but they stopped broadcasting. I'll watch the news occasionally when I'm walking into something interesting but I need to go do something very fast, most of the time.

I do surf the internet 24/7 even when I'm out or fast asleep.

I am not addicted to either and I would never compare the two but if I have to choose one, I would prefer TV over the internet except for the personal e-mails or official/study work if any.

Browsing forums or random information on internet can easily cause 'information fatigue' than watching a one hour documentary on TV. The information presented on TV is more well-presented and organized while the internet is full of random information and diversions which is one of the primary reasons behind 'information overload' happening to people these days.

Besides your life is more organized when there is a fixed timing for watching shows, of course the facility of recording the programs and watching them later when free can't be undermined either.

And anybody who thinks TV is full of garbage programs which is their personal opinion, would never download those programs from the internet either. The fact that they do it, betrays their sound reasoning.
Anyway, I think there are some good travel and lifestyle related programs on TV.

Having said that, being a slave to any kind of technology, be it TV or internet is obviously not an ideal lifestyle and one should not let these tools dominate their personalities to such an extent that their natural self is overshadowed by the influence of these 'facilities'.