Anyone here not watch TV?

Pixelfixed gave me an idea with his recent post asking about anyone who doesn't have a cell phone. My variation:

How many here do not watch TV?

Or, on the opposite end, I'd like to hear from anyone who thinks the idea of not watching TV is crazy talk.

I haven't for about seven years now. To be specific, I mean that I don't watch network or cable. No news either. We have Netflix and that's it which I rarely watch.

I know people who have literally spent a large part of their adult lives sitting in front of the TV and these are people that are now well past retirement age.

I was never a big TV watcher (too much to do) but I feel my quality of life in the last seven years is far better without regular TV viewing than with it.

I believe most Americans are literally addicted to TV and could not go a week without withdrawal.

ChrisL

I don't watch TV. I've never owned one.

Have not had TV since 1992. Decided I was not ABOUT to pay $85 a month to argue with kids to turn that off an do something. NOPE.

Don't watch regular TV...haven't for at least 15 years. My two exceptions are baseball and football games, otherwise, If I want to watch something I'll plug in a VCR or DVD and watch a movie. News I get online...

Regular TV will rot your brain. At least that is MHO...

I only watch a couple of "new" shows/series. Lately I have been watching more re-runs of old westerns from the 60's. Far better than 99% of whats currently being made.

I used to watch some comedy shows about 15 years back. Now my TV is my computer screen.

I don't. I'm a TV junkie, so when I travel I watch all the crap on the hotel TVs, but I fully recognize that it's pure crap so at home I have no TV (actually I do somewhere in the attic, just because nobody wants a TV set so old).

My wife and I listen to the radio most of the time. We watch some TV, but we are pretty selective. The worst thing I find now with these new flat screens is you can't put your new TV on top of your old one anymore.

We got rid of our Dish and got a Roku. We got tired of paying $50 for the 4-5 channels we watched. We just watched the last episode on netflix of Doc Martin. I love that show and hope they made or are making more

Aside from being a peripheral watcher when it is on and I am subjected to it where I happen to be, I have not turned on my home TV, or deliberately watched TV anywhere else in a few years.

tv or computer screen makes not alot of difference , still sitting in front of a screen,, we will never be any other than that ,, you don't live in a cave anymore , the only difference will be how you choose , so find me one person other than third world with out modern utilitys other than that everyone watches a screen ,, and if your reading this ,you have one! but I do choose to not watch a lot of tv ,, football and old westerns tc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tcrideshd

tv or computer screen makes not alot of difference , still sitting in front of a screen,, we will never be any other than that ,, you don't live in a cave anymore , the only difference will be how you choose , so find me one person other than third world with out modern utilitys other than that everyone watches a screen ,, and if your reading this ,you have one! but I do choose to not watch a lot of tv ,, football and old westerns tc

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This is true but at least the computer screen, on forums anyhow, requires participation. I recall back in the 1970s when I would watch the new shows, mostly dramas, and then in the summer would come the reruns. Many times I would be watching a show, thinking I was seeing it for the first time, and then realize I had seen it before and forgotten most of it.

I use the computer for diversions, such as the forums, but I also use it for educational purposes, such as attempting to learn another language, studying topics of great interest to me. I also spend quite a bit of time reading books in the field I'm studying aside from the computer. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "If you love life don't waste time, because that is the stuff that life is made of."

There is a big difference between a TV and a computer.
On TV advertisements take 30% of the time. On a computer I am in control how I am going to watch the content. The idea that a TV network will demand my attention at X o'clock sharp is just not working for me and I am pretty sure the people it continues to works for are largely in the 'boomer' generation.

We sent our TV out the door two and half years ago when they switched the over-the-air broadcast from analog to digital (we had an old TV with rabbit ears). We haven't looked back since.
Of course, for a while we went to the local video rental store (unlimited for 10$/month, excluding new releases), but after two years we had seen pretty much all that was worth watching over there, so we switched to Netflix 6 months ago. We watch something almost every night and the lack of publicity is well worth the 8$/month it costs.

Now, when we go to my parent's house and watch cable TV with advertisements every 5 minutes, we can't believe that we used to put up with that.

Cheers.

I do watch TV but not the Prime Time channels. Discovery Science, History channel, Military Channel a little PBS and BBC. When I travel I do not turn on the hotel TV to much trouble finding the channels I like if they are even available.

We have an old analog TV with no digital converter box so no TV at all. We go to the public library and check out dvds to watch. Every Sunday we go to my parents and watch their huge flat screen with 1000 channels. I know it's a cliche, but so many channels and nothing to watch!

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Originally Posted by MandoRob

I know it's a cliche, but so many channels and nothing to watch!

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It's not a cliche, it's a fact.

Cheers.

The wife is a TV junkie, I myself can not stand it, it is nothing but a vacuum of the mind. Nothing lives in a vacuum. I would rather watch history documentaries on the net or old movies when there were real actors and actresses, and then there are the Rolling Stones and the Who on youtube! LOL

I can't imagine life without one.

There is one simple reason for this; sports.
For me to not be able to watch all my fav sports is simply unthinkable.

yeah, i quit.

so peaceful without folks trying to sell me stuff i don't want or care about all the time.

i quit everything broadcast, except for the occasional weekend programs on NPR or a football game on the radio.

I quit "news" many years ago.

If i want "news" i listen to the local fire/police/life-flight radio frequencies. That's real.

I watch netflix and amazon prime vids--shows i like, when i like 'em, as many/few at a time as i care for. no advertising no political BS. I also listen to "playlists" on youtube, tunes like i like, when i like, no DJ, no PSA.

That's just what i do. Y'all do your thing, nebbermind me.

Funny I just cut the cable from the house due to finances. Its strictly antenna TV now. Since there is nothing on to watch I have become a more productive person. I do much more then just sit in front of the tube hour upon hour.

I will admit to occasionally watching broadcast TV (with a homemade digital antenna) but less than 1 hour per week. I refuse to pay the highway robbery rates for cable service. I do watch netflix if I have an evening that I feel like just putting my feet up but even that is less than once per week.

Interestingly and slightly offtopic (since someone brought up computer screens) this new tech (like the computer screens) allow the old crafts such as ours to continue because even though we are few and far between, we can meet online and form a large enough community for good things to happen.

Anyway, I do have a tv. Usually I just watch peripherally, but sometimes I like to watch series. Usually on sunday or saturday. During the week I watch the big bang theory and the news. In the weekend usually a movie, or some tv series like the mentalist, the borgias, etc. I do like the historical settings.

Related TV topic: Many, myself i included, refer to "news" in quotation. What passes for "news" today, in my opinion is not news. I'm old enough to know that the level humanity or the individual person is capable of achieving in regard to depravity is limitless. Knowing this to be true, hearing of some new unspeakably heinous act committed by someone far from where I live does nothing for me and is not news. I'm referring mainly to "news" about an individual's actions.

Chris L

I like TV and cell phones, i think someones head just exploded on the forum.

To make it worse, i read books on an electronic device.

Always had one, always watched it a lot. If you have children and your first language is not English, let them watch it plentiful (in English, with subtitles of course). It's how I got to a decent level of English early on.

Then last year, we finally got enough of these two thin white lines appearing on the middle of the screen, so we took it back to the shop. We got it on discount a year and half before, so obviously they no longer had the model, but we could pick from either a similar model or cash refund.

We went for the refund, thinking "we'll get one later". We didn't. About six months ago I bought a used projector, high quality and relatively cheap, we got netflix, my dad got me a nice stereo and speakers for my birthday January 2013, and that was that. We watch one/two movies a week, some documentaries on Finnish digital free tv. Finnish programming is truly awful.