worst is sunday hangover days. some people deal with a hangover by sitting in front of the tv. i need to get out of the house!
― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:26 (fourteen years ago) link
There's a certain amount of kiddology we practice on ourselves, and I'm as guitly of it as anybody, regarding what grand achievements we would have used our time for if we hadn't spent an evening in front of the TV.
― My Slow Descent into Assholism (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:27 (fourteen years ago) link
... and go and watch TV in a pub, I know (xp)
― Then in walked Barbara Castle with the Lady Eleanor (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:28 (fourteen years ago) link
also, i think all the elitist stuff on this thread has more to do with self satisfaction. i feel good about myself if i manage to do something between 5 and 11 every night that isn't sitting in front of the tv and y'know it's always best to keep your self satisfied feelings to yourself.
― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:28 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't think its so much grand achievements. there are ways to mong out and learn stuff. like instead of watching tv i might just play with photoshop all night. i'm not going to achieve much, but i'll end up learning something new. you could say the same about a lot of tv programming. but that doesn't really work for me, if i watch something i tend to forget it pretty quick.
― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:31 (fourteen years ago) link
i like TV b/c it makes me feel like an american. i also love commercials, and tho a lot of shows on TV suck, some are really great.
― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:34 (fourteen years ago) link
and even tho i don't watch too much TV, it's sooo great to have on in the background.
― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Crackle Box OTM above. I don't think I've achieved any great things by giving up TV, but I do think that doing that has made me a bit more satisfied with myself, maybe somewhat more healthy physically and mentally too. Plus I found out that during the evenings I don't want to socialize with anyone, I really enjoy reading nonfiction books, so maybe I've learned a bit more too than I would've by watching TV.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Maybe the problem with TV is that watching it has become such a default form of spending your free time, it can hinder/stop people from finding out they might enjoy doing other things more.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:55 (fourteen years ago) link
they should do... something less boring.
instead.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 12:59 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't feel like i have to watch it all the time, just cuz i have one
― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 13:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Give this man a column in the Evening Standard
― Then in walked Barbara Castle with the Lady Eleanor (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 13:05 (fourteen years ago) link
the advantages of internet over tv there are... what exactly? broadcasting seems to be a more reliable (and newer) technology. until they figure out how to massively increase the capacity of the infrastructure, we'll still have broadcasting, i guess.
Yeah - the sound and picture quality of internet streams, even high quality ones, is still not even approaching that of even normal digital TV, let alone high-definition. And TV transmission is faster and more reliable.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 13:12 (fourteen years ago) link
betweeen Netflix, Hulu and my digital rabbit ears, I don't foresee ever needing to pay for cable. The only thing I feel I miss out on is cable lol news, but I can watch that at my girlfriend's house.
― ^prizes the praise of the media, and the Europeans (will), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 13:16 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm actually quite astounded at how touchy and rude some people are being about something as silly as television. Who cares if some people choose to not watch it, and some like mindless viewing, and some prefer internet - no one's insulting anyone's grandmothers honor, jesus.
― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:25 (fourteen years ago) link
lolsbury hill!!!! :D
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:27 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.theonion.com/onion3604/doesnt_own_television.html
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, April 11, 2003 9:13 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― a sad little creature (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:32 (fourteen years ago) link
oh fuck that shit
But the worst thing about TV, at least to me, was how easily it can become the mental equivalent of comfort food. It's too easy to just sit in front of the box and watch whatever's on for hours (even if it's a show you don't much care about), because doing something else would require a bit of physical or mental effort, and you can't bother to do that, because watching TV is just so much easier.
See like this is why I miss having TV channels. When I'm sick or depressed or just need to not think at all even one bit, TV is a wonderful thing! Would you deny a person actual comfort food when sick? When I'm sick or depressed, all I can consume is powerade and potatoes. I can also say that flu I had 3 years ago wld have felt 1000x longer if I didn't have a several-day-long Roseanne marathon to get all delirious with.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:32 (fourteen years ago) link
My Freeview was acting up during the Wimbledon men's final so i switched to watching it on "HD" iPlayer (connected to my TV) and it didn't even come close to the TV broadcast. I could barely see the ball at times.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:36 (fourteen years ago) link
CHAPEL HILL, NC–Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers–as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building.
Enlarge Image Area Man Constantly Mentioning
Jonathan Green, who tells as many people as possible that he is "fully weaned off the glass teat."
"I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television," Green told a random woman Monday at the Suds 'N' Duds Laundromat, noticing the establishment's wall-mounted TV. "I don't even own one."
According to Melinda Elkins, a coworker of Green's at The Frame Job, a Chapel Hill picture-frame shop, Green steers the conversation toward television whenever possible, just so he can mention not owning one.
"A few days ago, [store manager] Annette [Haig] was saying her new contacts were bothering her," Elkins said. "The second she said that, I knew Jonathan would pounce. He was like, 'I didn't know you had contacts, Annette. Are your eyes bad? That a shame. I'm really lucky to have almost perfect vision. I'm guessing it's because I don't watch TV. In fact, I don't even own one."
According to Elkins, "idiot box" is Green's favorite derogatory term for television.
"He uses that one a lot," she said. "But he's got other ones, too, like 'boob tube' and 'electronic babysitter.'"
Elkins said Green always makes sure to read the copies of Entertainment Weekly and People lying around the shop's break room, "just so he can point out all the stars and shows he's never heard of."
"Last week, in one of the magazines, there was a picture of Calista Flockhart," Elkins said, "and Jonathan announced, 'I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. Calista who? Am I supposed to have heard of her? I'm sorry, but I haven't.'"
Tony Gerela, who lives in the apartment directly below Green's and occasionally chats with the 37-year-old by the mailboxes, is well aware of his neighbor's disdain for television.
"About a week after I met him, we were talking, and I made some kind of Simpsons reference," Gerela said. "He asked me what I was talking about, and when I told him it was from a TV show, he just went off, saying how the last show he watched was some episode of Cheers, and even then, he could only watch for about two minutes before having to shut it off because it insulted his intelligence so terribly."
Added Gerela: "Once, I made the mistake of saying I saw something on the news, and he started in with, 'Saw the news? I don't know about you, but I read the news."
Green has lived without television since 1989, when his then-girlfriend moved out and took her set with her.
"When Claudia went, the TV went with her," Green said. "But instead of just going out and buying another one–which I certainly could have afforded, that wasn't the issue–I decided to stand up to the glass teat."
"I'm not an elitist," Green said. "It's just that I'd much rather sculpt or write in my journal or read Proust than sit there passively staring at some phosphorescent screen."
"If I need a fix of passive audio-visual stimulation, I'll go to catch a Bergman or Truffaut film down at the university," Green said. "I certainly wouldn't waste my time watching the so-called Learning Channel or, God forbid, any of the mind sewage the major networks pump out."
Continued Green: "People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit–or, shall I say, addiction–eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours. That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television."
― a sad little creature (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:36 (fourteen years ago) link
i LOVE the fact that it keeps so many people indoors for hours at a time. instead of outside trying to kill me.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Also I get v highly strong, mentally and physically, when shit-talking abt people I know is going down, and so it's kind of good everyone watches TV shows bcz then you can at least steer the conversation to 'so what do you think will happen to House next season' as opposed to 'so did you know she's getting married bcz she got pregnant'?
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:37 (fourteen years ago) link
highy STRUNG, tho I am worried someday my mild-mannered Bruce Banner ways will be betrayed by impatience with others.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:38 (fourteen years ago) link
i can't really follow your posts brooke shields is crying on t.v.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:43 (fourteen years ago) link
your mascara is getting empathy runniness
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:46 (fourteen years ago) link
When I'm sick or depressed, all I can consume is powerade and potatoes. I can also say that flu I had 3 years ago wld have felt 1000x longer if I didn't have a several-day-long Roseanne marathon to get all delirious with.
See but this is if you have cable or DVDs. I dont know what TV is like elsewhere but we only have 5 channels free to air here and a lot of people cant pick several of them up. They only run big ticket, shitty commercial tv shows with lots of ads. No old reruns, no marathons, just crap like Biggest Loser and Idol and the news and various crappy sitcoms and soaps all the time. I dont want that shit.
If I had cable I might watch TV more but its expensive and not everywhere has it. Americans seem to see cable as something normal and part of TV but it isnt here and has never been really.
― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:46 (fourteen years ago) link
i hate that onion article. it gives the people who don't like people who don't like television something to throw into every fucking thread whenever someone mentions they don't watch television or own a television. television is shit.
― ello. ow are oo? (bug), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:47 (fourteen years ago) link
But I have to say the internet is as much or more a time suck and mindless waste than TV ever was for me, so you know.
― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:47 (fourteen years ago) link
I agree with you bug!
fuck you all
― a sad little creature (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:47 (fourteen years ago) link
We had cable a few months, as a wedding gift from the mom-in-law, who paid it for one month and then defaulted and we're stuck w/this like $400+ bill.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:50 (fourteen years ago) link
LB if you do that you'll catch something horrible xpost
― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Abbott thats horrible!
Does anyone else associate the 'Price is Right' theme song with 'sweet I convinced my parents I was sick enough to stay home all day'? Or is that just people who didn't have cable. (I'll up you one, Trayce: my family only ever had FOUR channels.)
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:52 (fourteen years ago) link
I would miss out on a lot of interesting futból action if I didn't have a TV (and live in an area with 3 Spanish-language broadcast TV stations).
xp I'll up you one more, Abbott, my family had two.
― Suggest this user to be danned. (dan m), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Like right now I'm half-watching Canada v. El Salvador on Galavison. What a country!
― Suggest this user to be danned. (dan m), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:55 (fourteen years ago) link
xxpost yep. that's prolly why i also associate the price is right with guilt-laced boredom.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:56 (fourteen years ago) link
dan I hope they were called the Sad Channel and the Lonely Channel.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I grew up with 2 channels in my childhood - the ABC (like our BBC) and one mixed rural/regional channel that got bits and pieces of the big city's channels. So I missed out on lots. Like Prisoner and number 96.
― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Sad: PBSLonely: CBS
― Suggest this user to be danned. (dan m), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:57 (fourteen years ago) link
But I didnt watch lots of TV as a kid. We played Monkey out in the yard and went swimming and like DID STUFF. Do kids DO STUFF anymore?
/srs case of old
― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Occasionally we could pick up CBC out of Thunder Bay since we lived on a hill, but only if the weather was right.
― Suggest this user to be danned. (dan m), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:58 (fourteen years ago) link
I hope yr randomized channel was CIVIC-TV.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Today's generation will be FORCED to do activities by the Pokewalker.
Kids do do stuff, it's all of us who stay inside all day! Neighborhood is fucking cluttered with kids holding bike races.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 01:59 (fourteen years ago) link
As you walk around with the PokeWalker in hand, the internal Pokemon will gain experience. Its affection for you will also grow. The device converts your foot steps into "watts," which can be used to catch wild Pokemon and search for tools for sending back to the main Heart Gold/Soul Silver software.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 02:00 (fourteen years ago) link
― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Tuesday, July 7, 2009 8:58 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark
i did all this stuff and watched a shit load of tv every day. time management.
― I wish I was the royal trux (sunny successor), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 02:23 (fourteen years ago) link
it's harder to watch mindless TV than ever.
I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE spending hours just clicking through channels when I was a teenager.
Now with digital/HD cablea) Every channel takes two seconds to "load," so becomes frustrating after clicking through like 10 channelsb)There's an extra 4 minutes of commercials every half hour on every channel so I barely get any shows.
Basically, I'm reduced to just DVRing the 7 shows that I like because channel surfing is such a chore. I'm gonna bail on cable because cable has made itself no fun.
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 02:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Also, Tuomas, shut the fuck up now and forever.
boy you like to make sure you don't forget about your stfus
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 02:28 (fourteen years ago) link