Not owning a television: c or d?

Are you bening serious?

On the other hand, some TV is good, and sometimes you just want to be a lazy bastard and let someone else entertain you without having to do any work at all. Plus, people who carp on about how they never watch TV or don't own a TV or whatever are fucking annoying.

People who really strongly self-identify with "not watching TV" (not anyone on this thread just far, just what the title made me think of) -- dud, little different from the "I'm too macho to read books" guys I used to run into.

That is definitely DUD.

"Undergotching"=The new pantsing?

Horace=Whose [undergotch] does M have?

Bingo. This is a huge pet peeve with me for some reason (maybe partly because I was a pop culture major, and am sick of "all TV is crap," which is as sensible as "all writers are Jackie Collins") -- an ex once proudly proclaimed that she had never heard of Leonardo DiCaprio and couldn't pick him out of a line-up ... something she managed to work into casual conversation regularly, to display her "I'm a citizen of Academia, not your world" badge. We were not together long.

I'm still available for proofreading services, BTW. :)

thinking that you will engage in loads of improving activities because you don't own a TV - dud

Oh, and that self-righteous smugness that Tep was referring to is definately a huge DUD.

(And like a few people have said, "watching TV" often means "watching movies" or "watching sports," without having to go to the theater or the park.)

This seems like a real stoner habit.

So my point wasn't "Am I cool for not owning a television?", I was just saying that I've come notice how much people's lives revolve around the telly. This is no news, of course, but it's a thing you really notice only after you've given up the habit.

Delete Undelete Edit Ban/Thread Unban/Thread Ban User Info Yellow Card

"i call it 'television' because 't.v.' is a nickname and nicknames are for friends and television... is NO friend of mine"

― juliette brioche (elmo argonaut), Monday, July 6, 2009 9:40 PM (1 hour ago)

Is that because television can't dance?

― her performance (ie, her pubes) stood out for me (HI DERE), Monday, July 6, 2009 9:40 PM (1 hour ago)

The tv can't dance! My inner three-year-old thinks this somewhat nonsensical explanation is truly delightful!

I think it's a somewhat oblique Genesis reference?

oh god i love tv so much (television, not transvestitism, although that's good too)

http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1/cover_195972832009.jpghttp://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1/cover_563582832009.jpg

i thought it was a "safety dance" reference!

Oh, that makes more sense!

Everybody look at yr pants

sisterhood of the traveling pants ;_;

"i call it 'television' because 't.v.' is a nickname and nicknames are for friends and television... is NO friend of mine"

XD although you forgot the subtle but crucial lower lip quiver.

Man this thread went in a weird direction.

Not owning a TV is only acceptable if you can honestly say you literally watch NO TV and aren't watching The Wire and Gilmore Girls and shit on your laptop. Otherwise it's OMG FRONTING for sure.

technically i don't own a TV and for a period last year i didn't have one at all. not that i was trying to front on some "i am better than other people" tip, it was just a thing - i just concentrated on listening to music and reading when i got home. then a friend insisted i take his on extended loan!

What does the SEX MIX of "I Can't Dance" sound like?

if it's anything like the sex mix of 'relax' by frankie goes to hollywood, it's probably amazing.

One of my friends, a PhD student, has just started dating another PhD student, who not only does not own a television, but additionally is of the opinion that all Popular Culture is "a waste of time" and does that eye-rolling thing if she finds herself in a group of people who are trying to have a discussion about it. Apparently though spending 12 hours a day sitting in a library reading Renaissance literature and criticism on Renaissance literature is a completely worthwhile and valid use of one's time. I will be pleased when he stops dating this cultural pygmy.

as any fule kno, people during the renaissance were all wtfomg about the printing press, which is basically like being against tv.

i have no tv and it's frustrating when major news events happen. otherwise i am mostly ok with catching up on things online later, bc that's pretty much what i did wheni had a tv anyway.
also i miss watching martha stewart in the mornings.

I haven't stopped consuming popular culture even though I haven't had a TV set for years. I atill read comics, and go to the cinema, and watch movies on video with friends. I just didn't care much for the stuff on TV. Game shows and sports contests don't interest me, and I find most reality TV shows are horrific, because I can't bear to watch people being humiliated. I prefer to read news from the newspaper, as they are less condensed and offer more background info. Fictional TV series are okay, but these days it feels like most TV series have these long, multi-episode (or even multi-year) arcs that require you to follow the series week after week after week. I can't be arsed to do that! I preferred the days when most TV series had self-contained episodes, and you could just watch them once in a while without missing that much.

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. I don't think cinema or comics or other popular culture work quite the same way as brain junk food.

Yeah, I can see how going to watch a two and half movie about robots and superheroes is a bit more substantial.

two and a half hour? star? men?

pint, surely

The only thing that really bothers me about not having a telly is you realise just how much of common office chatter seems to revolve around it. It's kind of the first thing people will say to one another "Oh, did you see that thing on TV last night..." and then you kind of just look blank. (Ditto many ILX threads of late.)

I guess I'm lucky that I work in an office where music chatter is accepted as a valid substitute and our equivalent here is "What gigs/clubs did you go to last weekend?" I'm really grateful for that.

Yeah, I can see how going to watch a two and half movie about robots and superheroes is a bit more substantial.

I'm not saying it's more substantial, but I don't watch movies every day for hours.

you don't have to watch tv for two hours a day you appalling elitist dick

Now now, let's play nice, boys

there's a tv in the flat (not mine), which i used the hell out of during wimbledon, but other than sports i really don't watch it at all. the stuff i'd enjoy tend to be series like lost or the west wing back in the day, and i always lose track after missing a couple of episodes.

i really don't understand those people who just turn the tv on in the background and watch whatever's on, regardless. why, when you can consumer whatever culture you want to at whatever time you need to, would you be so passive about it.

Movies usually require some effort, you have pick a movie, go to the cinema or a rental store, and when the movie is over you don't usually watch another movie right after. Also, there's a social aspect involved: you can chat with your friends before the movie, and analyze it afterwards. Whereas with TV you can just sit there all by yourself and watch it for hours in a row.

(xxx-post)

Watching a film with someone else = DUD

Unless you're ripping the piss out of it

you don't have to watch tv for two hours a day you appalling elitist dick

Of course you don't have to, but at least in my case it still happened quite often. I'm not sure why it's elitist to explain why I didn't think TV was good for me.

coz of all this elitist (and covertly homophobic) passive/active dichotomy business.

Though I do know a lot of people who watch TV several hours a day. I don't want to criticize them though, because maybe it's good for them? I just know it wasn't good for me.

coz of all this elitist (and covertly homophobic) passive/active dichotomy business.

Well, I do think keeping your brain and body active is better than keeping them passive. I don't see it as horribly elitist though, because I'm not saying that instead of TV you should study Medieval literature or something. You could go play football, or meet your friends in the local pub, or go bowling, and so on. And I don't think people should stop watching TV altogether, but in many cases it seems to consume so much of people's spare time that it might be kinda bad for their mental and physical well-being.

Lex OTM

No form of culture is empirically any better or worse than any other, it's whether it's consumed passively or actively, whether you choose it deliberately or accept it just because it's in front of you. Anyone that sits in front of ILX repeatedly refreshing their browser is in no position to judge anyone that sits down in front of the TV and flicks through a hundred channels until they find something almost palatable.

btw mindless consumption is not always unhealthy Tuomas.

Tuomas then the problem there is with your friends, or you, for not having the self-restraint not to watch for two hours a day. It's not with 'television' per se.

Not owning a TV is only acceptable if you can honestly say you literally watch NO TV and aren't watching The Wire and Gilmore Girls and shit on your laptop. Otherwise it's OMG FRONTING for sure.

OTM. Watching stuff on your laptop on the iPlayer is all very well, but it's still watching it on your laptop, as opposed to a decent screen with proper sound.

No form of culture is empirically any better or worse than any other, it's whether it's consumed passively or actively,

This is true, but I think the way TV functions makes it more fitting for passive consumption. Most people don't have a steady, endless stream of comic or movies or magazines or books available for them. I agree that the Internet can be just as bad though.

That said I'm pretty sure 'the television' as we currently know and understand it will be obsolete within 20 years. It'll all be about yer multimedia internet-connected streaming entertainment centres that just happen to work as TVs as well.

I have a large monitor hooked up to a mac mini, the DVD and the stereo and don't miss the telly. Everything you need is on torrents, iPlayer, illegal football stream or DVD boxset.

Tuomas then the problem there is with your friends, or you, for not having the self-restraint not to watch for two hours a day. It's not with 'television' per se.

Well yeah, I'm not really criticizing TV here rather than TV consumption habits. It does seem that the format of TV invites passive consumption in a way that some other forms of culture don't, but as long as it's succesful, I don't expect that format to change. It's people who have to change.

but as long as it's succesful

It isn't anymore though

Nick, Matt OTM. As I said on the other thread, I could care less whether other ppl have/or watch TV or not but assuming that not doing so makes you intellectually superior to someone that does only serves to make you incredibly pretentious and annoying.

i have no tv and it's frustrating when major news events happen.

This is interesting to me b/c I wouldn't think to turn on the TV for "breaking news." If it were something planned like a presidential election or debate, then sure. But for most everything else -- like Sarah Palin's resignation, for instance -- I read a ton of online sources and never felt like I was missing out. (Maybe it's because I don't have cable.)

x-post "couldn't" care less rather

TV stations used to be all about creating that feeling of flow and sucking you in for marathon sessions, it's true. Don't believe that makes watching the TV more or less passive tho. Also now we're all hyperreal button bunnies hopping and skipping impatiently from one channel to the next during breaks flow as a TV concept is dying fast and I don't think most stations worry about it too much anymore. Just concentrate on finding their niche and pumping it out to an ever flitting audience.

Also most of your actual young people today don't actually sit passively watching hours of TV though - that's a hangover from our day. Why would they when there are video games/social networking/DVDs/instant messaging/loads of easily available music?

Add YouTube to that list.

the one advantage TV still has over torrents, streaming stuff etc. is that it's instant, still quicker than waiting for computer to boot let alone select what you want to watch. also still handy when you're going to bed/can't sleep as it's less fuss than laptop.

now time for my usual 'iplayer should offer playlists + way more old stuff like 4OD do' gripe

i basically just watch the news and family guy, but tv news -- channel 4 and newsnight -- does strike me as far superior to newspaper news. no doubt at some point we'll move from 'television' to 'internet' entirely, but i think people overstate the changes it'll make to the stuff we actually watch.

ie, i don't think the internet has actually changed newspapers, content-wise (other than the large amount of bollocks they have to produce for the web), and the format of news programmes seems pretty uneffwithable with to me.

Add YouTubePorn to that list

maybe the news should just be delivered thru the medium of Family Guy

Wd like to see Stewie Griffin as a frontline political interviewer.

did watch some of wimbledon. 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.

I wasn't even going to bring personal TV consumption into this because I was sort of assuming that anyone even engaging in this argument here isn't the type to spend endless hours watching "mindless" crap etc. Maybe I'm giving you all too much credit.

the only thing about tv that frustrates me is when people (i'd like to hang out with) get home from work/school then watch neighbours, hollyoaks, hollyoaks again, make themselves something to eat then watch fat people losing weight, ramsay shouting at people then a film or something. i've lived with people that do this, and it's so easy to get sucked in to their routine. i ended up avoiding them because of this and felt like our relationships kinda suffered. when they asked me why i don't hang out with them anymore i told them that i feel really guilty if i spend the night on my ass in front of the tv and don't achieve anything, or go anywhere. they ended up putting a big GUITLY sign on my bedroom door.

people you'd like to hang out with otm

did watch some of wimbledon. the advantages of internet over tv there are... what exactly?

you can watch it at work

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!

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.

... and go and watch TV in a pub, I know (xp)

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.

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.

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.

and even tho i don't watch too much TV, it's sooo great to have on in the background.

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.

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.

they should do... something less boring.

instead.

i don't feel like i have to watch it all the time, just cuz i have one

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.

Give this man a column in the Evening Standard

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.

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.

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!!!! :D

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

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.

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.

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."

i LOVE the fact that it keeps so many people indoors for hours at a time. instead of outside trying to kill me.

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'?

highy STRUNG, tho I am worried someday my mild-mannered Bruce Banner ways will be betrayed by impatience with others.

i can't really follow your posts brooke shields is crying on t.v.

your mascara is getting empathy runniness

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.

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.

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.

I agree with you bug!

fuck you all

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.

LB if you do that you'll catch something horrible xpost

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.)

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.

Like right now I'm half-watching Canada v. El Salvador on Galavison. What a country!

xxpost yep. that's prolly why i also associate the price is right with guilt-laced boredom.

dan I hope they were called the Sad Channel and the Lonely Channel.

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.

Sad: PBS
Lonely: CBS

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

Occasionally we could pick up CBC out of Thunder Bay since we lived on a hill, but only if the weather was right.

I hope yr randomized channel was CIVIC-TV.

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.

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.

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), 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.

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 cable
a) Every channel takes two seconds to "load," so becomes frustrating after clicking through like 10 channels
b)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.

Also, Tuomas, shut the fuck up now and forever.

boy you like to make sure you don't forget about your stfus

it was on my "to do" list

[√] do laundry
[√] mail out electric bill
[√] tell Tuomas to shut the fuck up now and forever

a) Every channel takes two seconds to "load," so becomes frustrating after clicking through like 10 channels

this is a great point and has totally killed channel surfing for me.

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'?

For me when I was a kid it was 'Days of Our Lives', which mum used my being home as an excuse to watch. What was also great was its famous glacial pace meant that your fake colds could be 3 months apart, and you'd still pick up what was happening.

My Chilean co-worker, who hasn't been in Australia that long, only just realised that Neighbours is not like the telenovelas she's familiar with, and that it will never come to any conclusion, and this has mad her roaringly angry.

Oh great now I'm a "hilarious" screen name.

Wait I've been one before wtf am i bitching about.

wait what?

Trayce Lorenz (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, July 7, 2009 10:29 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark

oh I thought you were sad I lolled @ lolsbury hill

I remember the tender days of Trayce Hand

This is true, but I think the way TV functions makes it more fitting for passive consumption. Most people don't have a steady, endless stream of comic or movies or magazines or books available for them. I agree that the Internet can be just as bad though.

― Tuomas, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 6:59 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That said I'm pretty sure 'the television' as we currently know and understand it will be obsolete within 20 years. It'll all be about yer multimedia internet-connected streaming entertainment centres that just happen to work as TVs as well.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 7:00 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

with on demand and dvr (plus a gazillion channels), we're already at the halfway point, and watching tv has become significantly less of passive "you have to watch what THE MAN wants you to watch!! WAKE UP FROM YOUR MENTAL SLUMBER" type activity.

with on demand and dvr (plus a gazillion channels)

This doesnt exist where I live and may never.

well, not exactly anyway.

Another version of 'I don't OWN a tv' you can play in places like Australia or the UK is 'oh, I don't watch COMMERCIAL tv!', which I've been occasionally guilty of.

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'?

For me when I was a kid it was 'Days of Our Lives'

me too! but it was at our elderlyish next door neighbors place passing out after icecream w/ bananas and drugs for lunch. i still see that hourglass all in a fuzzy haze in my minds eye.

Haha I got to watch DOTL every day in high school cause my school was right behind my house so I'd come home for lunch every day and watch it =)

For people who don't want to own a tv, not owning a tv is classic. For others, who would like to watch tv from time to time, it is more of a dud. amirite?

I actually cant watch TV right now, not don't. We can only get signal (what you say) via our digital receptor PVR thingy and thats currently unable to be connected up due to 83745673485 consoles being connected instead. So the maybe 2 shows a week I mightve watched, I dont.

However, all the free to air channels here have "catch-up" stuff on line so you can watch it there anyway so its no big deal.

i just got a digital box. poker on ten's sports channel is sweeeeet.

yeah that sports channel is surprisingly ok!

h-man getting poker tips for next drunken match

i own two tv sets. they are both broken so i put them face out on the windowsill.

I think I have met each of these types.

It was quite funny when I told my upstairs neighbours that I was getting the TV aerial fixed (one of my first acts as a home owner) - they were so "oh we don't watch television", okay, well I can't help it if your lives are so rich and varied that you don't need the lovely passive TV drug.

Does it count if you have a TV but no tuner, so you watch tons of Netflix and downloaded stuff? On one hand it's the best of both worlds as you can watch pretty much anything you choose, but don't get stuck just watching whatever property programme's on because you're too tired to move off the sofa, and no ads! On the other hand, I kind of can't wait to have proper TV again once I move back to the UK.

Since I last posted on this thread my ex moved back in with me and purchased a giganto-ass 50 inch plasma TV with a built in digital tuner. He now comes home and has to deal with me watching re-runs of Friends and Thet 70s Show on the new digital channels every night. So much for my "i hate tv" run of 5 years or so, haw.

He also shouts at me "I DIDN'T BY THIS TELEVISION FOR WATCHING TV ON DAMMIT"

i currently own a tv that is sitting on the floor with neither power nor cable

will probably take it out to the curb before too long

No one'll even take it. No one wants CRTs anymore. See em all over the kerbs here with "WORKING PLS TAKE" signs and they never disappear.

i own a p sweet tv that i never use to watch television, which i do on my computer

The point of our big plasma is of course for gamin'. PS3 shit looks sweet on 50in plasma.

i bought a crt for $10 less than a year ago and it's already graduated to being our *good* tv.

but i hella watch tv

Oh yeah cheap LCD tellys are rubbish. I'd rather a decent CRT any day myself. much better blacks.

me im just cheap lol. i actually 'ordered' a lcd on 'black friday' only to find it 'backordered', took it as a sign. instant relief for buyer's remorse. im a much better black for it :)

I got a Samsung 32" LCD for about £300 a few weeks ago. I've got to say the blacks are pretty good actually, I've certainly had some CRTs in the past which glowed more. It's quite funny the most common comment about modern TVs is the quality of the black, rather than about the colour.

Plasma's weirdness is this odd motion blur. I'm not sure if it's only noticable on older imagery - I watch a lot of 90s NTSC DVDs on it and we're PAL here - but you get this strange blurring effect on rapid motion if its a low light scene. Distracting, but not horrible.

About that article, I guess I'm mostly in the "Shrugger" category, with a bit of "Professor". I do like to watch some shows (mostly sitcoms and sci-fi/fantasy series) when I'm visiting friends (at the moment, whenever I'm staying at my gf's, we end up watching "Frasier" because we both love it), but a most of the stuff on the telly I'm either indifferent to (sports, game shows, talks shows with celebrities, police and crime series, soap opera) or find it intolerable (reality tv, talks shows where people's social prolems are made into a spectacle). However, I do understand why others might like those kind of programs, they're just not my thing.

Not owning a TV set doesn't really feel like such a "thing" as it did 10 years ago, though. With the Internet I don't feel like I'm missing out on stuff anymore; I can get the news anytime I want, if I really want to watch some show I can probably find it online, and if I'm curious about some weird catchphrase I hear people repeating, I can just search it on Youtube and most likely find a clip that explains it.

I am turned off by most programming nowadays, especially fictional television....however, I can't live without it.

i managed to survive the last six months with no tv. i didnt miss it. internet on the other hand....

People who have a thing about why other people don't own a television are always talking about this, really not sure why they are so sensitive about it

WHAT ARE YOU, SOME KIND OF WEIRD HIPPIE

PLUG INTO CULTURE OR BE SHUNNED, YOU BURLAP-WEARING HERMIT

Trayce, I could be wrong but that sounds like it could be some kind of motion-interpolation processing going on, does it make films look like a 'soap opera', or sped-up?. There's a wikipedia entry which lists the different names manufacturers give it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_interpolation.

Whenever I see a television with this on it, I find it so distracting.

I find the attitudes expressed in that article really quite mystifying.

I often find that the attitudes projected onto people who "don't own a television" are exactly that - complete projection, the negativity speaking more about the insecurities of the television owner rather than the "refusnik". (Quite similar to the projections attributed to those who choose not to partake in meat or alcohol or whatever else.)

Dude is right, no one ever asks "do you have a television?" but it's so present, the cultural assumption (at least in the west) that you must automatically have one. People *dont* ask "do you have a television" but they're perfectly happy to babble on at you, at great length, in an office or a social occasion, about whatever it was on television last night. I find this automatic assumption that you either have one, or you're some strange Othered weird type just... I dunno. *That* assumption seems way more arrogant and smug and loaded-with-assumptions-about-superiority to me than just saying "actually, I don't have a telly..." to cut off someone before they launch into a two hour monologue of their "mind-blowing" theories about The Wire or The Office or whatever.

At what point did television become such the dominant medium that it become odd *not* to have one? Has "the internet" reached that point of ubiquity, whereby there will be an assumption of deliberate and obstinate weirdness, rather than mere backwardness to refuse to have a Facebook page or whatever?

I mean, when I moved into my current flat, there was nothing - no phone, no television, no internet. I lasted about two years without internet access because I had an office job, but I haven't actually missed television enough to get one (not having the internet was a much more noticable lack, in terms of missing cultural awareness.)

But seriously. I almost always think that when people are "OMG, people who don't X are so snobby and arrogant and smug and think they're better than me!" it's mostly just subconscious self expression.

Has "the internet" reached that point of ubiquity, whereby there will be an assumption of deliberate and obstinate weirdness, rather than mere backwardness to refuse to have a Facebook page or whatever?

totally. it has different implications, though. when i quit facebook some of my friends reacted sort of angrily, like "that's where i put my vacation photos, and talk about my life, so you must not be interested in me" sort of thing. but the funny thing is, most of those people didn't even realize i'd quit until i told them. sometimes months later. confirming my belief that facebook "communication" is usually pretty one-way and there is far less actual engagement there than it seems.

Actually, I thought the article was a lot less about 'people who don't have TVs are arrogant and smug' than such things usually are. I mean, at least two, maybe three of those categories were not particularly condemning. I don't think I've ever really met an 'I don't have a TV' evangelist, either.

they're perfectly happy to babble on at you, at great length, in an office or a social occasion, about whatever it was on television last night

Thing is, this says more about the sort of people you get in office environments than it does about the ubiquity of television. There are way too many channels available now for anyone who isn't a self-obsessed twat to be able to just launch into a monologue about a programme and assume that you know what they're talking about.

At what point did television become such the dominant medium that it become odd *not* to have one?

At least 20 years ago.

Has "the internet" reached that point of ubiquity, whereby there will be an assumption of deliberate and obstinate weirdness, rather than mere backwardness to refuse to have a Facebook page or whatever?

Pretty much, yep.

people think you are mental if you dont have sky let alone a tv

i've had people explain facebook to me as if the reason i'm not on there is that i don't understand how to get on the internet.

Everyone I know that doesnt have a tv (probably around 10% of my friends but I think this might gradually be rising because of internet) have rooms that are way nicer due to not being dominated by a tv in the corner

A projector is a nice way of seeing stuff, and is unobtrusive when not in use

You know, I signed up for Facebook just to see the fate of my high school classmates. I loled and then deleted the account, Facebook is boring.

I've never met an 'I don't have a TV' evangelist, either, but there's this kind of persistent thread that they *exist* and we should condemn them, or maybe feel guilty if they're around? I dunno.

It's just this idea that people without televisions are odd and weird enough to be categorisable. I quite resent that. (Maybe that's because I don't fall neatly into any of his "categories" - I'm not entirely a "shrugger" or an "effeciency expert" - I mean, effeciency? Me? Ha! However I was initially really impressed by how much more *stuff* I got done when I moved to a house without one. Because when I have a television, I'm really compulsive about it, and find it difficult to stop watching, so it's just an easier choice not to have one around, the way I don't keep chocolate biscuits in my cupboards for exactly the same reason.)

I get that offices are a weird, forced environment, and people are often kind of grasping at straws for human conversation. It's viewed as a de facto conversation starter, kinda like "OMG did you see this o_0 Guardian article" is on the bits of twitter I hang out on.

I think that maybe internet refusnik positions might be slightly different as there has been a tribal tendency to move from one network to the next. That you can counter "OMG you don't have Facebook" with "OMG, you're *still* using Facebook? Get google+, loser")

Everyone I know that doesnt have a tv (probably around 10% of my friends but I think this might gradually be rising because of internet) have rooms that are way nicer due to not being dominated by a tv in the corner

this CAN be true but i find that living rooms can lack focus and feel weird without a TV in them. the focus of the room once was the fireplace, then the radio, then TV - take ALL those away and yes it can be nice but you have to put some thought into it or it's sorta awkward.

This is the answer: http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43694

We don't have a TV* but we do have a desktop computer in the living room - we both work in IT and the desk doesn't fit anywhere else in our small flat - and I do feel a bit ashamed of that being the focal point of the living room

(also I hate actually using the computer in that position because the monitor's set up so we can put DVDs etc on* and watch them from the sofa, and if I'm programming or making music I hate feeling that I could be watched, because for me both are a process of repeating stupid mistakes and assembling clichés in the hope that the final product will somehow be greater than whatever tiny idea is in my head at the start of the process)

* yes, we don't have a TV but we watch stuff on the computer. one of the things I find, ahem, lovably asshattish about the other half is that sometimes he announces "we don't have a TV" but in fact spends approx 80% of his evenings watching TV shows on the computer. whereas I read ILX for most of my waking time, which is, uh

At what point did television become such the dominant medium that it become odd *not* to have one?

At least 20 40 years ago.

http://www.tvhistory.tv/Annual_TV_Households_50-78.JPG

Hi Phil D, you may not be aware of this, but many of the people in the discussion on this thread do not live in America, and the cultural penetration of television may have occured at a different rate in other countries.

I can certainly remember that when I left the UK for the first time, in 1979, it was not *that* odd for kids not to have a television in the house. There were several in my year at school. In the States, it was unheardof.

I'm trying to find the figures for the UK but the TV Licensing website is surprisingly unhelpful.

I was answering based on the culture within which I am based, Karen. No need to be patronizing.

Here is a table detailing television ownership in UK households from 1956-2011, in raw numbers, without percentages.

i didn't have one forever, then a few years ago a friend was moving and i got a nice 42 inch for like 200 bucks. i could have said no, but i was watching so many movies and dvd's of the sopranos and whatnot on my computer monitor it jsut seemed to make sense (also i wanted to get a ps3)

i don't really play games much now that i've finished gta4, but i watch WAY more tv than i used to. it's kinda sad, but tuth is if it wasn't tv it'd be ilx and facebook anyway. plus, what with game of thrones, deadwood, dexter, breaking bad, etc etc i feel like there at least is stuff on that's worth watching these days - last time around i had a tv there wasn't much on besides threes company reruns and cheers.

anyway i tried not to be too obnoxious about not owning a tv when i didn't have one, but people do natter on about that shit, it's kinda annoying when you just don't have one! frankly i'd rather hear about who's getting married cause they're pregnant or whatever!

we're making a communal living space where i live and housemate wants a tv, the rest of us are v much against the idea. i hate having a tv in the house and haven't had one for years. still, i feel a bit guilty for denying him his tv rights.

as for this better than you because i don't have a tv attitude. it annoys me about the same as people who say "i don't drink" or "i don't do drugs" or "i don't eat meat". i.e it doesn't annoy me at all, i just think, good for you, hope that's working out.

You know, I signed up for Facebook just to see the fate of my high school classmates. I loled and then deleted the account, Facebook is boring.

― Breezy Summer Jam (MintIce), Tuesday, 12 July 2011 12:56 (3 hours ago) Bookmark

Unlike TV, the "Facebook is boring" dismissal often reads to me like "my friends are boring" (nothing personal, I'm sure your friends are just lovely). Facebook's an interface - a shell - you don't plug it in and wait to be entertained. There are dozens of reasons to avoid Facebook, but "it's boring" doesn't sound like one to me. I saw this old fat git watching nature documentaries on a laptop before a gig (Madness at the Royal Festival Hall - yes, that's right). His t-shirt read "NO I AM NOT ON F*%&ING FACEBOOK!" If he wanted to project himself to the world as an uppity misanthrope (as I suspect he did), then this was the cherry on the icing on the cake.

As for television, ours is an ancient widescreen as heavy as a ten year old child. It makes a supersonic squealing noise when we switch it on. I only really watch DVDs and BBC News on it these days. The missus has it on quite a lot though - Eastenders, Desperate Housewives etc. - which I end up having to tolerate, which is fair enough since I subject her to loud music a lot of the time. That said, the day it packs in I won't be rushing down to Currys to buy a new one. Will however miss watching movies and series of Game Of Thrones on a decent screen, however.

I think TV units as we know them are likely to die out, to be replaced with a home interface linked to a computers around the house.

There have been a lot of rumblings lately about the possibility of cable television perhaps having reached its final peak in the US, as more people "cut the cord" to save money and because so much entertainment is available via the internet and DVDs. I think this would happen even faster if the US had better internet access -- ironically, the reason we don't is because of cable television (the same cables bring in our internet and television service, and the cable providers still choose to use the bulk of their bandwidth for traditional television programming since they make more money from it). I've seen articles suggesting cable tv subscriptions may be leveling off or dropping slightly.

I haven't had cable for years myself, and at least in the beginning it was sort of an ideological thing although now I'm just used to it. But I've talked to a bunch of people who are a bit younger than me (early to mid 20s) who have absolutely no ideological reason not to have television, but have chosen not to have cable anyway because it's expensive and they can save money by just using a boxee box or whatever.

a year ago in the USA the average cost of cable TV was $75 a month. that is just... crazy

http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/06/news/companies/cable_bill_cost_increase/index.htm

i own a very small tv set that has been in my storage closet since, i don't know, hockey playoffs a couple of years ago? (when you couldn't watch hockey online anywhere). i've never had cable in my own home in my entire adult life! whoa! which explains why when i go over to a friend's house and there is cable, i flip channels for an hour like it's going out of style. which is does in an hour.

i would pay for certain shows and even access to whole cable channels if such a thing were available via internet in canada - like, we just got freakin netflix a few months ago and it's remarkably lacking compared to US netflix - TV and internet regulations in this country are pretty o_O at the moment (e.g., corporate monopolies on phone lines and cable, bandwidth choking in full effect, etc.)
i think the screen on my macbookpro is pretty damn good anyway. i guess if i played these new-fangled video games i would think differently.

I don't find the "I don't own a TV" people to be weird, but of the four people I've known that don't own one, three of them take every single opportunity to remind me that they don't own one and are "so much better off" without it.

I haven't had cable for years myself, and at least in the beginning it was sort of an ideological thing although now I'm just used to it. But I've talked to a bunch of people who are a bit younger than me (early to mid 20s) who have absolutely no ideological reason not to have television, but have chosen not to have cable anyway because it's expensive and they can save money by just using a boxee box or whatever.

― relentlessly googling hipster (Hurting 2), Tuesday, July 12, 2011 11:30 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I'm probably about in this group. we had tv at our last place cause our roommates had cable and I only really watched sports + the daily show. I'm not ideologically opposed to tv and if I had infinite money I would probably have a set and cable and watch once in a while. but being that I can get most things I want to watch on my computer anyway, no way I'm gonna bother.

the girl likes the food network a lot, though.

I don't think I have ever told someone "I don't haveeee a tv" even in periods of my life when I didn't have one. it's not an important thing to me either way. it makes it easier to watch sports, that's about it.

like, I don't think it's a conversation people my age would have with our people our age. not having the internet / a computer / cell phone is a 'thing'. not having a tv is like not having a radio, who cares.

err minus one 'our'

I think there are fewer big omnipresent tv-related cultural things these days - there's no show that *everyone you know* watches. and if there is it's some easy-to-watch on dvd/online show like mad men.

I do know a couple of people who refuse to watch "tv shows" and I find this kind of obtuse. Like, the fact that something is broadcast rather than shown in a theater doesn't affect its quality -- I mean ok it means it's serialized, but so was Dickens.

yeah, i don't get that. except that some people are snobs, of course!

or have no interest in the long-form/serialized drama

if I'm curious about some weird catchphrase I hear people repeating, I can just search it on Youtube and most likely find a clip that explains it.

― Tuomas, Tuesday, July 12, 2011 3:02 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That explains why we haven't heard from him as much lately.

A child's view:

http://minimalmac.com/post/18189678921/tv-is-broken

(more on commercial/broadcast/cable television than on television, I guess)

people who hate on people who don't have tvs are the worst most self-satisfied clowns

One of the weird things I find in lunchroom conversations is that people who have cable (and btw, more people than I would think do not have it) tend to talk extensively about shows they don't even like that much. TV in a non-on-demand format is so much about just having something to watch/talk about. It's like you never break out of Saturday morning cartoons mode (oh, Gummi Bears is on, I don't like it that much but this cereal is really good).

That piece should have been titled "Stupid Child Doesn't Know What Advertising Is, and Stupid Parent is Too Stupid To Explain."

The child btw at least has the excuse of being four years old.

There are also commercials on Hulu.

Does anyone else find that the longer you are completely away from television, the more sublimely strange and absurd every single bit of it seems? When I'm in hotels now I enjoy just flipping the channels and watching little snatches of almost anything -- a bad crime drama, a butt-blaster workout infomercial, a middling talk show, a context-free bit of a dating reality show. I find myself hearing music in the exaggerated way the lines are spoken, I see weird and unbelievable facial reactions and want to loop them.

Like for example I flipped to some show on Ion where there was this really contrived standoff scene outside a house and the one impossibly pretty lady cop made this just subtly too pouty face for a cop in a standoff, and I found it hilarious. Or recently I was watching some show I can't even remember where Mario Battali was on as a side guy, and the main guy was giving all these recipes and party tips but it was the stupidest shit ever, like he had this idea that you should print out all of your guest's photos from social media and put them under a sheet of glass or plexi on a table that you use as your bar, and all the recipes were like not actually recipes at all, just combining a couple of different things on a toothpick or that sort of thing. And the whole time Battali looked just slightly irritated that he had to be on this jerkoff's show.

Or even just the slightly David Lynchian vibe that I get from the Property Brothers. All that kind of stuff, it just gives off such strong vibes for me not being accustomed to it anymore.

Yeah i get this in hotel rooms. Flip through channels once or twice for the absurd weirdness but can't stand it for more than a few minutes. Unless it's the golden girls.

Wicker tropical plants and satin in that studio tv lighting are very soothing to me.

Lady in movie theater speaking loudly to her small child: "this is a commercial. You don't know what that is because WE don't watch television."

— Sara Vilkomerson (@Vilkomerson) December 17, 2017

That lady seems very irritable. tbf, commercials can have that effect on people.

One of the reasons I think “we don’t let our child watch television / eat junk food / whatever” borders on negligent - when the kid leaves the bubble eventually they have no skills for dealing with the finely honed addiction machines of society. Watching crap television and taking the piss with your children seems much more useful.

kids learn and grow, they will be fine without bingewatching at 9

On the infrequent occasions where I’m exposed to commercials these days I experience a profound sense of alienation from the broader culture, combined with serious dismay that I ever put up with them as a child and young adult, before the streaming era.

On the other hand I could probably record a podcast spot for Casper or Leesa without any copy in front of me so I’m hardly pure

how big would you say the box a Leesa comes in would be?

so i bought one of those fancy 4k tv's and i love it

this thread isn't about owning a tv, it's about not owning a tv

damn u blew me w yr logic bro

well so i'm just sayin, tell us about your reflections on your prior state, before your world was forever changed

didnt kno i luved it till i tried it

the ol adage dont knock it till u try it cums to mind

what 4k material are you watching?

most people suggested at the time that the difference from 2 to 4k would be minimal and stuff like HDR would mean much more

Ps4 pro

aaaah nice

It’s also hdr btw

the console for PRO gamers :P

yeah makes sense

how big is the screen?

In terms of movies, some of the new action ones do look better, but they’re only a handful

It’s only a 50 inch which is my only concern

I remember when a 27" screen was considered "big."

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S09E17/931029.jpg?b64lines=V0hBVCBBIFRJTUUKIFRPIEJFIEFMSVZFLg==

50 looks small

But it might be bc we have a lot of 65+s all over work so im used to seeing those

i've had a 27-inch TV for the past 12 years and it still works/looks great. Once you output the sound to the stereo movies become VERY IMMERSIVE despite the screen size.

that said i have been kind of looking forward to the day it breaks so that i can get a 40-inch TV (the largest my living room will accommodate) - but i'm not in a rush; they still don't make OLEDs that size

Believe me, finding a small TV (21 inch and less) is much tougher than finding a large TV these days.

I haven't owned a television in over ten years, but I did get a projector early this year. Being able to watch movies on the side of a wall (or on the side of my garage) has improved things so much that I can't see ever getting a dedicated TV now.

i have don't even owned a tv since the mid 90s but i've been dreaming about getting a sound bar or something for my laptop

Second that projector motion
The only way to watch ghost in the shell at home