Not owning a television: c or d?

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.