A year without television - my experience.

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: guoziming
TV is mindless. I love listening to people talking about "omfg did you watch **** show? omfg I can't wait for the next one!!!!!!!", because it generally goes to show how some shows can make people brain-dead.

I know, you spending 14 hour a week building Battletech models makes you WAY cooler than them. :thumbsup:

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: K1052
My PC is a far bigger drain on my time than the TV.

mmhmm ditto

 

[mindmaniac]

I don't know if I could do it. Even though much off what you say is true, a DVD player, a few gaming systems and a fast internet connection are all you need. Anything that was really work watching can just be rented later.

 

[pennylane]

Originally posted by: Subterranean Homesick Alien

Originally posted by: djheater
I have three kids under 9, when we moved into this new house two years ago, we decided to have no television service whatsoever, and it's been great.

It's awfully nice to have a 4.5 year old who will entertain herself for an hour looking through animal picture books.

I honestly think my children have more imaginative and immersive play than their gameboy\NickJr.\SesameStreet peers.

My 10 year old son has everything in his room to turn himself into a couch potato: cable TV, DVD, VCR, X-Box and a stereo, and yet he is not a couch potato and spends enourmous amounts of time sitting at his desk drawing or constructing things out of paper, tape, foil and cardboard, etc.

Early in his life I would say, "Okay that's enough of the video game or movie watching for now, it's time to go do something else." Now I don't have to say anything at all; he has learned to discipline himself.

Both my wife and I grew up in fundamentalist households where everything was banned for fear that we would not develop imaginative play or whatever. When we'd go to other people's houses all we wanted to do was watch their TV because we didn't have one at home. While we both may have ended up in artistic careers that require creativity, we don't have much love for our parents either.

It has become my opinion that authoritative and prohibitive methods risk producing weak willed children who are unable to discipline themselves, always looking to authority figures for guidance and instruction.

I agree. Often, kids want to do things only because they are taboo. Aside from becoming weak-willed, they end up with a need to rebel. It's a fine line went to make rules like that. Sometimes it's better to give kids some freedom. I'm not a parent by any means. I'm still in college, but I live a pretty conservative life and my parents didn't control me much or tell me what I could or couldn't do. I knew that doing drugs and things like that were bad and I didn't need to get drilled about it every day. Same thing with things like TV. I knew that watching too much TV was bad, so if I didn't have anything I wanted to watch, I'd just turn it off. There's a difference between being authoritarian and being a good influence. You can steer your kids in the right direction (and with good hobbies) without controlling every facet of their lives.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: djheater
I have three kids under 9, when we moved into this new house two years ago, we decided to have no television service whatsoever, and it's been great.

It's awfully nice to have a 4.5 year old who will entertain herself for an hour looking through animal picture books.

I honestly think my children have more imaginative and immersive play than their gameboy\NickJr.\SesameStreet peers.

My 11yr old bro can sink 12hrs on WoW

Koing

N.B. he does do his hwk, read 30-60mins a day depending on hwk and train 2x a week and run on the weekends when told to

 

[So]

The only shows I like of TV I can get via torrent (and yes, I buy them on DVD as soon as the seasons are available).

I'll watch cable at my parents place, but on my own, no way -- unless the premium over just cable internet was ~$10/mo

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Subterranean Homesick Alien

Originally posted by: djheater
I have three kids under 9, when we moved into this new house two years ago, we decided to have no television service whatsoever, and it's been great.

It's awfully nice to have a 4.5 year old who will entertain herself for an hour looking through animal picture books.

I honestly think my children have more imaginative and immersive play than their gameboy\NickJr.\SesameStreet peers.

My 10 year old son has everything in his room to turn himself into a couch potato: cable TV, DVD, VCR, X-Box and a stereo, and yet he is not a couch potato and spends enourmous amounts of time sitting at his desk drawing or constructing things out of paper, tape, foil and cardboard, etc.

Early in his life I would say, "Okay that's enough of the video game or movie watching for now, it's time to go do something else." Now I don't have to say anything at all; he has learned to discipline himself.

Both my wife and I grew up in fundamentalist households where everything was banned for fear that we would not develop imaginative play or whatever. When we'd go to other people's houses all we wanted to do was watch their TV because we didn't have one at home. While we both may have ended up in artistic careers that require creativity, we don't have much love for our parents either.

It has become my opinion that authoritative and prohibitive methods risk producing weak willed children who are unable to discipline themselves, always looking to authority figures for guidance and instruction.

I agree. I have no problem with them watching TV at grandma's or anywhere else, just not at home. There's plenty of other stuff to do.
I don't view this as prohibitive or authoritative, and if you knew my family I don't think you would describe us as fundamentalist.
I was particularly impressed by my eldest daughter recently, she's eight and all she wanted for her birthday was a black hooded sweatshirt. She was overjoyed to get it too.
There's plenty of time in life to indulge in consumerism, I really value the fact that my household is a refuge from it.

 

[iamaelephant]

I watch a bit of TV, I'm not ashamed of it. I don't watch very much, just a few key shows a week. I try not to miss Lost, Joey and Two an a Half men (all on in a row) and sometimes I'll watch Criminal Intent. Add the news to that and I'm probably watching 5 hours a week of TV.

 

[Excelsior]

If I lived on my own, I would certainly not have cable.

I would just use the internet to download all of the TV shows (commercial free) like I do now.

 

[Armitage]

Haven't had cable or satellite for over 3 years - don't miss it except for discovery channel or history channel. I do get decent OTA TV but *very* rarely watch it - don't recall the last time actually. Occasional DVDs, ussually while folding laundry.

When I had satellite, I noticed I'd sit down and turn the TV on and just look for something to watch - and then blow hours of my life watching some mindless drivel. That seems amazing to me now. Of course now I do the same thing with a browser Not nearly as much though.

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: guoziming
TV is mindless. I love listening to people talking about "omfg did you watch **** show? omfg I can't wait for the next one!!!!!!!", because it generally goes to show how some shows can make people brain-dead.

I know, you spending 14 hour a week building Battletech models makes you WAY cooler than them. :thumbsup:

LOL owned.

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
If I lived on my own, I would certainly not have cable.

I would just use the internet to download all of the TV shows (commercial free) like I do now.

Exellent. Now if everyone did that there would be no revenue for the productions companies and there would no longer be great high-budget shows like 24 or Lost. Please, if you enjoy your torrents, buy the DVD sets.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Ryan
A year ago - I decided to have my cable shut off, just for the fact that it's a sheer waste of time, and full of mindless programming. I had gotten to the point where I wouldn't watch it at all, and I couldn't justify spending money to have such a useless service.

I've gone one year, and now I've decided that I can justify it's price again. Not to say that my time without it wasn't great - I got to focus on oddball projects and tasks around my house and my life. I spent more time out of my house, with friends and family. There were some things I missed, though: news, comedy central, and even HGTV

So I caved in - I decided to have it turned back on. I've only watched it for about an hour in two days (rerun of the Colbert Report), but one thing that really pisses me off now is commercials. The barrage of advertisements seems so disruptive now, to the point where I don't even want to watch tv.

That's my experience without the magical video box in my life for a year

yep, american tv sucks when it comes adverts

i thought ITV and C4 were bad here in the Uk, but alot of your channels take the cake. films for example...film ends, goes to ads, comes back playes the credits, then goes back to ads!

watching any kind of motorsport is difficult becuase theres ads every 2 minutes.

what you guys need is the BBC.... 24/7 advertless TV bliss. well it would be if they didnt shower us with ****** like eastenders

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: Ryan
A year ago - I decided to have my cable shut off, just for the fact that it's a sheer waste of time, and full of mindless programming. I had gotten to the point where I wouldn't watch it at all, and I couldn't justify spending money to have such a useless service.

I've gone one year, and now I've decided that I can justify it's price again. Not to say that my time without it wasn't great - I got to focus on oddball projects and tasks around my house and my life. I spent more time out of my house, with friends and family. There were some things I missed, though: news, comedy central, and even HGTV

So I caved in - I decided to have it turned back on. I've only watched it for about an hour in two days (rerun of the Colbert Report), but one thing that really pisses me off now is commercials. The barrage of advertisements seems so disruptive now, to the point where I don't even want to watch tv.

That's my experience without the magical video box in my life for a year

I can't think of a more unoriginal rant. Very typical indeed. You couldn't "justify" spending the money a year ago but all of a sudden you can now? What is your justification now? That you changed your mind? Nothing's changed in television. You are not in a new era of programming. And it was full of mindless programming yet you missed the news, Comedy Central, and HGTV? Oh yeah, you forgot Oxygen, Lifetime, and Bravo!

 

[feelingshorter]

i never watch tv anyways

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: EngenZerO
wait... did you watch ota broadasts during this time period?

Bump for answer, because if you did, it's not really "a year without television"

- M4H

Still waiting....

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: iamaelephant

Originally posted by: Excelsior
If I lived on my own, I would certainly not have cable.

I would just use the internet to download all of the TV shows (commercial free) like I do now.

Exellent. Now if everyone did that there would be no revenue for the productions companies and there would no longer be great high-budget shows like 24 or Lost. Please, if you enjoy your torrents, buy the DVD sets.

But you can watch 24/Lost free OTA.

 

[MetalMat]

Only reason I have cable is cause my gf wants it. She watches way too much tv.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

We are moving soon and decided to try a home without TV. We'll probably rent movies, but we both are fed up with TV. So we're going to give it a shot.

What I'll miss: hockey

That's about it. The only show I care about is Lost, but I can watch thaton the net by a few different methods.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: kyzen
I haven't had cable in almost 10 years. I survive.

$39.99/month x 10yrs = $5k i saved!

and for those commericials... TIVO ftw!

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: kyzen
I haven't had cable in almost 10 years. I survive.

$39.99/month x 10yrs = $5k i saved!

Countless hours of laughter and cuddling time lost.

that > $5k

 

[darkxshade]

I haven't had a television or watched TV for the last 3 years, torrents ftw

 

[ThaGrandCow]

I haven't had cable since I moved into my new place, and I have no plans to get it. I get my weekly dose of House and daily dose of the Simpsons using just regular rabbit ears, and anything else I want to see I can get over the internet or by buying DVD's. I don't care about the money, I would much prefer having the option to see entire seasons of shows like the Shield without having to wait a week to see what the next plot twist is. Also, no commercials = :thumbsup:

 

[ThaGrandCow]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
We are moving soon and decided to try a home without TV. We'll probably rent movies, but we both are fed up with TV. So we're going to give it a shot.

What I'll miss: hockey

That's about it. The only show I care about is Lost, but I can watch thaton the net by a few different methods.

NHL on Fox? You can't even watch OTA shows?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Have a nice SD setup downstairs (Wega 27", XBox, PS2, DC) but haven't even bothered to sit down to enjoy it in about a year now :Q
Hell, even my poor X1900XT has just been busy drawing IE and PDF windows