Could you live without TV?

[Warped9]

Humans have had television for only the past sixty years. For all time before that no TV. And radio goes back only about fifty years before that.

For the past six months I've watched very little TV except for the occasional hockey game including the Olympics. I just find myself not really caring anymore. I'm also turned off by the far too numerous advertising which also is often louder than the program I may be watching. It's annoying as hell.

Now the usual time I use my TV is to watch a dvd movie, so in some respects it's more a personal movie theatre than a link to incoming programming.

Anyone else?

 

[Josh Kelton]

Yes, I could manage fine with portable DVD player and collection of DVDs. Or is that considered cheating?

 

[MANT!]

I bought my HDTV to watch DVDs and Blu-Rays..and I watch some PBS (it comes in HD on my cable system!!) and maybe the News...but that's all I use it for..my wife watches her Tele-novellas and some other shows and keeps it off for the most part..

I find that the current state of television (even cable channels) rather uninspired...
and the massive commercials rather off putting...even PBS is loaded with em between shows..except when they are begging for money...then they interrupt the broadcasts..

so mine stays off except when I'm DVD watching..

 

[Warped9]

Yes, I could manage fine with portable DVD player and collection of DVDs. Or is that considered cheating?

No, I don't consider it cheating because I said essentially the sme thing.

By "watching TV" I mean scheduled broadcast programming and all with the usual commercials. A specialty channel like TCM which has no regular ads (except for itself) and airs its programming (classic films) uncut, unedited and uninterrupted might be considered a pass because you're watching a broadcast film rather than a DVD like your own mini movie cinema.

 

[RandyS]

I've already given up TV, I only follow two shows, and both of those once a year each on DVD.

Of course, I have thousands of TV series and movies on DVD and (a shrinking collection of) VHS.

 

[Jadzia]

I hardly ever watch television, and there's not really much point me having one. Last time I switched it on was over a month ago.

I just don't enjoy modern programmes. All the older programmes I like I've seen so many times I'm overly familiar with them, so they no longer entertain me. Also as I've gotten older I'm finding I prefer to spend my free time doing more creative things.

Most people in my family love television though. My parents for example have as long as I've been alive spent their evening from 5pm until bedtime glued to their own TVs in separate rooms, unwilling to suffer any interruption to their nights viewing.

One of my aunties is the same way as me though, as she almost never watches television, and prefers to do creative things. I'm a bit like her.

 

[Magnum]

Yes, I could manage fine with portable DVD player and collection of DVDs. Or is that considered cheating?

No, I don't consider it cheating because I said essentially the sme thing.

In that case, it's easy for me. I can't think of a single current show that I keep up with. The occasional Simpsons episode, but its best days are well behind it. If they ever make a new Star Trek series, I'll definitely need TV.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I always get confused by this because people say they don't watch TV but then you find out they watch DVDs or movies or watch on their computer. To me that's the same thing. I think of not watching TV as to mean you go outside and do something or you read a book or whatever.

 

[farmkid]

Yes, I could, and I have. For a period of about 5 years, from the time I left home for college until about a year after I got married, I didn't even have a TV and didn't miss it. And, that was back in the mid-90s, so there was no online viewing available. I occasionally went to a movie, and might watch a little TV when visiting my parents, but that's all the movies/TV I saw for those 5 years. Even now, I have only 3 or 4 shows I regularly watch, and I usually either watch them online or record them and watch them later. My wife watches TV most nights, and I'll sometimes join her to watch whatever she is, but it's more to kill time than anything else. I wouldn't miss it if I didn't watch at all.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

If you're not talking about viewing dvds, then yes absolutely.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Apart from the odd program which i usually catch on some form of On-Demand, be it cable or Iplayer, i don't watch a lot of actual TV, so yes i could go quite easily without TV, as a matter of fact the world seems to become a nicer place when you dont have the TV on for a few days and you escape the news bombarding your with a constant stream of doom and gloom.

 

[Geckothan]

I could live with just iPlayer and DVDs. Out of the 4 new shows I watch (Top Gear, Doctor Who, Mythbusters and Deadliest Catch), 2 of them are on iPlayer and 3 of them get DVD releases.

 

[RoJoHen]

The only two shows I watch regularly I have to watch online because I'm at work when they air. I didn't even have my TV hooked up to anything other than my PS3 for the last 6 months.

So yeah, I could live with TV.

 

[TheBrew]

Yes, but not that I would really want to.

 

[Warped9]

In my eyes if you're watching a film on DVD it's just smaller scale than watching it at the cinema. Your television set is substituting for the big silver screen. And it's often a lot more comfortable.

And note that I always try to skip any fucking advertisements they stick to us on DVD's. But then we're a captive audience of those when at the cinema.

 

[Holdfast]

I have the TV on the background almost continuously while I'm at home, but probably am only actually watching it for around 5% of that time. I like the background noise though. The times where I'm not multi-tasking and actually not doing anything other than watching TV/DVDs or whatever in the past month, I could probably count on one hand. Frankly I'm not even sure I'd need all five fingers. I'm always doing something else while the TV is on, but I still like it there.

Could I live without it? Well, obviously, esp. if we're allowed to "cheat" and watch DVDs and streaming, but why would I want to?

 

[Deks]

I already stopped watching TV in 2003, so I'd say 'Yes, I can do without TV'.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I survived without TV when I was 18, and I still can. There's little to entice me back to TV these days (although that which still entices me back is noteworthy).

Radio, on the other hand, now that's a love story that began ever since I was 9, and will never end - that is, until deafness claims me. (Me, I'd rather be blind than deaf, but that's another thing altogether.*)

 

[Warped9]

I haven't been able to tolerate commercial radio for years, perhaps decades.

 

[auntiehill]

Yes, but not that I would really want to.

This^.

I could live without it, but I probably wouldn't want to.