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Anyone brave enough to give up tv entirely? What's it like?
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Ed
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Dec 28, 2008 11:02AM
I often wonder what it would be like if I gave up the tv entirely. I'm not brave enough to do it. Anyone here ever do that? What was/is it like? Do you miss it? Maybe I should try sometime to go for a week or so.
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Ed, could u give up the Internet for a week or longer?I know I can, cos I have had to do it when I didn't pay a bill and it was heaven as I read loads in that time lol.
Ed, I gave up TV in 1970; and I have never regretted it. If I watch random TV at someone else's house, it almost always depresses me.The internet would be difficult to give up.
My family has done the national TV free week a couple of times - I think it's sometime in April. Of course my two daughters thought it was an awful week - but it was amazing how much more reading time there was! Now to give it up entirely - that would be admirable!
I haven't actually turned on my TV in nearly a month, but I have a DVR which is recording the only show that I want to watch currently, which is Heroes. I think I have about 2 episodes queued to watch. (It's funny, you'd think that being able to record anything I want would allow me to watch MORE TV, but since I've had it I watch much less than I did before.)Other than that, the only show that I am looking forward to watching this coming year is "So You Think You Can Dance". That's my guilty pleasure.
But I'll probably DVR that too and then watch it when I feel like taking a break from reading. I think that I'll have to keep up a little bit better with that one, or I won't know who gets eliminated!
I'd say that an average week I watch about 1-2 hours of TV.
The longest I've lived without a TV was for a year. Back in the late 80's, my TV died and I couldn't afford to replace it. So I got rid of it and moved a bookshelf in its place. It was surprisingly easy for me to adjust to its absence. I spent more time reading, writing letters, and crocheting. Now I watch about 4-6 hours of TV per week and one movie on the weekend. I could easily cut back on TV time, but I don't think I could do without it totally.
As for internet, it is no longer a luxury to me. I take online classes which require lots of reading, research and threaded discussions which would be much more difficult to accomplish if I had to wait for a free computer at the library.
I know a few people who don't have tv or they have tv but no cable so essentially no tv and they all watch lots of movies or complete tv series on dvd or lots of things on you tube or online episodes of tv shows not to mention the hours spent downloading music etc.It irks me when these individuals will say proudly "oh, I don't have cable" as if that makes them superior beings when in reality they spend much more time in front of the screen than I could ever imagine! Sorry, it's a sore spot with me!
I totally respect those people to who no tv means no tv. I know I could never go cold turkey forever.
I'll find out in February how I will do without a TV. Currently my boyfriend and I have a TV that gets NBC just fine, and we might get ABC or CBS if the wind is just so. I will watch TV, but I certainly don't need it. In February we'll be moving to a more expensive place and life changes to digital and all that anyway, so I think the TV will solely be used for Netflix and bought/borrowed DVDs. I have a friend at work who has let me borrow a few television series I never caught due to the lack of cable (I'm on Queer as Folk right now thanks to her); I know I wouldn't do well without options like that. As for regular television I think I'll be just fine... and I'm actually looking forward to having one fewer distraction in my life.I will say that I will probably miss Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News and Jeopardy the most. Things that I have grown attached to (The Office, Chuck, etc.) will just have to be Netflix'ed.
I gave up TV two years ago. I would die without the net though lol. I have not missed tv at all. Not a bit. In fact, when I do see some tv from time to time I am appalled at how tragically bad it is. Very few shows worth watching. There are some great shows, and from time to time I rent them or find them online.
Not only do I save approximately 60$ a month, I am healthier and better read as a result. Give life a go without the tube - its worth it!
I'd like to try a year TV-free. I wonder what it would be like? I don't think that I would be able to go completely visual-media free though, I still enjoy watching movies from time to time...
I can do without tv. Everytime we moved and the tv wasn't isntalled yet, I didn't even notice it. Till about a month ago I watched tv agin but now we don't ahve any and I don't mind. It actually never come in my mind to watch. When there is tv I watch but when there isn't I don't notice.
If I never had a tv, I would read til I couldn't read no more lol.
I have gone for about 5 days without turning no the TV but I don't know that I could get rid of it completely.
I think I will pick a week to go without tv. It would be fun to have a thread if others pick the same week and we can write our thoughts.
I can't do it. I need my TV, particularly in the morning. I like catching up on news with GMA. At night I can go without it but I usually have it on for an hour or so. I usually watch TV shows, like my favs Dancing With the Stars and Ugly Betty. If not I catch up on movies. I subscribe to Blockbuster Online so I have an array to choose from. The internet is something else I can't do without. I need my GR! j/k I'm also taking an online class, so I need it for homework, class discussions, etc.
Hey Ed,I gave up television for about 6 years and as a reader it felt completely natural. My husband and I never really watch it anyway. The only difficult thing I ran into was that people ask you all the time if you saw this or that show or commercial and you always say no, I don't have tv. No one ever really believes you though. Oh, and no in-home football games were hard for me. But you get used to it. Whenever I needed a television fix I would watch a movie or television show on DVD. I think I mainly regret getting television again. But I have a daughter and it will probably matter more to her at this point than myself. Now that I have tv again I still don't really watch it. Occasionally but rarely...I say do it! Bite that bullet...take a chance. If you find you can't live without it you can always start your service again!
I have ALMOST given up all TV. The only thing I watch is football and an occassional Netflix movie.And I am still debating as to whether or not I am going to watch American Idol this season. I didn't last year. I have so many books I want to read. The more TV I watch, the less I read.
I went without TV this past summer. I did a lot of reading and played a lot of games on the computer. Not bad.
I don't think it would be hard to give up t.v. entirely, but I wouldn't be able to give up movies.(DVDs, in demand, Hbo, whatever) I don't think I have watched an episode of television in 3 weeks, but I LOVE to watch movies in the evening with my husband or children. I would give that up too, if I could afford a $10.50 movie ticket more often!
I don't watch TV but I do watch DVD movies and TV shows occasionally. Commercials drive me batty and for the most part, I'd rather be reading, so I do!
I need to turn the tv off and I think then my reading will increase. I hope to pick a week in January to turn the tube off. :) Let me know if anyone is interested in picking a particular week in January and we can share our thoughts.
Ed wrote: "I often wonder what it would be like if I gave up the tv entirely. I'm not brave enough to do it. Anyone here ever do that? What was/is it like? Do you miss it? Maybe I should try sometime to ..."I don't understand the comment "brave enough". TV is a form of communication and entertainment just like radio, newspaper, books, etc. I know some people spend to much time with TV, and some of it is just mind-numbing, (And sometimes we need some mind-numbness) but there are great things on there as well - and not just the "hi-brow" stuff like documentaries etc.
I know people who don't have TV's and they wear it like a badge of honor - I think it is a prejudice born of too much garbage on TV.
Ed, left you an message in return to what you sent me.
sounds great; I didn't mean "brave" in a bad way. I just know that when I've gone a week without tv it's been due to being in a park where there are no tv's, etc. I've loved it but I didn't do it by choice.
My mother subscribed to the belief that TV rots the brains of children, so my sister and I weren’t allowed to watch much as children. I can shock any and all children of the 80’s to the core with the following statement: I did not see The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles or Pretty in Pink until the late 90’s. My last summer at home with my parents was at age 19, so ever since then, I’ve been in charge of my own TV habits and except for some minor phases that never seemed to last, my TV watching as an adult isn’t much different than when I was a child. On average, I'd say I watch 4 hours a week (give or take). And that includes the Netflix movie I pop in on the weekend. I just don't watch all that much.
The Internet, on the other hand…well, that is an entirely different story. I could potentially whither away and die without the Internet. It’s pathetic. If I was really going to challenge myself, that is what I’d try to do away with.
I stopped watching TV when I moved to the US - not because the TV there is necessarily worse than in the UK, but because I wasn't familiar with the programmes and so had no particular reason to watch. When I moved back to the UK recently, I'd been away for 6 years so all my favourite shows had long since finished. And here you have to pay £100 for a TV licence just for owning a TV, so that was an extra incentive not to get one. I think watching TV is more habit-based than anything else, so once the habit is broken, it's pretty easy to avoid it. Besides, these days it's easy to catch any really good shows on the internet if you want to. I agree with other posters - going without internet would be harder (although when I've done it I've enjoyed it, and got a lot of stuff crossed off my to-do list!).
