Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Living without Television

Page: 1(2)

13:27 / 12.04.05

I have only watched tv to see Dr Who for the past two years and not regretted it a second.

On the other hand any money saved went straight on books. I think my yearly bill is more than double the tv license.

13:39 / 12.04.05

We've gone without watching TV for the past four or five years, and it's been great. We still watch a lot of videos (or, we have the same old videos playing in the background all the time, while we do other stuff), but the TV that's actually connected to the outside world really only gets switched on during the Winter on snowy mornings to check for cancellations.

We spent our first year or so of non-TV watching almost nothing but Mystery Science Theater on video, so when we did start watching TV again for a brief period... it was really really funny. Like, impossible-to-take-seriously funny, no matter what was on. It was also a lot more annoying than I had remembered it being.

~L

14:06 / 12.04.05

I've lived with and without tv and while I'm quite happy without it, I prefer to have it. I don't watch much so there's no danger of me losing my life to it as some people seem so afraid of. I don't enjoy it as much as when I was a kid and was home every night and knew when all the shows were on, which is a bit of a shame but then I prefer not to run my life by the tv schedule so I just take my chances with what's on. I'll flick it on and if there's something good then I'll watch it, othewise I'll flick it off.

There were two things I missed when we didn't have tv:

1. Sport. When I want to watch a live cricket match, a book or a download can't replace that.

2. Vegging out. Sometimes you come home pissed on a Friday night (or indeed want a mindless Friday night in with a few drinks) and you just want to veg out. This probably isn't a good idea to do every night but sometimes you want a passive form of entertainment. You don't always have the energy (or sobriety) to concentrate on a book or a radio programme.

And though I never avoided the tv licence, it can't be that hard. When we didn't have a tele, a guy once came to the door and said: "I'm from the TV Licencing Board. According to our records you don't have a television. Is this still the case?" I said yes and he said thank you and he left! I must have a trustworthy face.

01:40 / 13.04.05

Smoothly>

How do you find the time to watch? That's really the most significant thing I wonder about people who watch TV regularly. I mean, doesn't it eat into your free time rather fiercely?

I never seem to have enough time for the things that interest me even without watching TV. Not even close. I've tried to cut down on my sleep, but can't go below 6 or 7 hours without suffering ill effects, and even that doesn't get me enough time.

11:59 / 13.04.05

Well, yes, I don't spend as much time as that sleeping for one thing, but TV doesn't eat into my free time any more than anything else. I mean, how do you find the time to read, watch movies, play Go, climb rocks...?

Of course, it's a matter of priorities, but it does interest me why so many people are so down on the box. I've asked this question before, but what's wrong with telly? I share some of Jub's surprise that so many people don't own one or watch any, and I wonder how these responses would compare with parallel threads about giving up - say - books, films or the radio.

Madman in the ruins.

17:49 / 13.04.05

[q]I've lost more of my life to the tube than I have to the mindless haze of pot, and that's saying something. Although pot and TV do go together rather well, as it happens.[/q]

Words to live by, I'm not a pot smoker btw. But in the same way I class junk food as ciggarettes . I dont smoke but boy do I gorge on junk food, if I can make the mental connection between pot and tv it might be easiier to go without it.

18:14 / 13.04.05

Smoothly, I'm completely with you on this one. I went to college in the boonies and had no TV for years, and by the end of that I thought I had to "resist" getting back into it. I did at first but then I went to my Dad's, and the family was all sitting around laughing and screaming at Fear Factor or whatever, and I thought, this is fun! What's so awful about this?

Now I watch a lot of TV, and I enjoy it. I think TV addiction is when you don't enjoy it anymore but can't stop. There are a lot of shows I like, and I don't feel I've "wasted time" by watching them. I don't feel that time was "lost" - I know what I was doing, I was watching Supernanny and laughing my face off at Arrested Development! (The only thing that gives me that sickly "where did the last hour go" feeling is the Internet, actually.)

What is all this "more time to do other things?" Are there things I don't know I'd rather be doing? If I'd rather be reading a book, I go to bed early and read. But sometimes I'd rather be watching TV. What's so great about being productive all the time? I feel I'm productive enough. There is value in leisure, in being entertained.

Madman in the ruins.

12:48 / 14.04.05

What is all this "more time to do other things?" Are there things I don't know I'd rather be doing? If I'd rather be reading a book, I go to bed early and read. But sometimes I'd rather be watching TV. What's so great about being productive all the time? I feel I'm productive enough. There is value in leisure, in being entertained.

Which is fine. My point is a TV liscence is about 120 pound a year. And thats just for terrestial the 5 channels , Ok so thats only a tenner a month but i'm going to be entering a situaltion where every tenner will count and some brutal choices made with said tenner. IE: petrol in car or food for the next few days.

13:58 / 14.04.05

Given your previous post, I'd humbly suggest you gorge yourself on junk food a little less, before deciding you must ditch the TV.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:00 / 14.04.05

Strangely, of all the programmes I've not seen in the last few years, the only one I'm slightly regretful about now is "Touch The Truck". Which is weird, because I had no desire to break my fast at the time it was actually on (about three, maybe four years ago?), cos it looked shit.

I'm assuming nobody taped it?

Page: 1(2)