Who has given up TV?

[StellaBlue]

I am currently reading the complete works of Thoreau, as I am having a blissful work-free period in my life (not by my own choice, but, hey, I figure I should make the most of it!).

I am going to use this opportunity (I had a rat-race-track job) to re-evaluate my life and attempt to make it one of meaning, not consumption or wage slavery or debt insomnia (all of which I have experienced already in my 26 years).

Has anyone else given up TV? I know we post a lot on here about breaking news in the M$M... but now that we have the internet, there is really no reason to keep to TV news except to have a finger on the pulse of the mainstream...

If you have given up TV, how hard/easy has it been? How has your free time improved? How have your children reacted? What do you use the extra money that used to be spent on hugely overpriced cable on?

[Seansky]

1. I have given it up, but when a DUer mentions a good info, can't help

looking it up...No shows, no other news, but now I'm hooked up to the Internet all the time so switched to books in tapes so I can multitask...seems to work.

[FreedomAngel82]

42. Have you tried podcast's?

You can get those with itunes and they're pretty cool. I also like progressive stations and on itunes they have a progressive network I can listen to.

[BulletproofLandshark]

2. Gotta watch my Redskins and Capitals

Other than that,yeah,I pretty much have given up TV. I've found myself splitting up most of that time between my computer and spending more time with my family.

[StellaBlue]

4. Yeah

I would miss football immensely! hmm...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. Haven't turned it on in months

I read, I listen to audio tapes, I listen to music, I watch dvds, I get my news from the internets.

I don't miss it at all.

[benburch]

5. I own two...

I watch maybe 90 minutes of TV in a month.

[Sabriel]

6. We're down to four shows

Curb Your Enthusiasm, ER, Entourage, and TDS. Quality, not quantity. Besides, with two kids and two people working, who the hell has time for TV?

[Stanchetalarooni]

7. Four years!

I returned home from a wonderful vacation back in 2001 and did not wish to loose the magic that enveloped me, the wife and kids. I told the wife that I didn't wish for this vacation to end and that the best way to sustain the ride was to kill our television.
No regrets after this much time. We do own a small combination vcr/tv but it is for videos and has been on several times for television....the bush/kerry debates, a few state of the union barffests and the last two nights watching the Dylan documentary.
The kids got better school grades and have become fine musicians, we talk more/ more conversations and above all....more quiet time for the family to think.

[FreedomAngel82]

45. Nice

Now that I'm older my priorities have definitley changed. I still have a few shows I love to watch and can't miss but now days I mostly read and spend time on the internet here at DU and a few other boards and blogs.

[StellaBlue]

8. Is there any way?

To get ONLY

CSPAN

PBS

and college football?

[Rainscents]

24. Yea, with COMCAST, if you ask for very basic...

You'll get all your local stations, PBS, CBC and C-Span's ( I & II )
This only cost about $13.00 per month!

[spuddonna]

43. That's what we do!

Just wish they'd offer comedy central ala carte...

[AspenRose]

36. I'd take that package if you also threw in BBC

[tlsmith1963]

57. I Have BBC America

It's not a bad channel, either. It's nice to watch British programs, even though they also have their "reality" shows. I guess you just can't escape that stuff.

Tammy

[longship]

9. I despise TV.

Sitcoms where they have to have laughing in the background so that you know when somebody says something funny.

Drama series which focus on the "next hot thing". Fad themes, fad plots, no substance, take no chances, political correctness. No risks.

Reality TV which is so unreal that it strains credulity.

Revulsion TV where they show goop, gulp, grime, and gristle.

Family TV where everybody goes to church. Plots right out of the fifties.

Edumacation TV!!! Don't get me started here. UFO's, ghosts, crop circles, etc.--all rubbish. Building hot cars, building hot motorcycles, bottom feeder bounty hunters going after bottom feeder felons, etc. These are the things I want *my* children learning?
NOT!!

So-called news channels with 24 hours of so-called news, but they somehow have no time to cover more than one story at a time. The coverage of every single fucking news story by construction of an artificial dichotomy of opinions--For and Against--like every opinion has equal status whether or not it is based on fact.

Good cinema cut to shreds and continuously interrupted by lame and lying commercial pleas for garbage nobody needs.

Don't get me started on shopping channels and infomercials.

It's all rubbish. Every single bit of it. The whole thing is wasteland and a total waste of time.

[StellaBlue]

14. Excellent rant!

You've just convinced me to NOT get a TV when I get my own place in the next few months...

I am set to get a 1955 Westinhouse TV, though... and it WORKS! So I might occasionally watch presidential debates or football games in black and white, I guess.... if I buy some good rabbit ears, I will be all set!

I really resent the idea of paying upwards of $60 a MONTH to some cable monolith just to get the like three channels that I actually want to see. Fuck 'em!

Now who doesn't have a CELL PHONE?!

I am getting increasingly POed at my cell phone company - when I signed up they told me it was $45 a month, but then the bill comes and it's $60 - with the extra $15 being for 'service fees' - uh, excuse me, isn't that what the $45 was for?!?!?! grrrr

Think I am going to swallow the $150 cancellation of contract fee (these contracts should be illegal, IMO) and tell them to go fuck themselves.

[Dora]

19. Okay, I'm dying to know now:

Do you own a television?

(I totally agree with you, btw.)

[longship]

37. Family has TVs all over the place.

One in the living room, one in each of three bedrooms. Hell, there's even one in the kitchen. My step-daughter watches those daytime bottom feeder programs (Jerry!!, that quack Dr. Phil, all those fake court programs, etc.). Step-daughter's 5 yr old son watches cartoons and whenever a commercial comes on, he begs for *anything* advertised--ANYTHING!! Stepson has TV going every second he's awake. My wife is the only one in the household who has anything close to sane TV habits. My office has no television, but it does have a TV card in one of the computers. I never turn it on.

I have another house in rural MI. There is no TV there at all. When I stay there it's either the music of nature, or radio.

I HATE TV.

[Matariki]

58. my sister had one in her damn car!

*sigh*

[FreedomAngel82]

48. Don't forget reality tv

Oy! One time I was watching something on Comedy Central and there was a commercial for a guy who was doing standup and he said "sometimes there is so much reality tv there isn't any reality left." It was something like that and it's so true. Oy!

[triguy46]

10. Now that I've seen the Scorcese documentary on Dylan, take it. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. me hell even was mildy interested in CiC

instead I kept listning to Malloy

[bobbieinok]

12. gave up TV summer of 2000

I had been watching repub debates, pundits, etc, and reading bartcop, dailyhowler, mikemalloy's message board, and tabletalk at salon.

I was getting SO ANGRY at what was not being discussed and how things were being spun.

My son and his wife celebrated their marriage in June, and I went to IA for it. No TV for 3 weeks (they'd dumped TV except for videos); I was not nearly so tense. Sure I was still angry at all that I discovered through the internet, but I no longer had to listen to the smarmy TV people saying stuff I KNEW were lies and spin.

Since then, I've only watched TV for about a week after 9-11.

[triguy46]

13. But they've just started showing SCTV reruns!!! nt

[Nostradammit]

15. My wife & I gave it up about 10 years ago

Best thing we ever did for ourselves. Living in this culture without the hate screen is an eye-opening experience.

Try it, you'll be glad you did.

[wildhorses]

16. I have pretty much given it up

I can only get one channel: NBC. I live so far out IN THE COUNTRY. I have not purchased a satellite. My 2 televisions are so OLD that they are not DVD adaptable. I am not sure what this says about me

[Dora]

17. TV-free for a few years now.

I've given up TV twice - once by choice, and once by circumstance. We've now been tvless for 3+ years.

I first gave up tv in '00 because of my uncontrollable viewing habits: six hours a day, minimum, and I didn't have cable. When I gave it up I experienced some pretty strong anxiety, I kid you not. I picked up crochet, read a lot more, washed my dishes each night instead of letting them stack up. My apartment was much cleaner. The anxiety stopped after a couple of weeks.

I began watching it again when I moved in with my husband before our wedding. I quickly stepped into my old habits: watching garbage late at night, wasting weekends on stupid movie reruns. Fortunately we were burglarized just a few months later, and the tv was lost, never to be replaced.

We love how much simpler our lives feel without television. Freeing ourselves from the bombardment of tv advertising has reduced our want level considerably. We both report high satisfaction with our home life without tv. We feel less stress, less malaise. If our house is noisy, it's with music and voices and laughter, not television chatter.

It's a peculiar path though. Our friends think we're kooks. We can rent movies on DVD and watch them on our computer if we're compelled to. We get a newspaper, and we listen to the radio, and we use the internet. After these three years without tv, I am now completely out of the mainstream culture loop - celebrity gossip and movies bypass me completely. I don't miss it, though.

No, I don't miss it. Not for a minute.

[StellaBlue]

25. "Fortunately we were burglarized "

Sorry, that was just a really funny and telling statement. I was burglarized a few months ago when I still had my own place, and it was NOT pleasant.

Also I like how you describe life with newspapers, radio, and internet. Sounds sort of retro-progressive, if you know what I mean - cozy.

[Dora]

64. It took a while to get here. Burglary sucks.

I'm so sorry to hear it happened to you. It can be quite traumatizing.

It took me a long time to recover from our burglary. I lost a worthless mac clone computer that had all of my writing on it, from my first efforts to my graduate thesis. I didn't have a backup.

Blessings will hide in the strangest of places, however, and voila - a life without television. I hope you can have one too. It's awesome.

[pnorman]

18. I did, about 8 years ago.

I had a dispute with my cable company and dropped it altogether. And without cable, downtown (Seattle) apartment TV viewing was almost useless for me. I had a slooooow dialup internet connection, but even then, I was able to keep reasonably abreast of events. Also, I've been a voracious reader from my early youth, and I far prefer the written word on a medium that allows me to go back and forth, and at MY schedule.

With a reasonably adequate computer and a fast DSL connection, I now get much of what I might otherwise miss by streaming audio & video. I'm paying ~$50/mo. for a SUPERB DSL provider (Speakeasy.net), and I don't begrudge that, although there are others at close to half that price. And of course, I rely on this DU community to provide analysis, criticism, and leads. After that, it's me, my books, and Google.

If you have children, consider cuttinmg your cable back to the basic package. But if there's nothing but adults in your household, consider dropping it altogether and making sure you have a GOOD broadband provider.

pnorman

[Kazak]

20. 'Got rid of cable...

back in February when I was laid off. So, happy I did too. I completely missed out on the Schiavo media barrage, and pope-TV, etc... Now, the TV just sits mostly turned off, unless we want to watch a DVD, or perhaps a ball game every now and then.

[Rainscents]

21. I gave up watching most of TV, so I got rid of Comcast digital package

I now only have very basic cable which only cost me, $13.00 per month. I got soooooooooo sick of cable news spin and why should I pay $47.00 per month to hear right wing spin? I still get all the local channels, CBC, PBS and C-span's.

[bemildred]

22. Long since, never miss it. TV turns your brain to mush. nt

[dogday]

23. Oh Man, I have one on my desktop and have it

running 24/7. I love TV! I am the biggest junkie...I run it more than I watch, I listen to it..

[Mind_your_head]

26. Haven't had cable for about 4 years now

We get a few broadcast channels via an old antenna on the roof, so the kids watch The Simpsons and a few other shows. Basically we don't miss it, although if we could purchase just the History channel, Discovery channel, and maybe a few others for a reasonable price, we might be interested in cable again.

Our family seems to have a lot more time to talk with each other, read, and do projects than some other families do - maybe it's coincidence?

[tjwash]

27. I only get the news of the internet now, but I still need my...

...Padres and Chargers fix.

[BiggJawn]

28. It was Easy.

But now I spend all the time I used to waste watching "Must-Seeeee Teeeeeee-Veeeeeeee" fighting chat wars on those Internets.
I'm an empty nester. Other than not being able to watch "Shark Week", I don't think the fish care...

The money that would have been spent on cable goes to the phone company so I can have my dial-up and into the gas tank. Funny, that's where the money I save on ciggies that I was gonna spend on bike stuff is going, too....

[Obamanaut]

29. We're down to one channel on an outside antenna, so we

read more and buy old movies for a couple $ at the video store. Found Ivanhoe this weekend. Listen to more music also. We're both retired. We just came in from a bicycle ride (Ms usnret88 is learning to ride my new recumbent bicycle, while I was stuck on the upright. For news I rely almost exclusively on DU. Ms hates it when I shout things like "we're up to thread 7 on the Brown hearing."

[il_lilac]

30. can't stomach it

Even when I try to watch, I get so mad I walk away. If they are not spinning the news they are trying to sell me something. Consume, consume, consume... Haven't cancelled cable yet cause my kids watch very occassionaly, but really want to.

[Crunchy Frog]

31. I largely have, but I did watch some of the Katrina coverage.

It was nice to see some people in the MSM going off their talking points and doing some actual reporting. I also like to watch Jon Stewart.

[StellaBlue]

32. On the topic of the crappiness of TV these days

What is UP with the whole 'Desperate Hosuewives' frenzy? Is it just a media-driven hype thing? *I* don't know anyone who even watches it, much less is obsessed with it.

I saw one episode in the UK last year when it first came out, but I turned it off after about fifteen minutes. They can say whatever they want, but Sex & the City, it ain't. And all the actresses are plastic-filled leather lollipops.

[ralps]

33. During the week I don't watch TV, on the weekend I usually watch

football, golf or movies.

[maxsolomon]

34. not allowed to get rid of it

wife wants "science shows"

daughter wants "the real OC", "the OC", and "ANTM".

i watch nip/tuck and TDS. saw the Dylan doc.

worth $600/year? not even close.

[AspenRose]

35. We have

for about a month now. We never had cable to begin with....

My husband's reading a little bit more. I don't think my productivity will increase until I:

-get rid of the computer
-stop listening to Air America
-my 7 month old starts 1st grade

TV is bad for babies so that's another reason why we got rid of it.

[Initech]

38. I only keep my Dish Network for ESPN and the Daily Show

Other than that, I watch DVDs. I can watch what I want when I want without people telling me to buy stupid shit.

[Lindacooks]

39. I basically watch The Food Network, Discovery, The Weather Channel,

and HGTV. I'm not into any prime time shows, and I get my news from DU.

[FreedomAngel82]

40. I mostly watch a few shows for enjoyment

I have a few shows and sometimes movies I watch but I haven't watched "news" in forever. My parents still watch CNN and ABC and stuff. My dad will rarely turn it onto fox. But he mostly turns it onto CNN. Heh heh. I just watch tv for entertainment. For news and all that I come here and a few blogs I've learned to trust like RawStory and Crooks And Liars.

[RebelOne]

41. No way can I give up TV.

I had a power outage last week that fried my TV and satellite box. I was without TV for 5 days until I could get another TV and satellite box. Couldn't stand it because I am addicted to Home Shopping Network and QVC. I can't give those channels up. Plus, I need to hear the news while I am getting dressed in the morning.

[Ariana Celeste]

44. We gave it up.

I still miss it sometimes. But we feel free. Lol. We do other stuff now, like, play video games, card games, sit on the internet, watch cartoons. Have a dog now. Get our news from the internet and newspapers.
We don't drive either, so don't have to pay ridiculous gas prices. Most of our friends live in our apt. complex so we all get together and just hang out a couple times a week.

[PowerToThePeople]

46. Welcome to my world, 4 years ago...

I read Thoreau too, still got it on the shelf. Currently reading Kierkegaard and just finished Nietzsche. You will enjoy not having the "boob tube."

[MojoXN]

47. I haven't had cable for going on three years...

And I'll never go back. I get ALL of my current events information from the internet, and I don't have to suffer through some inane talking head to get it. I actually ENJOY saying to friends, "No, I didn't see the latest T.V. fad. Why would I waste my time on T.V.?"

I must confess that I have a rather extensive DVD collection, though I only watch them about once a month or so. Also, I have a weakness for Family Guy, The Simpsons, Carnivale (before it got cancelled ), and the 4400. All the same, I don't obsess over these shows, I enjoy watching them when I get the chance is all.

MojoXN

[ElectroPrincess]

49. Yes, if it wasn't for The Weather Channel

and Animal Planet, I'd trash my cable completely.

[bikebloke]

50. Drifted away in the mid-70's

I found reading much more fullfilling. In the end, before I cut it off completely, I only watched Monty Python (when they first broadcast it over here) and Upstairs, Downstairs. My father, who was a teevee addict thought something was wrong with me.

I picked up my news from shortwave radio. Plus there were many years when I was living outside the country.

Nowadays, I own a telly that sits in the closet. I drag it out, along with the DVD player when I want to watch a film (since going to the cinema stopped being enjoyable).

[DanCa]

51. I watch Battlestar Galactica and House - but not news

My viewing habbits rotate daily. Two hours of prime time a week and the rest readding. The rest I get off of the daily show or snipets on Mike Malloy.

[B Calm]

52. Give up TV and miss "My Name is Earl".. you kidding!

[expatriate]

53. I quit watching TV when I was eleven.

I just realized one day that it was crapola. Nothing I really wanted to see, nothing I thought was particularly funny or worthwhile. I was a captive audience for the news, which played in our house every night at the dinner table, because my father was a television junkie and had it going all the time (watching Vietnamese villages being napalmed was really conducive to good appetite and pleasant table conversation - right!)

I'm forty-five now, so I've been 34 years without watching commercial TV. I've never missed it. Whenever I end up somewhere with a TV going by default (waiting rooms, other people's houses), I'm just stunned by the sheer idiocy of much of what I see. How can anyone be tricked into buying that stuff on the commercials, I wonder. They're so blatant and so transparent. Why do people think those shows are funny/dramatic/informative? The plots are simplistic to the point of pain, the canned laughter on the comedies is enough to drive one insane. The "reality" shows are the worst of the worst and cater to a type of prurient voyeurism that is very disturbing to contemplate. The "talk" shows are more of the same - voyeurism that either looks longingly into the lives of celebrities, or salivates over the miseries of "regular folks".

And what truly boggles me is that there are people who watch six or more hours a day of this crap. Every day. And they are the people who complain and sigh that they "don't have time" for entertaining, hobbies or social activities. Gotta watch that Glass Tit.

In 46 years, I have lived in many parts of the USA and overseas, and have worked many jobs (I have also spent quite a lot of time living in poverty because of family circumstances). I've also spent some of that time giving concerts, both musical and storytelling concerts. I'm an established artist and musician. I play seven musical instruments. I have written a number of novels which I've never even bothered to try to sell. I had a small self-sufficient farm for several years. I also make jewelry and sell it for my main source of income. All done in time that I might have spent staring at vacuous nonsense on TV.

I do some gardening now as well, and participate in the local arts society where I live in Australia. I have health problems that have slowed me down, but they sure haven't stopped me - and they sure haven't driven me to spending my life squatting in front of the television.

I do own one small color TV, but have no cable service. I like to watch favorite movies or documentary programs on DVD or VHS sometimes. There are a couple of very good public television channels where I live, and sometimes I will watch a political program or documentary series that they air. I haven't watched commercial television in 34 years. The money that might be spent on cable service (it isn't even available where I live) goes on pet care and food, art supplies, jewelry supplies - whatever. It sure doesn't go on the Glass Tit.

[neebob]

54. I've been on the wagon since November

but still have my cable (which only costs $27.51). I still watch The Shield, censored Sex and the City reruns, and miscellaneous movies and other shows I like. Last night, for example, I watched My Name is Earl. I don't watch news at all.

Not a big change, but I have to say I feel much better not hearing the chimply voice, and once you've had the TV off for a while, you really notice how stupid it is.

Right now I'm listening to a Beck/Audioslave/Queens of the Stone Age/Chili Peppers/Midnight Oil mix.

[tlsmith1963]

55. Mostly Gave it Up

Actually, I began to hate TV when I became sick of how my favorite series always got cancelled. Then, it went into hating the MSM. There was a period a few months ago where I didn't watch TV at all because my TV went out. I was amazed that I didn't really miss it at all. Now I just catch Lost or the new Battlestar Galactica. Otherwise, I watch DVDs. I buy series I like & watch those.

Tammy

[Matariki]

56. I haven't watched tv for years

i have one, but have NO interest in turning it on. i used to watch cartoons. i watch rented movies occasionally.

i can't stand the damn thing. it drives me crazy to even hear my neighbors muffled trough the wall. i think it's like junk food - once you give it up and your body isn't used to it anymore, it tastes like shit and makes you sick when you eat it.

[StellaBlue]

62. Junk food analogy

SO TRUE!!!

[The Gunslinger]

59. Very little

I watch football and a little Jay Leno before bed thats about it. The internet and books (new George RR martin in a month, can't wait) are more entertaining to me.

[haydukelives]

60. I stopped watching T.V.

completely before the election.
Much better news at DU

[October]

61. I watch HBO, does that count?

Also, I watch some sports.

Jon Stewart.

Family Guy.

But no NEWS -- and no network shows.

I did tune in to the Command in Chief drama the other night. I confess.

But seriously, for years, I've not really watched TV. I'm clueless about the missing blondes...reality show stuff...etc. And I'm quite happy in my art world.

[RepublicanElephant]

63. i would if it weren't for c-span, turner classic movies, jon stewart...

...reno 9-11, adult swim (aqua teen hunger force, birdman, inuyasha), the west wing, the weather channel.

guess i won't be giving-up tv any time soon.