We are both in our forties now and we've never bought a T.V.
I had that realization today. I've owned only one TV in my life. A 13" TV my parents bought me for my high school graduation in 1981. It's a JC Penny model, most likely a RCA. I've used it ever since. Some years more than others. Susan brought a 19" TV into our relationship. It's 18 years old. Her parents bought that for her when she went away to grad school. Other than that we've never shopped for, or bought a TV, neither of us.
Cable or satellite TV? Not really. We had cable on and off for the last few years. Just a lot of nonsense that turns your brains too mush. I've had cable TV a total combined time of maybe two years in my life.
Back at the beginning of the year we were going over our household budget. Something we do every year. We were discussing the possibility of buying a new TV with the upcoming switch to digital. We decided it would be a good time to do it. With the conversion a year away we talked about putting some savings toward a new big screen TV into our budget.
And then the opposite occurred!! We decided to simply turn the TV off for good. Susan approached me with the idea first. Ironic, since I've always been the one suggesting it. I said, "Hell yeah!"
Since February we have watched zero TV. No Olympics, no reality shows, no national political conventions, and no political commercials. It has been great, and we don't miss TV. We have rented maybe four movies in that time.
This isn't the first time I've gone TV free in my life. There's been periods of time, up to six months, when I've gone without it. Life has always been better without the influence of TV.
What's the best part about turning off your TV? Every once in a while I actually have something that feels like an original thought! Imagine that?
posted by Doug @ 9:39 PM
17 comments
links to this post
17 Comments:
Nice work.....I myself went TV free 2 months ago. Sold my TV and surround sound system.....Think I bought some bike parts with the $$$$$ :) Very nice to have that thing gone.....
We have a TV, but I won the damn thing in a raffle -- before that we didn't have a TV since neither of us had one when we got married and lived without one happily for six years. Most of the time it is shut off and we won't be getting the antenna box thingy for digital. Netflix is the input for the critter.
This post has been removed by the author.
I haven't had a TV since about Y2K. I own a LCD projector to watch movies, but due to our really long days it only works in the Spring/Fall & Winter which is ideal since I'm too busy in the summer to even watch movies.
Very few of my friends own a TV.
I travel moderately for work and haven't even opened the cabinet with the TV on many occasions.
For a number of years I used to get up early on the weekends and ride 12kms each way to a friend's house to watch the TdeF on cable, but even that lost its appeal this year and I didn't bother.
I think it's funny riding your bike in the dark down a residential street and seeing the telltale blue glow from almost every house. And some people think I've got a problem owning 7 bikes!!!
The medium is not the distinction, fellas.
There is quality and there is dreck, that is the distinction.
Just because it is a 'movie' does not make it of higher quality.
Turning off the TV is a great idea, don't get me wrong, but painting everything on TV as dreck is a rather broad brushstroke, don't ya think?
Congrats Doug!
I've been TV free for 10 or so years now. When we got married we gave away the TV my wife brought to the relationship... too busy working and playing to really care.
...but we do have movie night... once in a long while. Laptop with the projector I own for my work.
We have a TV but don't watch much. We do however like watching movies. We have Netflix and it's also a great way to enjoy TV shows, so long as you don't care about the latest shows (we don't).
Wow, I just learned that there are a whole bunch of people who don't own televisions. I tossed ours when my first son was born over 4 years ago. People think I'm either radical or crazy. Usually the ladder. Great to see that you made the switch and so many others have too! What really got it for me was watching those goons -OCC- building choppers. I had a motor bike I was building by hand (frame, tank everything) in my garage and kept wondering why I haven't gotten it done yet. Completely stupid. It hit me, the reason I don't have mine done yet, is because I'm too busy watching monkey boy and his dad build theirs. To quote a great song by the Red Hot Chili's "Throw away your television"!
Bravo Doug!
I went TV-free for about six months, only having my DVD's and a Xbox, then I caved and got DirecTV. Two years later, my wife and I just agreed that spending money on satellite - lots of money - is pretty dumb considering our long term fitness, family, and financial goals. Come December when my "contract" is up (dang DVR's!) I'm going to kiss it goodbye and never look back.
Being a ham radio geek, I've already planned a pretty cool antenna that will be used to pick up the local PBS stations for the kids. We've started dis-allowing anything but PBS and PBS Kids for them, and don't plan to change that. For us, I'll admit, we're both Biggest Loser and House addicts. Thankfully the local NBC and Fox affiliates have pretty stout broadcast strength.
TV is the new SUV. All my friends are buying the latest 10924012948p HDTV while I sit back and go "wow, that's even more dumb than spending money on gas".
My friends and I like House a lot...so we get the DVD set when it's out for rental and chain smoke the whole season on a stormy winter weekend...=-)
Interesting corelation- lotsa biking, no tv. hmmmm. I sold our last tv last summer at a garage sale. I am addicted to 24, Prision Break and the tour. Since tv 'seasons' are ridiculously short, it's no big deal to watch online these days. And the tour....well that's a whole 'nother story, but lets just say I know which barstools at my local pubs have the best views of their big screens! My co-workers also think I'm radical or crazy, they ask me - 'if you don't have a tv, what do you do? Just sit on the couch?' I always tell them 'no, I experience real life'
Good post Doug!
The real trouble with not having a TV is 80% of the time when people try and strike up a casual conversation with me I have no idea what they are talking about.
Even when it comes to the shows that I like and watch on DVD I'm at least a year or two behind.
With my recent move to "out in the country" , I decided to not have satellite TV , since there is no cable TV out there. I do have a nice Wide screen TV however, since I like to watch movies and my daughter and I like to play Wii during the cold months. Other than that, not much TV for me either. I have found I am much more productive with my time and dont even bother to turn it on when I have down time. I find something else to do. Kudos to you .. TV does turn the brain to mush. Just ask my ex-wife. :P
All of my TVs have been dumpster or curb finds. Our current 31" TV just needed some solder work on the flyback transformer. Often, just replacing an SCR or TRIAC will get things all happy slappy, too, if the TV Refuses to power on. I should curb surf and repair throw-away TVs more often. I could probably make some good bike part cash on the side doing it.
I don't watch much TV either, but my wife and I watch a few movies per week. I process written information much faster than spoken or visual information, so the TV seems like a pretty poor method of getting news for my style.
I've probably watched about 15 hours of television this year, if you don't count movies.
It wasn't a conscious choice. Probably 2-3 years ago, I just found myself not watching TV anymore. Probably this coincides with my transition to hi-speed internet in the house. Now I find TV and even movies to be intolerable. A few months ago, my wife rented a movie she thought we could enjoy together. No luck. I couldn't stand to watch it for more than about 5 minutes.
Now I find myself changing patterns again: using the internet less, and reading more books.
So is keeping a blog and commenting on the one's you like any better than watching TV? I kind of agree with Matt. I think there is a lot of stupid crap on TV, but I like football games and the TDF.
My wife and I keep a TV around so we can watch rock climbing movies (our other passion), but outside of that it never gets any use. We spend our time riding, climbing and reading... can't get better than that!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home