Who has no television (or just local channels)?

My GF is more addicted to the tube than I am. It suprprises me that with all the channels available on our Comcast package, I still have a difficult time watching anything worthwhile.

Ok, so I do watch History, Science, Discovery, Military and Food channels...but still. Even then, a lot of those channels recycle programs from 2002, sometimes even earlier.

I'd suggest cutting cable, keeping the internet, and watching movies on Netflix. You can still get the news and weather on the net. In the end, you'll end up saving a lot of money, and more time to do the things you'd really rather do.
 
No TV or cable here, pulled the plug on cable many years ago. We do subscribe to Netflix and watch movies, and read tons of books. I watch jaws drop when I tell people I do not watch television shows. I work out at my local health club every morning before work. I watch the news while I do my workout because it's in my face there, but that's it.
 
I didn't turn it off, I just don't own one. No real need. I have access to the internet if for some reason I feel the desire to catch up on who died today, what celebrity is sleeping with who or going to re-hab, or what 3rd world septic tank is threatening the US now. I find that I have more free time without the idiot box around to do important things like read, fish, learn something new, or just get outside.
 
Most of the Australian population has 5 channels at best, probably less as reception is poor outside the capital cities. Cable is way too expensive IMO for what you get and you still have commercial advertising on it and I have no interest in paying to watch ads.

I have digital FTA which has proven to be a waste of time as there's no extra channels worth watching but then FTA isn't worth watching at all. I won't get rid of it as it's good for the news occasionally and the odd event but all the shows I want to watch are obtained from the internet. Technically illegal but I don't see the difference between downloading a show for free (that the local network refuses to show or only shows part of the season anyway) and watching it on TV for free. If it's something I enjoy I buy the DVD box set anyway.

IMO you wouldn't miss it. Actually I'd feel sorry for anyone who did miss it. There's better and more important things to do.
 
Haven't had tv for years, I just waste my life on the internet instead, at least its easier to avoid the ads...
 
Basic cable which I rarely watch. My TV room, big tv on a power strip has been on off for a few years. I flip the switch to on once a week to keep it programmed. The bedroom TV goes on as a "alarm clock" and I wake up to Robin Meade every weekday morning :)
 
We live in the country & needed a high antenna to get 2.5 channels. About ten years ago we ran over the cable connecting it to the house. Ten years later it is still not connected & aside from hurricane updates I have not watched TV for that long. It is hard to imagine anyone having time to spend hours in front of it.
When I do encounter it, the sound of canned laughter makes me sick as do talking heads. I read 10-15 books a month. Remember, "Garbage in ...garbage out"
 
Not had a tv for almost 20 years....... and I love it!

I love not having a tv.

Listening to BBC Radio 4, World Service, music, reading...... thinking! And the enjoyment of quietness, with just natural sounds.

It seems odd to visit friends, whom sit through hours of tv, adverts and all, without speaking....... every single day!

Very odd indeed!

The tv dominates their living room, speech is frowned upon, I know one guy who's wife watches three soaps every day, video's and watches them again, then watches the repeats!

Did I mention odd!

I don't watch dvd's either, perhaps I'm the odd one.......
 
yeah, just buying tv series now, its cheaper in the long run, and I get to watch what I want with out any commercials.
 
I really don't watch much TV, but my wife and daughter do so it's here to stay in the Foilist household.
 
Wooden,

WOW man - good show - post up when you have a month under your belt or something... let us know how the detox is going!

TF
 
We had broadcast, until it went digital. Now we have whatever we get for free. When we moved to this town a few years ago, the choice was internet or cable...We all decided internet was better, since we can find TV shows online through sites like hulu and youtube anyways.

It's rare that I find a show that I feel compelled to watch, but I usually watch Ray Mears clips on youtube.

I don't have time for TV even I did have the interest...I fill my free time with social connections, hobbies, and whatever work I happen to be able to find. My family does the same.

My younger brother enjoys alot of young adult geared cartoons (anime, among other things), which he watches on teh internets. He doesn't really seem to miss television any more than the rest of us.

It helps that we have a couple of computers so that several people can be on at the same time...but books are good too ;)
 
TV = 0

No Television for me. I have friends who can't believe it. I see enough at the gym and at friends' houses. I can tell that I am not missing anything.
 
I haven't owned a TV since 1988. I haven't lived in a house with a TV in.....8, maybe 9 years (depends on how you count a CRT monitor with RCA inputs for a video game console turned into a dekstop. I loved my PS2....as a computer)

I have kids and select their video via computer.
 
"I hope people have sense enough to turn it off if they don't want to watch it" (Jerry Clower):p I don't watch a whole lot of TV mostly work and internet. But I enjoy being able to watch it from time to time or when I hear of a great show coming on but I would never get rid of it all together. Just my two cent;)
 
WoodenChicken said:
I've been thinking about this, and this thread has finally pushed me over the edge. Today I cancelled my cable tv, well, it will be officially disconnected on 8/19 :o
Funny how difficult they make it for you to disconnect. Since I wanted to keep my fios internet, they said they would no longer bill me. Have to take that out of a credit card, etc. Then they try to get you to "suspend" service for up to 6 months for only $25. This is, ostensibly, to save you the fees of reconnecting once you realize that you cannot live without it....
I plan to use the "dead air space" time for more training, and actually getting back to reading again. Now, where is that copy of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire".......:D
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Good for you, man. I think you made an excellent and rewarding decision. Best of luck with it.

All the best,

- Mike
 
hevy ev's said:
"I hope people have sense enough to turn it off if they don't want to watch it" (Jerry Clower):p I don't watch a whole lot of TV mostly work and internet. But I enjoy being able to watch it from time to time or when I hear of a great show coming on but I would never get rid of it all together. Just my two cent;)
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Okay, since Talfuchre started this, I'll take this comment here and run with it!

TV and video programming aren't the same thing. The TV as a device requires a very PASSIVE state on the part of the viewer.

I have a library of several dozen different program series for my son- dinosaur planet to caillou and US history to woodworking videos- and he has access to them on his computer- and he regularly PAUSES them to go do something- like one of Bill Nye's experiments.

I think it was in Job: A Comedy of Justice that Heinlein's character talked about this grea tinvention for transmitting video programs and how amazingly educational, enlivening, and uplifting it could be- and how disappointed he (the character) was that they used it for pap.

One of the better things about using a computer for video programming is that you do have a more active role choosing and watching (and pauses to see what wikipedia has to say about Hitler*) than with a boob tube.






*A corollary of Godwin's Law says that no philosophical discussion CAN be complete without a reference to Hitler, even if it is a joke about the History Channel.
 
mdauben said:
I totally agree! I have actually taken to recording the few shows I do watch on the DVR (even if I am sitting in front of the TV when they are on), and watching them later so I can fast-forward throug the commercials. I just can't stand watching shows live anymore, with the number of commercials they try to pack into each broadcast I either end up poping in a DVD or just surfing aimlessless every time a commercial break starts. :grumpy:
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I have not watched TV in the last 5 years. I watch some of the good shows on-line but I can't stand the commercials on the regular TV so I literally threw my TV in the trash.
 
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