Can you live without a TV ?

[Oaktree]

I don't watch TV any more, as it is too stupid.

We have Youtube and so many others to get a good content.

What is all this "good content" you speak of on youtube? Don't spend much time there, but most of what I see is pretty lame.

TV? The question should be Can you live without a smartphone?

The smartphone has replaced the TV as the mass distractor and propaganda dispenser. Just look at all the people walking around like zombies totally oblivious to their surroundings.

I can (and do) live quite nicely without a smartphone. Have no need or desire for one. Agree they seem quite addictive, though I'm not sure what everyone's looking at that's so fascinating.

Seems to me that the ability to be reachable anytime, anyplace quickly morphs into an obligation to be. Not a rabbit hole I want to go down.

 

[Jstpssng]

Seems to me that the ability to be reachable anytime, anyplace quickly morphs into an obligation to be. Not a rabbit hole I want to go down

Too true. I read recently that most people feel the need to look at their phone every 4 minutes. Mine is supplied by my employer. Radio reception up here is terrible, so I use it to run the radio in my truck when on my way to work. I do miss that on the weekends.

 

[bmg88201]

Wow, I posted this thread just to see if others didn’t own a television set in their homes, thinking I am this weird odd ball on the planet. Turns out a lot of folks don’t have a TV. Now that I have high speed fiber optic my friends are telling me I can get a smart tv and watch a lot of stuff for free, like the old shows like Gun Smoke, Star Trek and stuff but I’m still hesitant to do that. My neighbor has a 75 inch in the living room, a 75 inch on the wall at the foot of her bad and a tv in the kitchen. Geez man, turn that crao off !!!!

 

[YanmarFever]

Our daughter was raised without a TV and homeschooled, by the time she was in 3rd grade she had read all the little house on the prairie books + boxes of others.
Years later she thanked me for not polluting her mind with the boobtube when she was younger.



Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

[Torvy]

I guess it depends on what you mean by TV. Do you mean the device in the house to view various content or the broadcast/cable service?
We have TV 'sets'. Once we get moved into the new place, I'll have one in the shop and a couple in the house. Videos help me understand many things. I can see a 55" screen better than a 5" screen and don't need my hands...meaning I can turn a wrench while I see what needs turning. We also have pictures and videos (vhs and digital) that look nice on the big screen. Dropped the TV services years ago. What content we watch is streamed or our own recordings. When the kids were young, they only had access to watch things we had approved...Veggie Tales and the like. TV is a tool. It can be used for good or evil.

Can we live without it? Sure.

 

[CalG]

It's all one sort of programming or another. Movies? Just some producer's medium to get you to think a certain way. subtle are they not?

No TV in our house. The wife watches movies in the evening before bed time. On her lap top.

 

[MossRoad]

I eliminated TV’s from my home in 2010, it’s now been 13 years without a television set in my house. Guess what, life is pretty good without that appliance around. I just find other things to do. And now days it’s mostly all crap anyway. I glance at local news and weather online. Plus it has saved me a ton of money and I absolutely refuse to pay for tv service. What am I missing but politicians lying to me, the media lying to me, etc.

Pretty easy... Turn off the news and turn on the entertainment and educational programming.

On another note:

Define TV for yourself.

In the early 60's we had over the air broadcast like ABC, CBS, NBC. That's it. 3 channels. That was TV for me.

Then cable TV came around. I never considered paid cable programming as TV.

Now we have over the air broadcasts of those earlier 3 big networks, plus a myriad of side channels. 44 here, to be exact. Costs nothing. Just an antenna. I still consider that TV. There's a whole slew of programming that has nothing to do with politics or news that you don't want to watch. Free!

Internet streaming? We get several hundred free internet channels through Samsung TV that came with our Samsung TV. I'd consider that TV today, as well. We already pay for internet access, so that's just a free perk of internet service. There are many, many free sources of programming to fit anyone's tastes. If you already pay for internet access, it will cost you nothing additional.

We pay for Netflix. I don't consider that TV, just as much as I didn't consider cable as TV. It's paying for entertainment/education/whatever you want to watch.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I got a heavy brick one taking up space in my garage, one of these days my backhoe might accidentally break it. Hate when that happens.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I've been watching the auction on and off too.
Did you see the 1970 Cuda 440 Rapids Transit show car that sold for $2 million?
A 1970 (I think) Hemi Challenger also sold for a million.
Prices on most of the cars are out of sight.
A lot of really nice, but really expensive cars.
Must be a lot of well heeled people in Indy.

I was at a shop. They do cars. Had a 68 firebird, Corvette modern engine, computer. No glass in it. Sanded primer outside. Milk crate for a seat. No interior at all. Said he had 64,000 in it right then.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

TV Just to watch some sports.
Other than that I squint at my phone to watch or maybe a little “news”.
I really enjoy certain talk show hosts and simply listen to them, kinda like an AM radio.

AM late night for me.