Has anyone forsaken their television for any length of time?

[Onyx]

Bah

I have a television, but I don't have cable (or any other input signal beeming in). We just use it for watching movies around this homestead.... or the choice programms we really want to watch, but we just download those... I mean, cable & dsl are around the same price up here anyways.

 

[Seonaid]

I didn't have a TV my first three years of college. I was too busy to miss it at first, and when I got home for breaks, I realized that I didn't miss it at all. From that point, I stopped watching TV (and going to the movies, though that's another thing) entirely. I spent my "free" time reading, mostly. My senior year, I had a tiny TV and an old VCR, and out of those 8736 hours, spent about 10 watching TV. After that, I went for a while with no TV at all. I now have a 17" (15?) flat screen (but not flat) TV, but I don't have cable and it's solely for PS2 and football games.

 

[Aaron L]

All I watch on TV are Star Trek reruns and cartoons, and the occaisional bit of the History channel.

 

[thalmin]

You really don't need the TV until the Star Wars DVD set comes out. Certainly by the release of RotK extended edition.

 

[drothgery]

Well, it's summer, so most TV series are in reruns.

On the other hand, if you're a sports fan, you'll be missing the end of baseball season, the summer Olympics, the US Open, and the start of football season.

But the real reason to have a TV around is because it's possible that something will happen in the real world that keeps you glued to the news for a while, and the Internet just doesn't work as well as a TV for that.

 

[Kaleon Moonshae]

I can go without tv for about a week and I did last year when I went to Ireland, so I know it can be done, (though they did have the tele in the Emerald Isle, but I'm not a big soccer fan and they have about 3 channels, all showing soccer or other local stuff).

I tend to use the tv as background noise, like right now, I have the FoodTV channel on as I surf and type this.

This is my typical habit. I have the TV on but rarely am watching it constantly, it's just familiar background noise. although I have gottena ps2 lately and am a bit addicted to that right now.

 

[reanjr]

Hi all,

I'm getting a new place in a couple of weeks and will be giving my current 32 inch Sony to a family member and then buying a bigger high definition a few months later.

I was originally thinking I'd get a small 20 inch or so to tide me over until then but then I had another thought, what would it be like if I just didn't have a television at all for a few months?

Has anyone done that in this day and age? How did it affect your life? Do you even miss it after a point? I'm curious as to just how "important" these oh so sacred electronic entertainment boxes are. I imagine it should be a fun expiriment, if I can hold out....

While I do not think I have ever gone so long without a TV at all, I do remember that when the WTC went down, it was the first time I had turned on the television (other than for video games and DVDs) for several months (I had to hunt behind the TV to find the cable hookup, in fact).

There is really no necessity in having television broadcast or cable television. News can easily be received from online sources, and entertainment surely has many different mediums.

Don't waste your money on a small TV if you plan on buying a large one down the road.

 

[reanjr]

Well, it's summer, so most TV series are in reruns.

On the other hand, if you're a sports fan, you'll be missing the end of baseball season, the summer Olympics, the US Open, and the start of football season.

But the real reason to have a TV around is because it's possible that something will happen in the real world that keeps you glued to the news for a while, and the Internet just doesn't work as well as a TV for that.

So you can watch the same story over and over again for three weeks straight. What a great form of entertainment.

You really don't need the TV until the Star Wars DVD set comes out. Certainly by the release of RotK extended edition.

That's what your computer is for. He's talking a 20" anyway, so it's not like the picture's gonna be small compared to that or anything.

 

[Treebore]

Do it. When you come back you will say to yourself, "I watched this?" I own a TV to use my DVD on, and because my wife is a CNN/news junky. Oh yeah, and for the occassional PS2 game I find worth playing. Mostly PS2 is for my kids.

I don't even play much computer games. for example, I own Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter, plus the two expansions for both. I haven't finished either ones main storyline. I think I am half way through BG and maybe 1/4 of the way through NW.

 

[Greylock]

I turn on my teevee when I have to go to work early. Just for the traffic reports. Haven't watched it much at all since the seventies. Two decades worth of pop culture references are lost on me. *blank stare*

In '85, '86 I had a professor who told me she threw her TV out the window when a certain man was elected president. I took that advice to heart and have never missed what I didn't watch.

Life's too short, and there are too many books to read.