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how long does it take?
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I've never owned my own tv, but have occasionally lived in places where I had access to one.
I haven't watched tv since last summer now, and it's really nice to find that I know less and less about pop culture. I can finally step away from the entire cess pool in my ignorance!
Anyone else ever tested to see how long it would take to start missing lots of 'important' cultural references?
And what do you talk about instead?!!
I haven't watched tv since last summer now, and it's really nice to find that I know less and less about pop culture. I can finally step away from the entire cess pool in my ignorance!
Anyone else ever tested to see how long it would take to start missing lots of 'important' cultural references?
And what do you talk about instead?!!
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I find that I don't understand some of the "Celeb" jokes that go on. For example I went to see Steve Harley play on Monday night, and he was making jokes about "I'm a celebrity" which I just didn't get. Other people were falling around laughing. So the cultural reference was important there in context. Having said that it was an isolated incident.
I listen to the radio, but only the "Serious" stations - its not that I don't like popular stations, I just find that they repeat themselves after about an hour, and it gets really boring. I use the internet to keep in touch, and we get a paper on a Sunday.
What do we talk about. Sheep, art, music, mathematics (I don't talk much there - I just get to listen), politics, the kids. We find plenty.
We also do a lot of things together.
I don't miss TV or the shallow nonsense that goes with it on the whole.
And does that work for you, or is that too much like work ?
Just curious.
Sheep are very interesting animals, people write books about them you know. Certainly never sends me to sleep.
Do I count sheep to fall asleep? No I just lie there and listen to the wind in the trees, and, at the moment, the sound of water coming over the top of the dam wall in the valley (which carries a long way at night).
Heat mag, shudder! I remember seeing a few telly adverts for that.
There are always more books to read, and of course my thesis is a non-stop hot topic of conversation.
<<says she who doesn't even have access to such a room at the moment>>
We read books, talk, make fresh pasta, listen to the radio, go to the pub, look at the view from our window, go snowboarding and when exposed to the new Pepsi ad on telly recently, throught that the three women in the arena were members of Atomic Kitten.
However... we also talk/bitch an awful, awful lot about other people and surf the net a lot, so find other ways of wasting our time.
What I really hate tho' (oops I'm on a roll now) is how TV becomes a topic of conversation on Radio 4. So we actually found out about telly subjects by listening to Today. Noooo! That's wrong!!
Actually, have to 'fess up, we recently aquired a telly so that hubby can watch the Six Nations (rugby). We're actually looking forward to it going back - too addictive, too energy sapping. Said telly is at the back of the dining room, on top of our piles of home-made beer. It doesn't even have a chair in front of it!
No one here is guilty of this but those who ostentatiously reject television because they believe it makes them better than people who don't are grossly mistaken. Too much TV is a bad thing, TV isn't. Sorry to rant!
This also presupposes you have access to TV guides etc...
So, for us, we're best off without. Otherwise we'd spend hours watching BBC News and the Extreme Sports channel and actively looking forward to the next broadcast of EuroTrash and SAS Are You Tough Enough.
There's just as much tripe on the radio, the papers, and on the internet.
We need to work much harder at communicating than most families, so practically it just makes sense not to have the magic box distracting us.
Hilde
Our furniture is arrange facing the fireplace (big stone one) in winter, and the window looking out over the valley in summer. We have a "Furniture moving" ceremony on the clocks foward/back day which has to be followed to the letter !!
What I think I would miss without a TV would be watching films, however they may be broadcast.
Do those who forego TV regard film as a frivolous medium or do they still visit the cinema? Is it possible to own a TV for film purposes and forego the license fee?
so I don't think not watching TV very much islolates people from society and conversation in any way.
Can't see that gameshows, or soaps are worth bothering with, but we do have good dramas from time to time.
It's great for sports too - you can see an event in person, and yet miss out on all the action and drama that was there.
If you go away for a week and have hours and hours of programmes recorded to watch on your return though - then I think you're a bit too keen.
At the end of the day - it's not a substitute for living life, but you can't often get away on safari on a work night.
We just took a decision based on our circumstances and feelings. We've not regreted it, but I wouldn't want to impose it on anyone else.
We still go to the cinema, concerts and the like, and if we go into the local pub and the TV is on we certainly don't walk out.
No tv? That's kinda weird. Its like a kitchen with no microwave. Or an armchair without an electric footrest. Or going running without a GPS unit.
Ooooh - I feel icky just thinking about no tv. The best thing about a telly is falling asleep in front of it. There's nothing in life quite as grand as dozing through a football match.
He would sit in front of the tv, and start talking to us, in order to distract us from watching the programme. It was very annoying! I think he did it because otherwise he would have watched tv all the time. Or something like that.
I do miss having a video though, as there are loads of classic films I would like to see.
I mean, how else are you supposed to keep kids quiet?
;-P
I have to say, I don't violently object to TV, it seems to have a fair few good things on it [eg Blue Planet, Jane Austen dramatisations], a lot of which ultimately get marketed as videos [Hildegard, next time you're around, come on over!]. We do have a video machine, which I guess is an expensive way of managing selective TV watching!
Trouble with TV for us is that it becomes the focal point of the main room in the house (and placed in front of the most comfortable chair), and it must require a lot of self-discipline when you're tired after work not to flop down and just goggle.
You do miss out on a fair bit not having TV - I often couldn't follow other kids' conversations at school, and I guess the same must be true for my kids. Also, I literally can't follow the speed with which the images change on some programmes.
I remember Camille Paglia saying that anyone who doesn't have a TV doesn't have the right to comment on contemporary life and culture - while that may be a bit extreme, I can see her point, you are removed from something that is the major cultural medium for the vast majority of people.
I cheat when the rugby is on and I haven't got tickets, find a pub or someone's house with a TV.
Footballers Wives is fab! Surpassed only by the antics of real footballers.
If only I knew where to buy that furniture from...
That's Man United's defence.
Now of course I watch it 24/7 but only Discovery channels
[opens paws in waiting embrace pose]
I'm wukking tonight, but have asked for Footballers' Wives to be videod on our new video player.
Cougie - it took me ages and ages to work out what a water-cooler conversation was!!!!
I had no TV til 12 and am glad - but am endlessly teased about my lack of cultural refs from the 70s. But I LOVE 'I love the 70s' type TV progs!' I may have seen things only once but they still mean a lot to me! We didn;t have one a few years ago for a couple of years... it was lovely after we got over the arms folded staring at each other 'so talk to me then' phase. Lovely for the cubs who drew and drew and looked at books. Now they get up in the mornings and the TV is something to fight over
Hilde you've missed nothing except a slurry-like gush of really rubbish celebrity(?) reality shows. (Except for the latest jusngle one which was ahem quite entertainig) Hurry back in time for the last Sex and the City though!
[blushes at the memory]
Tanya and Conrad on the plane...well!!!!!