Not watching TV anymore..

[spacemonkey]

I get so fucking bored watching TV. Probably watch less than an hour a week. Sometimes zilch.

Although I spend an unhealthy amount of time surfing crap on the web. But at least it's informative crap. Pretty much what impludo just said.....

 

[spacemonkey]

Bittorrent killed TV.

 

[Melinda]

A thought popped into my head when I was browsing these forums earlier, that was "I wonder if a thread appears with the poster asking 'is there anyone here who dosent own a TV'



Up until a few years ago, I used to follow all of the soaps, watch loads of crap, but liked the few worthwhile programmes. When my telly broke, back then, I didnt replace it, or accept the many offers of others' spare tellys.

Now I hate the TV, its heart sinking.

Ive learnt loads of interesting worthwhile stuff just of the vast internet.

With the internet, you get to choose what you want to learn about, what entertainment you want. With the telly, its served up to you, and theres so many cringe moments, eg - cheesy adverts, people making arses out of themselves, and of course, TV is one of the valuable forms of social control/manipulation.

Its just depressing really.

Sure its all about being selective.

Ive no qualms about how people watch tv. I watched mostly on my laptop until my boyfriend went the HD route.

Im just wary of someone avoiding The Sopranos in case they should see "Im a Celebrity." Would people be so quick to say they didnt read books for fear of coming across chick lit or Jeremy Clarkson's latest offering. Or' I dont go to the theatre because pantomimes are shit.'

If you dont have the time, or it simply doesnt ft into your lifestyle then fair enough- but the quality argument strikes me as a little odd?

 

[untethered]

Although I spend an unhealthy amount of time surfing crap on the web. But at least it's informative crap. Pretty much what impludo just said.....

I think there's something to do with the synchronous/non-interactive vs. asynchronous/interactive nature of TV vs. the Internet.

For example, I've developed a complete intolerance for watching adverts when I am actually somewhere where there's a TV programme on. Are you actually expecting me to spend the next couple of minutes sitting here while you play a tawdry, patronising little film about your silly product?

 

[scifisam]

Do you feel out of touch ever? Thats a long time without TV.

Not really.

I'm 32. Between the ages of 16 and 21, I didn't own a TV. For a film-making course I did, I had to go to a friend's house to watch a TV show.

Between the ages of 22 and 27 I had a TV, and watched about 4 hours of TV a week.

Then I moved house, found that the aerial didn't work, tried to fix it, couldn't, gave up.

So, out of my 16 years of adult life, that's 11 years without a TV.

Like I said, these days I do watch a show online once a week or so (my GF and I like Prison Break), so the only difference really is that I have to seek out my programme and don't watch it at the same time as others in the UK. I am also very unlikely to watch reality TV or home improvement shows, because they tend not to be out online (which is a shame - I loved Grand Designs).

My GF has said before that there are two reasons this doesn't make me feel out of touch: I've never worked in an office (where people will tend to talk about TVas one of those inoffensive shared topics) and the aforementioned fact that most of my friends don't watch TV.

Being out of touch, for me, would mean not knowing what the latest internet meme is.

 

[scifisam]

Im just wary of someone avoiding The Sopranos in case they should see "Im a Celebrity." Would people be so quick to say they didnt read books for fear of coming across chick lit or Jeremy Clarkson's latest offering. Or' I dont go to the theatre because pantomimes are shit.'

If you dont have the time, or it simply doesnt ft into your lifestyle then fair enough- but the quality argument strikes me as a little odd?

It's more like: someone decides to watch some TV. They switch it on, channel surf for a while, and find nothing but crap. Or they, like me, look at the TV guide, optimistically, and find nothing worth watching.

That's more like avoiding the theatre because, any time you decide to take in a show, the only shows on are awful, or avoiding books because all the interesting books have somehow disppeared from your local bookshop.

It's a shame, really; there is still good TV out there, and I would actually like to watch some of it. But it's become so hard to find, and I'm so out of the habit of turning the TV on, that it's more effort than it's worth, when I can get similar mindless crap on the internet much more easily.

 

[Melinda]

Not really.



I'm 32. Between the ages of 16 and 21, I didn't own a TV. For a film-making course I did, I had to go to a friend's house to watch a TV show.



Between the ages of 22 and 27 I had a TV, and watched about 4 hours of TV a week.



Then I moved house, found that the aerial didn't work, tried to fix it, couldn't, gave up.



So, out of my 16 years of adult life, that's 11 years without a TV.



Like I said, these days I do watch a show online once a week or so (my GF and I like Prison Break), so the only difference really is that I have to seek out my programme and don't watch it at the same time as others in the UK. I am also very unlikely to watch reality TV or home improvement shows, because they tend not to be out online (which is a shame - I loved Grand Designs).



My GF has said before that there are two reasons this doesn't make me feel out of touch: I've never worked in an office (where people will tend to talk about TVas one of those inoffensive shared topics) and the aforementioned fact that most of my friends don't watch TV.



Being out of touch, for me, would mean not knowing what the latest internet meme is.

This I understand totally. Its not like you made a 'policy' decision not to have a TV, it just faded out of your life and now you make deliberate choices to watch selected quality programes.

Sky+ works for me, I can set it to record an entire season of a show I like, and I can come back and watch it months later when I have time. Im not bound by the tv schedule. Under these circumstances I find it strange that someone couldnt find ANYTHING of quality to watch.

The out of touch argument was just something that occured to me while speaking to Untehered who does sometimes seem to be surprised at what other people get up to.

I guess Im just interested in people's different reasons for not watching tv

 

[scifisam]

I guess Im just interested in people's different reasons for not watching tv

I reckon that the demographic on Urban is skewed towards not watching TV - as in, switching the box on and seeing what's to offer, or finding something to watch and getting it on Sky+ - because most of us, by definition, have internet access.

That means not only that we have another means of wasting time, but that we have an easy way of watching short clips on YouTube and downloading, torrenting or streaming longer TV shows or movies.

Once you've got a home computer plus broadband and paid for that, it seems silly to pay for a TV, a licence, and cable or satellite (since it seems that you generally need one or the other to access good stuff these days).

So many of those that don't watch TV do, actually, watch TV programmes, just not on a TV set. They probably watch an awful lot fewer TV programmes than those who still have a goggle-box.

Actually, I wonder if I would have had such bad reception in my flat ten years ago, or twenty? I've never had any problems elsewhere, even using coat-hanger aerials on knackered TVs that my flatmate resurrected from a skip, but I know quite a few people whose analogue TVs don't work properly any more. Has the analogue signal got problems now?

 

[Crispy]

anyone who wants to watch UK tv shows, but can't be bothered to hang around for the specific time, should join www.uknova.com (registrations open whenever they delete old accounts. just keep trying)

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

i have slowly developed into someone who watches zero television.

i just can't bring myself to switch "it" on. i can not bear the box, the noises of it nor the programme (with the exception of the simpsons but equally seem unable to switch the telly on according to the programme).

i know tastebud never watches too. are there any more people like this around?

and that is even with my new brilliant television (found on the street but a spectcular size and design which i actually like). i can't watch the damn thing.

When there's no one home but me, the tv is rarely on.

 

[London_Calling]

Do you feel out of touch ever? Thats a long time without TV.

Absolutely. It was one of the main reasons for getting rid of it 4-5 years ago.

I genuinely now haven’t a clue about celebrity, the latest gadgets and who’s selling what for which company and what the newest great offer is. I haven’t got a clue about soaps or the latest home improvement, decorating tip, plant, lawn, outdoor lighting the BBC is promoting.

I’m not explicitly or implicitly urged to buy things I don’t want, aspire to project an image, encouraged to eat utter junk, buy the freedom of the open road, have a great time with my favourite alcohol and friends . . .

I’m not exposed to the mediocrity of the BBC news and current affairs - or that organisations sad attempts to retain credibility, nor politicians using it for a platform . . . urh, it goes on and on and on.

If you want a starting point, maybe it’s that I/'we' grow up with tv, having it is learned behaviour, it’s also a ‘comfort’ – but a comfort in the way a cigarette is comfort for a nicotine addict. Just because we always did something doesn’t make it right, and tv is not right, imo. After these years, I do now think of it more as a passively absorbed poison.

 

[spacemonkey]

Absolutely. It was one of the main reasons for getting rid of it 4-5 years ago.

I genuinely now haven’t a clue about celebrity, the latest gadgets and who’s selling what for which company and what the newest great offer is. I haven’t got a clue about soaps or the latest home improvement, decorating tip, plant, lawn, outdoor lighting the BBC is promoting.

I’m not explicitly or implicitly urged to buy things I don’t want, aspire to project an image, encouraged to eat utter junk, buy the freedom of the open road, have a great time with my favourite alcohol and friends . . .

I’m not exposed to the mediocrity of the BBC news and current affairs - or that organisations sad attempts to retain credibility, nor politicians using it for a platform . . . urh, it goes on and on and on.

If you want a starting point, maybe it’s that I/'we' grow up with tv, having it is learned behaviour, it’s also a ‘comfort’ – but a comfort in the way a cigarette is comfort for a nicotine addict. Just because we always did something doesn’t make it right, and tv is not right, imo. After these years, I do now think of it more as a passively absorbed poison.

This ^

 

[Choc]

i don't look down on people who watch some tv at all.

but i can't help but snigger a bit at the types who watch everything in particular the 6 o'clock shows like coronation street. and get really excited about it.

one thing i think is a shame is that i find news reporting pretty bad around here. especially the london news (what is her name..zita..? i find her as a person unbearable). i don't enjoy the news i don't enjoy the reporters. i can't stand when news limit itself to sensationalism. which i think bbc 6 o'clock (or is it 7) do.

10 o'clock news with trevor mc donald, john snow and jeremy paxman are my exceptions to above statment.


i would enjoy the tv more if there were occassional good quality drama or detective shows on. but at the moment nothing floats my boat. at all. what a shame!