Am I the only person in the industrialized world who doesn't watch TV?

I only watch the show Dexter. That’s about all of the television I watch.

Nope. There are three adults under my roof and not one of us watches tv or cable. We own one television screen that is mainly used for watching Netflix movies on but everything else is via laptop or PC’s. I refuse to pay for cable because of the way the shows are packaged and the crap that was toted that getting a gizmo box would allow local channels- yeah right.

I watch less and less…especially now with finally having nice weather it is criminal to just sit and stare a a TV when outside is where it is at!

My husband and I gave up TV for one summer. We found that we didn’t miss it, but I am back to watching it now.

OMG!!!! Jake! The same thing happened to me after I was diagnosed! I just stopped watching. Except for the Eagles and the Phillies.

I used to watch a lot of TV. I had shows to watch every week. Then I got sick, and now all I do is fluther, as far as media is (are?) concerned. That is so weird.

Of course, two cases do not make a trend. I also stopped reading anything except stuff online at the time. Well, I do read the paper a bit and I catch an article in the New Yorker every once in a while, but for the most part, I don’t read much from paper, and I don’t read much that requires sustained attention.

But let’s pretend there is a relationship. What could it be? Inability to stay still? A need for constant feedback?

It’s one of the things I don’t know what to think about. Why? How? I seem to get jittery being away from fluther for too long. Well, not when I am doing interesting things. But TV does not engage me the way fluther does. I don’t have to think watching TV. I need to solve problems on fluther and that keeps me.

I used to do a lot of one of those solitaire games on the computer as I was getting sick. But I’ve stopped that, too. Weird.

@wundayatta, that is so good for me to hear. I’m not alone. If I try really hard, I can watch a show with my kids, or I can watch a video/DVD. I honestly think there is something in the inability to stay still. When we put a video on the TV, I’m the first to have to get up and move around even when it’s playing. I can’t sit all the way through.

I went through a couple of years of not being able to read, and it about killed me. I complained about it to my doctor over and over again to no avail. Finally, I made an appointment with him for discussing absolutely nothing else. I made sure he knew that this was having an egregiously negative effect on my life. He heard me, and we slowly started to work on it. I can now sit in bed and read. I have a very comfortable chair, but bed seems to be the only place I can work on reading a book.

I, too, find myself spending a lot of time on the Internet. I think having the ability to flit between pages has something to do with it.

I get jittery when I’m away from my computer. I feel cut off from the friends that I chat with regularly.

Definitely weird.

@KatetheGreat Dexter is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I love that show. Though sometimes I have bad dreams and I sort of get strange ideas from it but other than that I really love it.

There was a phase in my life when I used to watch TV like there was never tomorrow. After school I would watch TV until 12:00 at midnight and then even sleep on the sofa and then morning while getting ready and eating my breakfast I would always do it while watching TV.

Now since I have gotten into blogging, I have my own computer, I am on Youtube and all that jazz. My computer is now my TV. I watch just about anything on it.

This month is the 12th anniversary of my wife not having a TV hooked up at her house.

@hawaii_jake

Are you able to sit comfortably and read a book, or watch a play at a theater?

@Brian1946 : I have to work at sitting to read. I can lie in bed and read for short periods. As for theater, I’m 99% of the time in the play, so I don’t watch it. :)

I only know of 2 people who don’t watch TV, and I think it’s commendable. Are their lives richer for it? I couldn’t say. Personally, I have and will probably always watch TV, and sad to say, I’m not even selective about what I watch or what watches me.

Nope. I haven’t watched TV since the 80s.

@AmWiser

“I’m not even selective about what…watches me.”

Is there a channel that watches the viewer? If there is, I’d like to avoid it. :-o

@Brian1946 you so funny:>) Many a nights I fall asleep in the middle of program and when I wake up (usually to turn the TV off because I forget to set the sleep timer) there is another program on, thus I say the program was watching me.

No. I hardly watch any TV either. Though I have a stack of DVDs that I’ve bought from Amazon over the past few weeks that I’ve yet to watch…

I only watch TV on my computer via either Netflix, Hulu, or other methods.

Our TV is only hooked up to a VCR and a Super Nintendo, the latter of which I haven’t really used since we moved in anyway. Occasionally I’ll catch shows online. But otherwise, no TV.

Well, typical American that I am, I watch (and thoroughly enjoy) a bunch of TV. I’ve been through phases in my life where I watched almost none. I don’t have any more or less social life when I watch or don’t watch, and I don’t really read more or less when I watch or don’t watch. I am only annoyed when people who don’t watch TV make it a statement of implied superiority that really irritates me but not watching? Good on ya. I tend to subscribe to the “whatever floats your boat” philosophy.

You are not alone.I’ve rarely watched tv in well over two years.I just don’t like it that much.
I will confees to watching the last few Dancing With the Stars episodes though .
I like ballroom dance.:)

The funny thing is I grew up in a Simpson’s environment. The moment everyone got home, we all planted ourselves in front of the TV. My dad would stretch out on the sofa and drink a beer. We also had two La-Z-Boy recliners, and mom would sit in one and I would sit in the other. And we’d watch TV until bedtime. We’d plan our dinner according to the TV Guide. Now, I hardly watch TV except when a Star Trek/Max Headroom/Firefly marathon is on the SciFi channel or when I want to watch a DVD.

Cable TV can kiss my ass. I love a lot of shows actually, but I watch them online. Mostly adult cartoons, and I have my Xena box sets. Don’t need no stinking TV. I avoid it mostly because commercials are way too ridiculous. Not in what they show or how they present themselves, I can deal with that. But because they take up…so much time. I can’t hack it.
And yeah, fuck reality shows.

What’s a TV?

@Symbeline – I don’t have cable, either. Most of my TV watching is DVDs that I buy from Amazon or streamed through YouTube. Just about any show worth watching is available by download or streaming from somewhere on the internet…

Our TV is always on. Even if I’m not watching it, like right now, it’s still on. I’m used to the noise. I watch a lot of shows. Dexter and Nurse Jackie are two of my favorites.

Nope. I do watch Dexter, but, I have it on DVD. I also watch movies on Netflix (via the boobtube), but, I have no tv cable.

I know people who don’t watch TV, but I love watching. My husband and I have such fun watching our favorite sit-coms…we laugh out loud all the time. We have a few dramatic shows we watch also that are very entertaining. Plus, TV is so much better than 30 years ago. I learn a tremendous amount on the History Chanel or Discovery. I am not a big reader, I learn so much from the television. Most people think I read a lot. Since TV sometimes gives information you would not seek, you pick up tidbits you never would have learned. I think reading, most people pick particular subject matter more often than not. I am not trying to say TV is better than reading, I definitely think to learn about something in depth reading is the only practical way.

I think it’s commendable, Jakey.

I left the country and sailed the Caribbean for a couple of years between 2004–7, spent a lot of time on Dominica (NOT the Dominican Republic) in the windward Antilles. They had two channels which I rarely watched. Got my news from the net. When I came back stateside, I took one look at what was on cable and gave my TV away to a friend as a Christmas present. It was awful. I saw a lot of people getting off humiliating others mainly, and the worst tendencies of humankind were being rewarded (those backstabbing “alliances” on that island game were the worst). And LOST, holy crap, I think the writers were the ones who got lost on that one. The news was fucking incredibly bad, mostly sports, entertainment, and murders on the other side of America. What the hell did that have to do with me? The sitcoms are bloody silly, not funny at all, and one look at Nancy Grace… that’s when I made the call to the friend and gave the damned thing away. I’ve never looked back. It will probably play hell on my Trivial Pursuit game, but I think people would be a lot healthier if they would just toss their TVs in the trash.

We don’t watch TV; we use it for Netflix primarily.