Has anyone ever given up watching TV? ever given up having a TV?

Well….I haven’t had cable in a long time….

(not quite what you were asking, I know….)

I don’t miss it….this way I can “cherry pick” what I do want to watch via Netflix or online.

Bite your tongue!
Give up television? Never!

Out of the 22 years I've been alive, I think half of them if not more were spent not owning a TV or having cable. I don't have it now, I pick and choose my shows through hulu.com and torrents. I find it far easier to stop now than I my friends who grew up with cable do I think.

I haven’t watched it in years. Decades, even. We own one that we use only for watching DVDs. The upsides are many; the downside is that I’m not conversant in media-speak.

I have. It’s great. You really don’t notice how much it enslaves minds until you escape its clutches. Now I am in control of my TV. I watch DVDs or download new episodes of broadcast cable as well as Showtime shows. If I like it, which I sometimes do and don’t, I buy the DVD when it cones out. Hands down I’m spending more money on DVDs than I would otherwise. And best of all TV is under my control. I watch it when I want, how I want (such as on this iPod), where I want. This to me is how TV should always have been, and so it shall be in my future. :)

You guys are nuts! Expand your horizons!

Nuts, Chuck? Nuts or poor? :)

I mean, think of all the sex channels!

I find expanding ones television horizons also expands ones posterior horizons too… not too appealing to me :)

Oh, there are sex channels?

Alright. TV sex channels don’t expand our horizons, don’t make us better people, and don’t come in clearly enough.

@AC there is porn on the internet….so I’ve been told….

The internet is for porn.

Yes, it is!

I can’t say i’ve “given up” on TV, but i can easily go without TV for a very long time, TV is a resort I take when i’m bored and there is really nothing else to do (or if i know something good is on tv that i want to tivo or something)

Computer on the other hand… that’s another story lol

We gave it up for a summer in the 90s. (Summer to make withdrawal easier since everything was reruns and there was no football.) We loved it.We didn’t miss it, and we did a lot of other things. Of course, we went back to it in the fall. We were not brave enough to follow Harp’s example.

Now that my husband works at night I feel I watch way too much of nothing.

I also challenge everyone to read this question and these posts substituting the word Fluther for television.

@Marina: Fluther sex channels?

You didn’t know? :D

* dances seductively, holding Dr. J in a very strategic place *

Ohh, baby….pancake!

I moved in with a friend who is sans TV. It is hard, but I can watch shows online, and listen to the radio for sports. I still rent DVDs, so it’s not the end of the world as long as I still have the interwebz.

@dynamicduo Lurve to you for making me guffaw! It helps my one New year’s resolution this year: to laugh at least once every day.

I haven’t had a T.V. in my place for over a year now and it is so nice. Although it seems I spend more time on the internet as a replacement, at least the internet is more interactive I suppose.

I am thinking of getting rid of the NET too..

I love TV, I wish I could watch more of it, but I consciously limit screen time for my kids and myself. I really like TV, but I’m pretty selective about what I watch. Wife Swap, True Blood, Nip/Tuck, Big Love, Summer Heights High, ANTM, are all shows I can watch again and again.

@gimmedat ANTM = ???

@gimmedat I haven’t been able to find Nip/Tuck.
Do you happen to know when it starts again?

I grew up without cable so I read a lot of books as a kid. I gave up t.v. for several months in my early twenties on time when I pawned it. A few months later I found a black and white t.v. on the sidewalk just sitting there. I rolled it home on my skateboard and was back watching Judge Judy in no time.

@snoopy: America’s Next Top Model.

yes, give it up! it makes hotel rooms a splurge (and then you figure out that you weren’t missing anything at all by not having a tv.) just watch shows online- have you been to hulu.com? thedailyshow.com? there are lots of options for watching good shows that you don’t have to pay a cable bill for.

I haven’t been watching TV in a while. I only do it if my cat is on my lap.

@asmonet ahhhhhhhhhhhh. thanks.

@Snoopy: No problem. Sadly, I’m addicted to it. :’(

There is no sadness to be associated with being addicted to ANTM!!

@chyna, Nip/Tuck starts this Tuesday!! This is a great week for me: Desperate Housewives, Nip/Tuck and The Secret Life of the American Teen are all new!

What’s amazing, is that I actually have a life in spite of knowing TV line-ups!!

I spent six weeks without a TV (old one died and delayed getting a new one). It was fantastic! I had so much free time and accomplished soooo much. Sadly, my roommate could not do without and I rapidly fell back into my old habits.

You people are sick!

I gave up television about two years ago.

The only time I watch television is when
a) Something is being shown in class that I need to watch in order to complete an assignment.
b) The president is being inaugurated.

As a result, for the past two years I’ve spent much more time on the internet. Much of that time, since I discovered it, I’ve spent Fluthering.

But I’ve also had more time to read, think, and sleep. I’ve have less clutter in my head since I’ve given up teevee.

Not to sound snooty, but it’s a nice feeling to be in a group of people who are talking about a particular television program and not have any idea what they’re talking about, ever.

And it’s nice not having commercial jingles playing in my head all the time.

Not everything on television is crap, but I find it easier to watch no television at all than to sort through all the crappy channels.

@petethepothead RE the commercials. I know what you mean in that regard. I rarely watch “regular” TV. I do watch TV shows but via Netflix and internet (as mentioned).

Especially interesting, my kids watch PBS on regular TV. Very, very limited commercials (more like this is “sponsored by _”). They don’t ask for toys like my niece of the same age. She watches cable and know the jingles and wants specific toys….

Nowadays, I only watch TV for documentaries and news. It’s annoying to have to remember showtimes for the shows that you actually want to watch. Thank god there’s the internets!

I don’t know showtimes, nor do I need to. That’s why God made DVRs.

Hooray for DVR! all my Tv watching is done on the weekends. The good shows- Mythbusters, Man vs. Wild, Dirty Jobs… Lately, just MB :^( (till next week!!! :^).

I am a Discovery Channel Ho.

Me too. I’ve got 5 or 6 Survivorman episodes to watch.

Survivorman > Man vs. Wild!

I don’t watch much purposeful TV, maybe 3 shows a week I’ll go out of my way for, or dvr them. I often have HGTV on while I’m doing something else. But after a long day, sometimes it’s nice to sit down with my husband and watch Discovery or even stupid sitcoms and just veg.