![[discarded television]](/public/2007/05/television.jpg)
Discussion: How many people have stopped watching TV in the past two months?!
I called out sick today. (I can’t say I stayed home sick, because I work at home. And I didn’t actually call anyone, I just sent an e-mail to our department alias. But you get the idea.) It’s the kind of sick where you feel like crap all over and don’t want to eat much, but you can’t really sleep either. In other words, a perfect day to sit in front of the television and take your mind off the hook.
Except I didn’t. Due to our ongoing home renovation, our television and DirecTivo box have been sitting in the garage for two weeks. I didn’t miss them today. I didn’t even notice that I didn’t miss them until 5 o’clock — while cruising Reddit.
My wife has been saying for months that we should cancel our DirecTV subscription because we don’t watch enough to justify the cost. Now I believe her.
we haven’t stopped watching TV, exactly, but the activity of watching shows delivered via broadcast is certainly now outweighed (by some multiple x, where x > 1) by stuff (including ‘tv shows’) on DVD.
Comment by Michael R. Bernstein — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 6:49 pm
I stopped watching television in late 2000, and it has been nothing but positive. I feel accosted when I go to bars or airports where they have television going full tilt.
I soon realized how much more I like to read or just daydream… that part of your brain dies when you addictivly watch the TeeVee.
Comment by Kris — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
I’d have killed my cable subscription this year if not for my sports addiction. The only non-sports TV I watch is daily show and colbert (tolerably available completely legally online) and Iron Chef (which I’d miss, but not that much.) But the sports keeps me coming back for more. :/
Comment by Luis — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 7:18 pm
Prior to Drive, I hadn’t really watched off-the-air television (we don’t have cable) in about two years. Then Fox canceled Drive after 4 episodes and I returned to not giving a crap about televisions again. Same thing happened to me with Firefly a couple years back. I almost started watching television for that show, and then they canceled it.
Most of the stuff worth watching these days is either on HBO (The Wire, Rome), SciFi (Battlestar Galactica, The Stargates), or Comedy Central (The Daily Show, The Colbert Report). No way can I justify the cost of cable for just three channels. Especially when I have NetFlix/BitTorrent at my disposal.
Hopefully those options don’t become too popular though, or no one will be able to afford to make the content.
Comment by Bob Aman — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 8:10 pm
I watch TV in that I watch shows downloaded from BitTorrent and live sport using a USB digital TV receiver on my computer. My TV broke at Easter, and I have no intention to replace it. The money could be better spent on a second monitor for my computer.
Comment by Greg — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
+1 on saving up for a second monitor. Before this job I never had more than one. It makes a tremendous difference.
Comment by Mark — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 8:38 pm
yeah, i haven’t had a tv for a long while–back when my therapist told me she didn’t have one–although i found out later she actually did.
but, even then i only had like a little 9 inch black and white, and then none.
not to say that when i get the chance i watch like a hawk, just like i did when i was little, but i se those in my family in their all night infomercial and mash subconscious sleeping throes and feel a lot of pity.
it’s definitely a weaning off of a habit, a displacement of attention, like all addictions.
sun and outside is better; i mimic my cat the gusser.
:)
Comment by dan smith — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
Well, the headline that got my attention this morning said something about 2.5 million fewer viewers this month. But reading the article revealed that it was a drop in the number for the same month last year, which is still significant. I moved from a densly populated (Washington DC) area where I “did without” cable (but really, I wasn’t watching TV at all) to an area with exactly ZERO local TV stations. To that add that I am in a condo with no ability to have an external antena at all. With some careful manipulation of an internal antenna (with signal booster) I get a station a hundred miles off just like it was coming from Alpha-Centori, ie, no picture, fuzzy sound.
“Why don’t you get cable?” everyone asks.
Because when I first got cable it was $14 a month and there were NO COMMERCIALS! Now the minimum price starts to look like $60, but to get what I used to get for $14 it kicks up to over $100 and that includes a mandatory monthly visit from the cable company to give you a kick in the nut-sack (in my case).
I just wish people would turn them off faster, because I so want to see these companies crash and burn.
There WAS of course valuable content out there, History Channel, BBC, A&E, but to a large extent I found there was a lot of repetition, and for the outrageous fees, I could just go to a discount store and buy the content on DVDs for less. Heck I can run my own 200-hour rotation now, what do I need cable for?
What about new content you say? I’ve sampled it when I visit other people. Don’t call me, I’ll call you.
Comment by macbeach — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 9:32 pm
I’m with Bob. I generally prefer good television to film because it can afford to experiment and to build up its characters. Then Fox cancelled Firefly, and I thought what’s the point? I don’t want to invest time in good television only to see it canned, and I’d rather read a book or the Net than watch the bad stuff. So I simply stopped watching; after a while I saved my money too.
Now I watch movies from the library or a mail service. I see better stuff, I know it won’t be cancelled, I watch it when I like, I’m spared the wretched news coverage, and there’s no advertising. That last point is significant. I never encounter movie trailers, for example, so have no desire to go to the cinema. I see old films instead: I recently watched Il Gattopardo, Barry Lyndon, The Lower Depths. And that suits me just fine.
As for who will pay for it, I’m happy to spend, say, $25 a month for decent service. Besides, most of the TV I have enjoyed the most has been British and inexpensive (Blake’s 7, G.B.H., Yes Minister, the old Doctor Who). Take some of the money away - I bet the quality of television would improve.
Comment by Geof — Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 3:01 am
I don’t watch TV, either.
Comment by Jeff — Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 8:37 am
We live in a neighborhood with lousy reception and, like macbeach@8, we have better things to do with $60/month than spend it on cable TV. The only thing we watch on broadcast TV is Law and Order. For everything else, we borrow DVDs from the library.
I suspect that after the baby is weaned, we’ll be watching even less TV.
Comment by Seth Gordon — Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 8:50 am
Stopped watching TV somewhere in 2002, maybe 2001. Haven’t missed it yet. Quite glad I did, as I don’t know how I’d manage to support this weblog reading habit if I had to spend time watching TV, too. *g*
Oh, and ditto on Kris’ comment about TVs in other places. No TVs in restaurants in the Netherlands luckily, but here in the USA I’ve walked out of restaurants because of their TVs.
Comment by Sander — Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 11:08 am
My wife and I canceled our DirecTV + DirecTivo subscription after 5 years. We were looking to cut back expenses after having our first child. We decided that was the first to go for several reasons:
We get great OTA reception for HDTV (we’re between two big markets, Baltimore and DC)
We really don’t watch much TV that isn’t on network television
The Pay TV we do watch is easily watched via Netflix on DVD
After realizing all of this, it was an easy decision to make.
Comment by Shawn Wheatley — Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 11:17 am
What is this TV thing you speak of? I got rid of my TV subscriptions and most of the hardware a little over two years ago. I kept the TV itself, to hook up to my old consoles. The SNES is way more fun than TV ever was anyway!
Comment by Matt — Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 7:46 pm
I couldn’t hope to say when I really watched TV last time. I quit TV about the time I got non-spotty internet access, which puts the date at about 10 years in the past. Whenever I am over at my parents’ and happen to end up seeing TV, I feel dumber for having been exposed to the ads.
(To put this in context, consider that even my web consumption is nowadays almost exclusively via newsfeeds.)
Comment by Aristotle Pagaltzis — Saturday, May 12, 2007 @ 12:03 am
The we watch TV less, the it is more time for family and me!
I look only news. I like to have a rest on the nature more, to play in football with friends. It is more interesting also I healthy because I do not waste time on films, an another’s life, I spend all for myself and the family.
Without the TV a life healthy! :O)
Comment by Anonymous — Saturday, May 12, 2007 @ 5:03 am
Back in 1996 everyone thought my family was weird because we didn’t have a television. (My parents wanted us to read books instead, and we did.) Eventually we got a television after all, but by that time I had the internet. Fast forward to 2006, and I started noticing that here it is ten years later, and no one thinks my family is strange anymore for not having cable.
Comment by Dennis Ferron — Sunday, May 13, 2007 @ 1:24 am
Perhaps your children will find the idea of ‘broadcast’ (non interactive streaming content items viewed sequentially for a whole evening) as strange as we find the early use of telephones in Budapest?
http://earlyradiohistory.us/1912njth.htm
Comment by Keith Peter — Sunday, May 13, 2007 @ 11:45 am
i cancelled my cable for around 4 months now. the only time i missed it is because of the nba playoffs — oh well, good excuse to have some beers in my friends house.
Comment by jay — Monday, May 14, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
Mark as you are frequent now watch TV?
Comment by Design — Monday, May 14, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
My wife and I cancelled our Cable subscription a few months ago. Haven’t missed it since. Ironically, we did it around the same time we splurged on a big-screen plasma TV. We go through NetFlix like crazy, mostly while working out, and don’t miss TV at all.
Comment by DAve — Tuesday, May 15, 2007 @ 7:19 pm
“Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn’t Own A Television”
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694
Comment by Rob — Tuesday, May 15, 2007 @ 9:37 pm