Living Car Free - T.V. free living

My roommies and I keep ours only for netflix viewing (i only have time for a couple movies every month, but it's cheaper than paying late fees at blockbuster... if there was one in our neighborhood, that is!) and summer white sox games... sometimes I forget how bad tv really is, as I never watch it- no time, and there are so many other things to do! I got a reminder of how obnoxious it can be last night though, when I slept on a friend's couch (had a class until 11 pm, and then again at 6am, and she lives near school)... it seemed like a good idea, except that her brother had the tv on at low volume in his room... I couldn't sleep, and it was driving me crazy! Couldn't say anything though, as it wasn't really my place. Can't believe the parents didn't care though- we were allowed an hour a day growing up, and certainly not to have our own tvs. America is weird.

no tv for years. i went to a superbowl party at a colleague's home, man i could not believe that anyone will allow all that crap into their house! nothing but commercials for useless stuff, i swear my heart was racing watching all that bs.
I know what you mean. It's like when someone from a rural area visits a big city for the first time and they cannot sleep for all of the outside noise. What I find particularly interesting is how it didn't take me long before my tolerance of the sensory overload was completely gone.

I'm a calmer person for it, though, and I prefer being that way. :)

I have dumped the TV a few times over the years and have enjoyed the benefits each time. TV viewing creeped back in slowly for me last year, but when the writers strike hit, I decided once and for all to reject TV. I still have the TV so if I want to see DVD's or the like, I have the technology to do that. But TV "programming" is off my radar now for good. I have been much happier and more productive since making that decision. I recommend it to everyone. I like to think of it as reclaiming my brain.

Bet you were the life of the party too!

Almost as much as ILTB-2 is, I bet.

I'm a calmer person for it, though, and I prefer being that way. :)

That's a HUGE bonus in my book. When I started riding everywhere I normally drove, I truly became a more relaxed and peaceful person. And when I stopped watching television and started reading again, I became calmer still. When I drove and watched TV, I was also on blood pressure medication. Now I'm not. ;)

As long as we're talking about this again, the other day I heard a snippet of an Obama speech on the radio where he was suggesting that people empower their children's education by turning off the TV. I think it was part of an example of how government can't do everything and people need to do some things for themselves, but I'm not sure what point he was trying to make. If this year someone from mainstream American culture is suggesting people unplug from TV maybe in a few more presidential elections the candidates will be suggesting car-free living as a self empowerment tool. Well, if the peak oilers are right in a few more elections we won't have a choice about car free living.

I lack the attention span for television. A half an hour is too long for me to sit in one place.

Hi, I'm new here and what a great place it seems to be. I'll have to be careful not to get addicted.

I gave up having a TV for the fifth (approx.) time in my life about 18 moths ago when I realised the licence fee (UK) would be £2.60 a week which is about 50p per hour if you watch 5 hours a week.

And it takes a half hour a day to read the schedules to find the hour it's worth tuning in for.

I sometimes visit my elderly mother and pig out on TV while I'm there. She doesn't watch much but pensioners don't need a licence!

I now spend too much time online in places like this one but do also read more books and listen to radio (mainly by "podcasts"). Also rent 2 DVD's a month to catch up on films I feel are worth seeing.

It's not totally sad though because I'm just off out to see a friend now in the real world.Be back later.

By the way I've been car free for about 6 years.

I gave up having a TV for the fifth (approx.) time in my life about 18 moths ago when I realised the licence fee (UK) would be £2.60 a week which is about 50p per hour if you watch 5 hours a week.



I grew up with no TV, largely because of the UK liscence fee... my parents didn't want to pay it. Being Irish in the UK in the sixties wasn't exactly life-affirming, so we left for the states, and the first place we lived was an Indian reservation in Montana where you could get no TV reception, so we didn't buy one. I grew up entirely bereft of television's warm, nuturing glow, because as we moved about we never bought one. I finally picked one up back in the eighties to watch the World Cup (Ireland was in it). I've never really gotten into the habit, although I did watch old Samurai movies while building wheels this winter. I really like "Hari Kiri".

Usefull invention kinda overused. Very much like the car IMHO

#28 Not Having a TV
January 26, 2008 by clander

The number one reason why white people like not having a TV is so that they can tell you that they don’t have a TV.

On those lonely nights when white people wish they could be watching American Idol, Lost, or Grey’s Anatomy, they comfort themselves by thinking of how when people talk about the show tomorrow they can say “I didn’t see it, I don’t have a TV. That stuff rots your brain.”

It is effective in making other white people feel bad, and making themselves feel good about their life and life choices.

Though these people often fill their time by talking with other friends who don’t watch TV about how they don’t watch TV, looking at leaves, cooking, reading books about left wing politics, and going to concerts/protests/poetry slams.

Generally this makes them very boring and gives you very little to talk to them about. It’s important that you NEVER suggest they are making a mistake or that there is a value to owning a TV. You should just try to steer the conversation to allow them to talk about how they are better than you.





http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/28-not-having-a-tv/

[QUOTE=KrisPistofferson;6206082]#28 Not Having a TV
January 26, 2008 by clander

The number one reason why white people like not having a TV is so that they can tell you that they don’t have a TV.

are you for real? :eek:

#28 Not Having a TV
January 26, 2008 by clander

The number one reason why white people like not having a TV is so that they can tell you that they don’t have a TV.

On those lonely nights when white people wish they could be watching American Idol, Lost, or Grey’s Anatomy, they comfort themselves by thinking of how when people talk about the show tomorrow they can say “I didn’t see it, I don’t have a TV. That stuff rots your brain.”

It is effective in making other white people feel bad, and making themselves feel good about their life and life choices.

Though these people often fill their time by talking with other friends who don’t watch TV about how they don’t watch TV, looking at leaves, cooking, reading books about left wing politics, and going to concerts/protests/poetry slams.

Generally this makes them very boring and gives you very little to talk to them about. It’s important that you NEVER suggest they are making a mistake or that there is a value to owning a TV. You should just try to steer the conversation to allow them to talk about how they are better than you.





http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/28-not-having-a-tv/


I like this one better than the why white people ride bikes one.
I think that's because I'm constantly saying "I didn't see it, I don't have a tv." Or the blank stare because I have no idea at all what they're talking about.
For a while, every time I was around a tv, I couldn't stop looking at it - it was so bright and shiny, and then a commercial will come on and the trance is broken.

I've never owned a TV, car free 18 years, walk or ride everywhere, meat free 26 years, girlfriend free 14 months, work crazy hours at a job I love, working on a Masters of Arts degree for pleasure and I would love to get rid of more belongings.

are you for real? :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xz0sX9lOiM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xz0sX9lOiM

oh. no. i get it.