Living Car Free - T.V. free living

how many people on here that are carfree / carlite are also T.V. free

when I grew up all my family ever did was watch tv all my ex wife e ver did was watch T.V. and eventually my kids started in on this path. it was all they ever did it sucked out all their productivity and creativity and probably contributes to why americas so overweight.

soooo since my divorce I've chosen not to buy a T.V. much to my girlfriends dismay. and I also try to limit my internet time even though its a much more informative and productive venue.

sometimes I feel bad for my girlfriend but I can't bear to live with another zombie again.

on another note not paying for cable tv I can afford many magazien su bscriptions and to go buy books at will., currently I subscibe to discover and national geographic and I've started buying "dirt rag" and "decline" mountainbike racing magazines.

I also spend a lot of time at hastings its kinda a mix of movie rental place ,bookstore, and alternative clothing stuff. but they have chairs and give you free coffee and you can sit about and read anything until they close. kinda like a modernish library where you can't check out the books.

I don't watch enough TV to make cable worthwhile. But when I get home from work, I do like to watch a couple comedies on the old antenna TV. Laughter is good therapy, so give me a healthy dose of Scrubs, Seinfeld or South Park.

I also spend a lot of time at hastings its kinda a mix of movie rental place ,bookstore, and alternative clothing stuff. but they have chairs and give you free coffee and you can sit about and read anything until they close. kinda like a modernish library where you can't check out the books.

And this is different from to much TV how?

If you look at what you're doing you are still not interreacting with other people at all. It's TV
with no electricity in my book.:rolleyes:

Boy I'm with you.

Throw the TV at the car...:p

And this is different from to much TV how?

If you look at what you're doing you are still not interreacting with other people at all. It's TV
with no electricity in my book.:rolleyes:

Yeah, but what cable company is going to give you free coffee?

Boy I'm with you.

Throw the TV at the car...:p

We established earlier that you should throw the car at the TV. :p

There's a couple of separate issues here....

Many forms of entertainment (including active involvement in some sports or even just watching them; listening to music, regardless whether live or recorded; TV; movies; reading fiction; and countless others) involve putting information into the brain to the degree that one cannot think about anything else. If you do this too much, you will start to be uncomfortable just being alone with your thoughts. Other passtimes, especially solitary ones such as fishing, running, bicycling, painting, and many others, do just the opposite; but if you do them too much, you may begin to find it difficult to interact with other people. Obviously, too much of anything is too much; but that doesn't make these bad activities.

As for 'too much TV'.... My wife and I get a couple movies from Netflix every month, and sometimes even go to the theater. And, sometimes, we watch TV; we have one (it was a gift) and if there's something on that we want to watch, no problem. But note that we chose to watch something; we chose when and where and how to watch it, and do so. A lot of people leave the TV on all the time, and have no place to sit except in front of the TV. They sit down and see what's on. Personal choice is reduced to: "what channel?" That's what 'too much TV' means to me.

I have one TV in my house, it doesn't get used to often. I do have a tuner hooked up to my laptop so I can watch the news on my laptop while I'm checking email, reading various forums, but mostly I listen to music (XM Radio). I've kept cable mostly for the various movie channels, sports channels, and educational type networks (Discovery, History, and TLC to name a few).

The only show that I actually watch often is Rescue Me on FX during their summer lineup.

-Nate

the only time my TV is turned on is when the Simpsons is on (yeah I still watch it religiously), or if I am going to watch a DVD. Who has time for TV when there is so much riding to be done?!

There's a couple of separate issues here....

Many forms of entertainment (including active involvement in some sports or even just watching them; listening to music, regardless whether live or recorded; TV; movies; reading fiction; and countless others) involve putting information into the brain to the degree that one cannot think about anything else. If you do this too much, you will start to be uncomfortable just being alone with your thoughts. Other passtimes, especially solitary ones such as fishing, running, bicycling, painting, and many others, do just the opposite; but if you do them too much, you may begin to find it difficult to interact with other people. Obviously, too much of anything is too much; but that doesn't make these bad activities.


You could be talking about me! I have a very hard time having the radio on in the background when I am at work, precisely because when I was young my father taught me that listening to music was important. I don't have it on as 'background noise'. It really does chase pretty much everything else out, so I find the radio being on to be quite distracting.

And, I am very solitary in my pursuits--being a migraineur, life was simply much less painful when it was quiet. Now, with the migraines under control, I am having to get used to interacting with people again, and it's been much more difficult than I would have imagined.

Or, it could be simply that I have that stiff upper lip common to all proper Brits :D .

For the record, I don't watch much television, although I can sometimes be tempted to watch whatever Law & Order may be on.

East Hill

I would like to be TV free but my fiancee who I live with watches TV and I have pretty much given up on finding something else to do/staying away from the TV when it is on.

I'm trying to cut down on the amount of non-productive time I spend on the internet/TV/computer games, which I feel all have pretty similar effects. One of the tough things with internet-forums is that they really can be very useful or a total waste of time, depending on how you use them. ;) I would say that while I'm speding the time, it's not that easy to tell the difference between time being wasted on bikeforums and time well-used on bikeforums (and the like). Non-interactive websites can be the same way.

I watch about 2 hour's worth of TV a week, I guess. I don't like 99/100 shows that come on, but I do like a few. Honestly, most of them are cartoons. Family Guy is sometimes great, sometimes so-so. I think The Simpsons is good most of the time.

I hate most any news show; they are so incredibly depressing.

I like movies quite a bit, so I sometimes buy VHS tapes or DVDs.

I have a TV so I can watch cycling training DVDs. ;)

I hate the news on TV so I only use the radio/internet for that.

And this is different from to much TV how?

If you look at what you're doing you are still not interreacting with other people at all. It's TV
with no electricity in my book.:rolleyes:


I think theres a huge diffrence. for example you pay hundreds of dollars to get tivo set up I pay 30 cents for a bookmark . and I don't excessivly read all the time. I don't look forward to getting off work so I can go read. if im reading a book and my kids need something I don't shrug them off and tell them to go play until the comercials are on, I will set my book down and see what they need.

biggest difrence ... I can set a book down anywhere at anytime which from exsperince is a rare quality from telivision watchers.

reading also stimulates your mind beyond the information going into it by way of the way its being exersized collecting that information.


now I don't think T.V. watchers are evil or going to hell or inherantly lazy (although I do think its an addiction) in my post I was trying to see how many others did away with tv and what they do with their time now.

and for the record I wasent saying all people are helplessly addicted to the tv to the point of becoming mindless drones . I was just saying that my family and people I've witnessed from exsperince have acted that way.

this thread is about the choice of living without a television not attacking tv watchers. and definatly not about attacking people who choose not to watch tv.

TV free since 2002.

in 2002 I bought a projector. ahh, my other hobby besides bike: home theater

So now I have an 8 foot screen. haha!

But we only watch movies and the occasional tv series on dvd. Maybe 4-5hrs a week.

It's a quality 4-5 hours. much better than a theatre :)

I hate hate regular TV programming. Cannot stand to have it on. Makes me feel like my brain is bleeding. I do not use the word "hate" often, don't like to put that out in the world, but it applies to tv.

cheers

I would like to be TV free but my fiancee who I live with watches TV and I have pretty much given up on finding something else to do/staying away from the TV when it is on.

I'm trying to cut down on the amount of non-productive time I spend on the internet/TV/computer games, which I feel all have pretty similar effects. One of the tough things with internet-forums is that they really can be very useful or a total waste of time, depending on how you use them. ;) I would say that while I'm speding the time, it's not that easy to tell the difference between time being wasted on bikeforums and time well-used on bikeforums (and the like). Non-interactive websites can be the same way.

yeah I used to be addicted to the internet and online gaming , a good FPS was worse than cocain for me. and the whole compeditive part of it was the thing that most fueled my addiction. I had to be better than everyone else I had to be top of the ladder in every tournament my name needed to be top of the screen all the time.

since dealing with my addiction I have channeled all that extra energy into doing tattoo competitions, painting and getting in shape to start doing mtn bike races.

I limit my internet time and I absolutly don't play online games anymore its not something I can control or do part time.

but some other non tv/computer things I do is me and the girl go to the dollar movies (unlike tv we make a clear choice of what to watch then when its over we leave. I think its more rewarding to watch a movie if your not always watching tv)

im also getting into shape to do mtn bike races just for fun though.

I do paintings
I do graphite and pastell portraits and landscapes.

I am a discovery junkie. I need my weekly Dirty Jobs fix!!

But basically I work to much to really watch much TV. My wife watches a bunch, but I'm not home until 8-9 so I don't really notice.

As with being car-free, I didn't intentionally set out to become TV free.

A few years ago I found I just wasn't using it. There wasn't anything on I felt compelled to watch. After a year or two, I started keeping a log of when and for how long I watched. It wasn't an OCD (obsessive-compulsive documentation) thing, it was just so long between watchings that I couldn't remember. When it came time to move I looked and saw I was watching on average once every four months for an hour or two each time. I decided to sell the TV rather than move it. That was March of 2004.

The only time I worry about it is when re-entering the country. I'm afraid someone might blow me in to Homeland Security as being un-American because I don't own a car, a TV or a cell phone, and I don't use credit of any kind.

As with being car-free, I didn't intentionally set out to become TV free.

A few years ago I found I just wasn't using it. There wasn't anything on I felt compelled to watch. After a year or two, I started keeping a log of when and for how long I watched. It wasn't an OCD (obsessive-compulsive documentation) thing, it was just so long between watchings that I couldn't remember. When it came time to move I looked and saw I was watching on average once every four months for an hour or two each time. I decided to sell the TV rather than move it. That was March of 2004.

The only time I worry about it is when re-entering the country. I'm afraid someone might blow me in to Homeland Security as being un-American because I don't own a car, a TV or a cell phone, and I don't use credit of any kind.

im guilty of having a cell phone (but its more of a business thing). and my divorce smashed up my credit pretty good so I don't use credit or for that matter I don't even use banks anymore.

but I make a lot of money for my location/age group so this isn't about saving nickles and dimes its more just the choices I've made on how to go about my life.

This topic keeps coming up on this list server. I've been looking for reports of scientific experiments designed to identify mechanisms that explain the many studies associating TV viewing with poor cognitive skills in humans. So far I haven't found anything but speculation. It would be interesting to find some twin study where one identical twin watches 4 hours per day and the other reads 4 hours per day and see if there is mental deterioration in the TV twin. Maybe TV watchers are just on average more stupid to begin with so that giving it up would do nothing to help them. Since I've never owned a TV I can't speak from experience but I wonder if you people who have given up TV in the last decade or so think that you think better since unplugging it?

This topic keeps coming up on this list server. I've been looking for reports of scientific experiments designed to identify mechanisms that explain the many studies associating TV viewing with poor cognitive skills in humans. So far I haven't found anything but speculation. It would be interesting to find some twin study where one identical twin watches 4 hours per day and the other reads 4 hours per day and see if there is mental deterioration in the TV twin. Maybe TV watchers are just on average more stupid to begin with so that giving it up would do nothing to help them. Since I've never owned a TV I can't speak from experience but I wonder if you people who have given up TV in the last decade or so think that you think better since unplugging it?

probably be a good idea cause all we have right now is we can look at the general populace and take people who prefer books and people who prefer tv and compare the groups. but you still run into walls like do people who are less intelligent on average choose tv over books cause its easier or does a lifetime of the preverbial telivision babysitter make them how they are now. you would need to raise those twins in completely different enviroments to adulthood then compare them. I know where im putting my money though and it wouldn't be on the television boy.

oh and you also would have to control variables like drugs and even things as sensitive as foods cause some foods are theoretically better for your brain. and drugs like meth could reduce even steven hawkings to a mindless lump

Not only do I not own a TV, I'm scheming to stop everyone else from having one! Ha ha ha HA HA! (Just kidding! <--- That's what the pregnant goat said!)

I have no TV.

Studies have shown that peoples outlook becomes more optimistic when they avoid TV news. :eek:

There is a qualitative difference when you get information from text rather than video. With video, you have to keep up! There is no time to consider what you have just been exposed to because the next image and voice over has begun. Your natural skepticism and filters are swept aside in the torrent.

With text, you can stop and the medium waits for you. You can ponder and consider. You can challenge the ideas and review previous text.

Video has a very narrow point of view which can distort reality. It can only "look" in one direction at a time. I have seen video of events on TV and later pictures from further away of the same event. In the TV you see a crowd of people chanting for justice, filling the screen. The wider angle photo revealed that it was just twenty people crowding together for a close in shot that will manipulate an audience to think their numbers were vast.

Huge hoaxes have been perpetrated by the national news media. For example, they claimed murder and mayhem were rampant at the stadium in New Orleans during Katrina. Every sensational claim made over a week long period was later shown to be completely false! The Lacrosse players scandal is another good example of the news distorting reality. They ruin lives with lies and they say they are sorry- they just move on to the next sensation.

Video has a bias toward ACTION! Moving pictures are compelling, and they attract and hold an audience. (The business model of news gathering organizations, BTW. :rolleyes:) Many important pieces of news are crowded out for ACTION! shots. There may actually be news that is important and can be reported on except for that two hour police chase!

NPR has shown that long form news has an audience, and talk radio can gather an audience for commentary. But even with 24/7 format to deliver it to us, TV continues to deliver it all in 30 minutes, and even then it is in 30 second sound bites!

I don't miss TV.

Deciding to ditch our TV watching was the best decision my husband and I ever made, nex tto going car free of course. :) We suspended cable for six months to try it out, and after some adjustment it has worked out well and so we pulled the plug. We still have a TV, in an armoire, with the doors closed, so that it isn't the focal point of the living area.

One of the reasons we decided to do this was because we went to a small gathering at a good friend's house. Only about six of us, sitting around talking and having fun. Then the husband of the house turned on the TV and suddenly we were all staring at it silently. They always have the TV on in the background, even when they aren't watching anything, annoys the hell out of me.

I don't watch much, but like said before, I like to watch a comedy show or cartoon before bed to relax, and footballs games on saturdays. Cable's included in my rent (HBO on demand, HD) so its not really an option for me. But I certain won't miss if its gone.

I am cable free. But I do have a tv that gets used by my g/f once a week to watch a movie or something. I do miss Discovery Channel and TLC, History and whatever else like that. I cant justify spending $50 or whatever a month on 3 channels though. My college budget wouldnt allow me either :)

But like Roody said, laughter is good for you. Its also something I dont really get enough of reading about bikes allday and going to class. Internet is my UNHEALTHY addiction.

I gave up my TV a few months before I gave up my car. It's been just over two years. My sister got both of them.

The 24 hour news channels are what I dislike the most about tv. Even more so than commercials. At least a commercial is pretty straightforward about it's goal. It wants you to buy what it is selling. CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc all do the same thing as commercials. They want you to believe that you need what they are offering only they hide behind this grandiose idea that they are public servants of some sort.

I went pretty much TV-free 10 years ago when I moved into my house. First, there wasn't a good place to put the TV and second, the cost of cable each month was roughly the same as the cost of a meal out for two people. (When I was renting, cable was included in the rent.) The TV was relegated to the basement where it sat alone, neglected and unloved. I might bring it up occasionally if I want to watch a movie, but that might happen a dozen times in a year or less.

By the way, I've never bought a television. On three separate occasions, people have given me their old sets because they think I'm deprived of the viewing experience.

No TV for me. Clutters up the living room way too much.

No TV for me. Clutters up the living room way too much.

Definitely!

I used to watch TV constantly. Then as I was waiting for the operating room to open up so that I could undergo heart surgery I had a change of heart. (ack! do forgive me but i could not resist) Faced with the very real possibility that I could die just then, I started thinking about the life I had lived so far. Virtually all of my memories were of television. Of things that never actually even happened. Pretty pointless.

So now I ride. A lot. I also do woodworking, hand tools only. I paint, read, work with my dogs, went back to school, and try to do my part to crush the system.

Damn the man and all that.

Oh yeah, I've replaced all of my televisions with aquariums. I've found the programming to be of a much higher quality.

Minimal TV here, I can go weeks without turning it on. I do like Discovery and Nat Geo channels when I can watch them. IIRC some time around February they are supposed to turn the analog signals off...no TV at all then because the set I have is old and doesn't do digital. No cable or satellite at my house. ChipSeal made a good point about how TV viewing works. Reading is interactive, as is listening to music. TV is passive

Aaron:)

A TV is relatively clean technology when compared to an automobile, whether or not it pollutes your mental environment is up to you.

The thing about these discussions is that there never seems to be a sensible third alternative in between the anti-TV and couch potato crowds. Why not just exercise some self control and watch the good stuff? I watch two programs when they are on, and some DVDs on weekends. In my opinion, that's not too much. The only groups of people I don't think should watch television at all are very young children.

C'mon people, nobody likes to sit around reading Dostoyevsky and knitting sweaters all the time, and if they say they do they're desperately trying to impress you. Also, I know for a fact a lot of you sit in front of a computer screen for several hours per day. It's called moderation.

Sometimes I think this forum is filled to the brim with self-righteous, hypocritical Luddites.

<Troll-Powers Deactivate>

I have a T.V. and end up watching it more then I would probably like. I often have it on in the morning when I am getting ready, usually just listening to it. I don't really see much difference between a T.V., Radio, and a Computer. They all use my "free" time up. I often feel like more of a zombie after I get off the computer. At least with T.V. your show eventually ends, the internet just goes on forever, and ever, and ever....

C'mon people, nobody likes to sit around reading Dostoyevsky and knitting sweaters all the time, and if they say they do they're desperately trying to impress you. Also, I know for a fact a lot of you sit in front of a computer screen for several hours per day. It's called moderation.



Well I don't knit but I really enjoyed sitting around reading The Brothers Karamazov. If you feel guilty about reading it, keep it to yourself, when you finish continue to tell people you've never read it and don't care to. If enjoying reading books like that over TV makes me a "noboby" so be it.

Sounds like some of you would enjoy reading Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (http://www.amazon.com/Arguments-Elimination-Television-Jerry-Mander/dp/0688082742/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196952919&sr=8-1) by Jerry Mander. It's becoming a bit dated, but the content is well thought out, the history of broadcast television is compelling and I highly recommend it for people contemplating the move from tv light to tv free. It may not change a die-hard tv lover's mind, but those sympathetic already will enjoy it.

Edit: I haven't owned a tv since 2003, specifically because I don't like the commercials and I feel a large percentage of the programming aims at the lowest common denominator of our society.

C'mon people, nobody likes to sit around reading Dostoyevsky and knitting sweaters all the time, and if they say they do they're desperately trying to impress you.


Knitting sweaters impresses people? I should try that. I'm a chess historian, and even chessplayers are unimpressed by that distinctive hobby. :-)

I could see a tv being alot like a car. It could be a useful tool when used properly and in moderation. Its just the people who drive there car to the stor .3 miles away and then come home and watch 6 hours of crap on the tv that makes it look bad.

But if you watch 30 minutes or an hour of tv every now and then and use a car only when needed then I see no problems. I guess it could also be compaired to alcohol or basically anything in the world. Moderation is the key.

And I agree with 1redstar, how many of us spend an hour or more a day on the computer? That is definately not healthy and IMO possibly alot worse then tv since most computer time is spend alone with just a screen full of words and no real human interaction. Atleast with tv, you are "watching" humans.

Well I don't knit but I really enjoyed sitting around reading The Brothers Karamazov. If you feel guilty about reading it, keep it to yourself, when you finish continue to tell people you've never read it and don't care to. If enjoying reading books like that over TV makes me a "noboby" so be it.

All this talk of Russian lit and wanting to impress people makes me want to reread Woody Allen's short story "The Wh*re of MENSA."

...C'mon people, nobody likes to sit around reading Dostoyevsky and knitting sweaters all the time, and if they say they do they're desperately trying to impress you....
Madame Defarge over in the corner thinks you have a bad attitude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricoteuse

Madame Defarge over in the corner thinks you have a bad attitude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricoteuse

And she is busy knitting names...I hope that mine does not show up in her work :eek: .

East Hill

The only time I use my television is to watch movies (either Dvds or VHS) on it, and this is rather rare.
Absolutely no cable (and no cable bills!).

I consider myself TV lite, I only watch 2 to 3 hours a week on the educational channels. I gave up on network television over 30 years ago, since my viewing tastes had changed to the point of making the vast majority of television shows, then and now, unwatchable.

TV Lite here also. It only exists because my wife is a news junkie. I'll sit down long enough to watch the weather.

I do like a good movie from time to time, and I like to watch dance videos to improve my own dancing. But I could do all those on the computer and kick the TV (and the satellite bill) to the curb, no problem.

Life's too short for TV.

http://www.whitedot.org

no tv. no computer-- (i'm typin' this at work).
futon on the floor.
bikes in the "dining room".

I do knit, and I watch TV while I'm knitting! I have a loom too, and I watch TV while I'm weaving. Or crocheting, or doing embroidery, or whatever. I don't really "watch" the TV though, because I have to look down at what I'm doing. I spend much of my free time on my hobbies, and I like to have some kind background noise, so TV, movies, music, or audio books all serve the same purpose to me. I can't just sit and watch TV without doing something with my hands, I would be bored out of my mind. Some shows I pay more attention to than others, but I do have the TV on quite a lot and manage not to be a zombie about it.

P.S. The computer is a much bigger waste of time to me because I can't be on the computer and doing something else at the same time

I'm not smart enough to figure out how to watch a program, and too lazy to bother to find out. It used to be there were about four channels, half of which provided no recognizable images. Now with cable, there are an unknown number of bad programs and you have to use some sort of publication to find out what your provider is showing and how/when to find it.

I got pissed off at TV as a child, because it killed radio, and I liked radio drama much better than anything on TV. Consequently, I never developed a taste for TV.

I do make a lot of video DVDs and watch them, however.

Paul

We established earlier that you should throw the car at the TV. :p

This sort of reminds me of a version of Spanish Pipe Dream.

I did not have a TV until my wife, then GF, moved in with me. Listened to a lot of CBC back then, also drank a lot more beer.

All I have to say is I am glad I got a package with DVR. I just put the shows I want on record and watch them when I have time. I found out I watch much less T.V. this way, since I can skip commercials and only watch the shows that are recorded and I wanted to see in the first place. So I don't do "browsing the channels" as much now.
All I do is read or hack all day, so watching T.V. is a nice alternative. :)

A TV is relatively clean technology when compared to an automobile, whether or not it pollutes your mental environment is up to you.

The thing about these discussions is that there never seems to be a sensible third alternative in between the anti-TV and couch potato crowds. Why not just exercise some self control and watch the good stuff? I watch two programs when they are on, and some DVDs on weekends. In my opinion, that's not too much. The only groups of people I don't think should watch television at all are very young children.

C'mon people, nobody likes to sit around reading Dostoyevsky and knitting sweaters all the time, and if they say they do they're desperately trying to impress you. Also, I know for a fact a lot of you sit in front of a computer screen for several hours per day. It's called moderation.

Sometimes I think this forum is filled to the brim with self-righteous, hypocritical Luddites.

<Troll-Powers Deactivate>

are you even in the right thread? most all of us were talking abou how we live our lives without TV I can't really recall anyone off the top of my head saying anything against TV watchers.

and I know all the cool kids in high school were into yanno knitting and reading but I have reason to belive the people in this thead might not be lieing about doing those things as cool and impressive as those things are.

and as for moderation I think people addicted to tv have as much control as people addicted to crack or heroin

now I never told anybody not to watch tv I mearly told a story of how my family mom,dad,exwife are all addicted to television.

and as for your internet assumption I get online on my phone and getting online sucks my battery dry fast so I have to moderate my time or until I goto bed where my charger is.

I never have watched much, but a few weeks ago I stopped watching it altogether. All the commercials just started getting on my nerves, especially the car commercials. Ii still have a television, but now it is only used for watching old movies. I also read now before I go to bed, which is a vast improvement over watching obnoxious commercials yelling at me to borrow money so I can buy a car I can't afford.

For 6 years I was TV free. My ex and I could not afford cable and there was no TV in the valley that we lived in. For 6 months all we had were tapes of Red Dwarf and then we discovered the DVD and VHS collections that the local libraries had.

After I moved to Arkansas, my boss ordered me to buy a TV as a part of my job as Creative Director. He thought that I needed to know what modern TV ads were looking like because part of my job was helping TV stations use our advertising system.

But I never bought cable, and once again I'm in a valley so reception is hazy at best. But actually I have full cable in my office. Usually I listen to or watch channels with some pretence to content like Science channel, Discovery, NTGeo, NASA.