How Do You Live Without Television?
With the Internet being readily available in so many homes these days, I thought the whole shock of no television in my home would be a thing of the past. Although I seem to meet many people that do not have a television in their home,
I still get the "how do you live without television?" question. My come back is simple; "how do you live with it?"I don't mean to be snobbish or to say that television is evil-well maybe a bit. I admit that there are programs I don't mind watching occasionally and I often stream news clips or comedy clips over the Internet. When I ask "how do you live with it?" I am referring to the hours of time television consumes. Time that is full of advertising and void of interaction. I recently came across some frightening statistics.
*The amount of television that the average American watches per day: 4
*Average time per week that the American child ages 2-17 spends watching television: 19hrs 40 minutes
*Time per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 38.5
*Percentage of 4-6 year olds who, when asked would rather watch TV than spend time with their fathers: 54
I'm not even going to go into the advertising and over consumption statistics relating to television. That's a whole different topic to explore.
So with so much time being spent watching television, I am puzzled at how people find time to cook, do chores, exercise, work, sleep, go to school or work, shower, read, or even surf the net and blog (my screen media pitfall). People must do some serious multi-tasking.
posted by BurdockBoy @ 5:46 PM
27 comments
27 Comments:
What drives me absolutely bonkers is when I'm driving behind an SUV (in the States, that is) and I see a TV in the backseat.
That's when I just gave up. I mean, the idealism just flez out the window and got crunched under the tires of the giant SUV going 70mph five feet behind me to tell me to let him pass.
GRRRRRR!!!!
But I must concur with your final assessment: how the hell CAN you live with it? It makes me physically and psychologically depressed. I'm a former addict--a latch-key kid who vegetated in font of the boob-tube from age 7 to age 14. Then at 14 a miricle happened: I joined the school track team (peer pressured into it, to be honest...). So I got home at 6:30, stuffed my face with food, and got cracking on the homework, only to pass out, exhausted from running 10 miles and reading hundreds of pages. Then got sent to boarding school--no TV there--then I suddenly realized that I was free! Hadn't watched the damn thing in 4 years, didn't know what was going on, which shows were playing, and best of all, vegetating was no longer my default mode!
Haven't a TV since (a good 10 years°
Best thing that ever happened to me.
But...then we get into the internet question...is that just as bad? How many hours of daylight do I miss sitting in front of this thing?
No time for the evil box.
No tv here for about 7 years now.
I've said before,and will say again,it is THE best thing we have ever done for our family.
We have a bumper sticker on our station wagon that says,"Kill your television". I can't tell you how many people comment on it.
lady bonds:
bonkers and sympathy. Are the children or whoever is in the backseat that addicted to a television that they need it to be quiet. I can picture the parents making up the excuses. "Well, it keeps them quiet. Otherwise Johnny Boobtube fights with his sister." I wrote a post on 8/31/06 about a trial of TV's in shopping carts. Ahhhh.
I went through a brief TV addiction around 6th & 7th grade (mostly because I had no life and had briefly grown bored of reading. Luckily I started making friends and turned to art. Saved.
The Internet is a whole new can of worms. While I use the excuse that it is more imformative, commercials are easy to ignore, interactive (some great discussions), and similar to pen palling, the fact remains I am staring at a screen and sitting on my bum.
I guess I should impose some sort of limits on my Internet usage.......
Kim: The choice for me TV Free. It will be nice for Kalea to never have a TV. Only like 1% of Americans don't have a television. And you gotta figure that includes the Amish and others without electricity. So how many "average" families don't have tele? Very few.
I used to have that sticker on my van. I also like "Fight Prime Time Read a Book" or the more vulgar but direct "Read A Fucking Book".
Not the TV is the devil by itself, there are a few good shows worthy to see, we just need to controll the urge to sit and watch even if the biggest bs is showing. We need to controll our watching habbit.
Never a TV addict. There's one in the house, but never is it turned on for programming (movie rental rarity, a bit of gaming in our house). Never waste time at a friends house over it. Answer is simple - I don't like being lied to. How much of TV is a lie?
They make good bird feeders after you gut them.
We use our tv to watch movies, period. Maybe 1-2 a week. As a family, too: the kid doesn't watch that tv alone (she's 3). I confess I am now a huge fan of Miyazaki: makes Disney look like the mother-killing freak he was.
And people are always wondering how the hell I read as many books as I do: it's pretty simple math if the boob tube isn't on.
I've gone times in my life where I didn't have a TV and now I only have rabbit ears and watch it very little. When they stop analog broadcasting I won't get cable. The FCC madated that analog broadcasting will stop by January 2009, meaning a lot of fixed income, elderly and poor folks will be without TV in a couple years.
I had a Shoot Your TV bumper sticker and still people would ask me what that meant?! I love when people ask me how I have time to do all my hobbies and I tell them that I have all sorts of free time since I don't watch TV. It's like people haven't grasp that concept-no TV=more free time. People of the USA, free your time and free your mind-pull the plug on TV!
Dan
Indeed! No TV for us. I don't have time for everything I want to do the way it is: I can't imagine finding time for TV. We do now have a laptop that can play DVD's but we rarely even get around to those.
Although sometimes I think the internet can be just as bad. We're thinking about limiting our own "screen time" a bit more, too...
We have a TV Set and use it to play rented movies and documentaries. We can't get TV signals in this area, and we unplugged the free cable that's piped into our condo. I'm wishy-washy: I'd like to go TV-free, but I'd miss the ability to rent the occasional flick.
Mone: If peopel can be responsible TV watchers I hold no prejudices. What drives me crazy are when people have the TV on constantly even when no one is watching-the obnoxious laugh track on lame sitcoms is as much a part of the family as the baby crying.
Fool: TV is a lie. Even the stuff deemed "educational" is mostly a waste of time. Birdfeeder? My imagination mut be lacking, I can't seem to envision that.
El: I've been a Miyazaki fan for awhile. I ordered his box set from Japan several years ago before D*sn!y distributed them here. While Miyazaki was cranking out beautiful uplifting movies, all D*sn!y could muster was sarcasm for humor. Every main character in their movies these days has some negative, sarcastic, wise cracking character. Even the translation of the Miyazaki movies manages to over emphasize the sarcasm. The Phil Hartman voice in Kiki is awful as is the Billy Bob in Princess Mononoke.
Dan: I haven't kept up with the FCC ruings, I had no idea that traditional broadcasting was soon finished. I'm sure people will allow for television in their budget somehow. I mean how will the elderly live without Wheel of Fortune?
GTR: my computer gives me my DVD fix as well. If I lived somewhere that actually showed decent movies I would watch even less of those.
Jenny: I was the same way for a number of years (TV with no signals-just for movies), but finally when I got a decent computer the tele was history. Never again.
I have a TV but no cable...I found that there was no more to watch when I did have cable. In any case, the thing is rarely turned on...not even once a week. Do I mind? Not a bit. Overall they are real time wasters. Too many other things to do / see. You have a point about the internet though, depending on how it's used.
T.V can take way from things much as the computer.
When I was younger there was only the 3 major net works.
and p.b.s once in a great while.
We don't have cable or stat lite tv and I don't see us hooking up to it.
But with all this electronics I believe it cause people to gain weight look at us as a fat nation.
I remember not sitting around playing video types of games. We were outside playing.
But I'm not ready to get ride of the telvision
We have a tv, mostly for movie rentals {horror junkie} no plans on buying a new one come '09.
What is scary is that we probably have more leisure time than any other culture in the world...and what do we do with it? sit in front of the TV. So many people I know plan their lives around what's on TV. Its scary. We have the oppurtunity to read whatever book we want, learn about anthing we want, create, be outside...sigh...What a waste.
I was visiting my parents and my sister and I were about to go out and get some coffee and lunch. She was putting on her shoes and literally stopped mid-tie and zoned out in front of the TV...she is 30 YEARS OLD!!! The blank stare in her face really got to me and was kind of creepy...
I also notice how in restaraunts and bars if a TV is on, conversation stops and everyone gradually ends up staring and mesmerized by it...
At our house we often turn on the tv while cooking and eating. I see nothing wrong with it at all. After a long day, when there is little energy left, TV allows us to be passive for a little while and rest.
We eat together every single night, and we still talk to each other and catch up on our days during dinner, the tv doesn't prohibit that. It's not like we're at the movies. We're at our own house and we talk over the tv or about what's on tv or we mute it for a while.
We use it to give ourselves a break, some entertainment, and sometimes to block out noise from our neighbors. We watch maybe an hour while we're doing those activities we'd be doing anyway (cooking/eating/sometimes art, knitting, or cleaning up, etc.).
Often we do what you said, just leave the TV on, while we're in the other room cooking or while we're drawing or even reading. I don't see anything wrong with TV as background noise, though we personally don't have it on like that for hours or anything.
The truth is the way we "watch" tv (often we listen more than watch), rarely takes up additional time of our day, since we do it while we're doing something else. It's way better than Internet for me, because when I'm online I don't do anything else, and that includes not talking to my spouse, but with the TV on, I still can and do get a lot of other things done while it's on.
This isn't to say it's on all day at our home. It's never on during the day, usually it's only at dinner. But I just don't have any trouble with TV on while other things get accomplished. What I find not productive is: 1) watching TV for hours on end without doing anything else productive 2) being so into TV that you talk more about the shows you saw than your own life (I used to encounter a lot of people like this at work) and 3) being so into tv that it's more important to go home and watch "my show" than to engage in life and do something more active or productive and 4)kids who spend hours sitting inside watching tv (or playing video games) instead of being active and developing better habits around more productive ways to spend their time
For us, mentally, TV is usually the equivalent of reading an US Weekly (celeb gossip rag) which I also do from time to time when I want a mindless escape. We occasionally have a few shows we like and tune in to but that is so rare it isn't worth mentioning. There is really not one show currently on TV (well there's one that syndicated reruns of an old show that I do like) that I can say I actually really like.
(Sorry this is so long!!)
And as if I didn't write enough the first time: I've always had a TV, and I've never been a TV addict, and throughout most of my twenties, it never even occurred to me to turn the TV on.
Having one and occasionally watching one certainly does not mean a TV addiction is looming (not that I'm suggesting you implied that at all!)
I've always used TV the way I use it now, as a way to relax for awhile, be mildly entertained or informed (if watching news or documentary), and give myself a break for a while.
I read and write regularly and voraciously and always have, and I have done plenty of other things with my life and my days, so I see nothing wrong with using time that I'd be relaxing anyway with the TV on.
I guess as the minority of your commenters with this viewpoint, I felt compelled to go on and on about my TV usage. I'm done now, I promise!
M
I do watch PBS and news. News in the AM, but you're right!!!
The content sucks, but it's the comercialism that really sucks. I think we're joined at the hip.
Carla: I guess TV in Canada isn't any better.
PL: electronics does seem to correlate with our obesity.
phelan: We all have our movie "fixes". Mine was anime for a bit and before that foreign language. Recently I haven't much time for movies however.
Tunip: You make a terrific point. Mny in our society feel that that their leisure time is best spent by "vegging out". I know I use the occasional movie sort of as a drug-to forget my troubles in a sense. I know I could be doing something more productive. Perhaps people feel that way often.
TV does catch ones attention. I hate it when they heve them on in waiting rooms. I always have a book I'm trying to read and I constantly catch myself looking up.
M: Thanks for commenting, I guess this post mostly attracted the anti-tv crowd.
While I am mostly against television in general I am not opposed to "responsible TV watchers", especially between two consenting adults as yourselves. I find your $ non-productive TV characteristics true as well.
My biggest beef is with TV's and children. Leaving the TV on as background noise with children present I believe is wrong. Often unknown to adults they take in the jingles, the advertising, and negative programming-all while appearing to be doing something else. We can tune stuff out, they don't. Also people who don't shut the TV off when others visit annoy me. I have been over to peoples house and have tried to engage in conversation to no avail. Battling a sports game is a challenge.
I'm glad you have found a responsible way to watch TV for your lifestyle. I believe it is a drug, (which I also don't use, but am not opposed to) one to be used in moderation.
Toby: The commercialism is the worst. However, some people look more forward to the commercials at superbowl time. WTH. The news? They still show that on TV?
Just a quick note to let you know that you've been tagged (and it's your own darn fault!). :D
We haven't had tv in years -- and the kids survived!!! We borrow movies from the library occasionally and play some video games.
People often ask, "Did you see such-and-such on tv last night?" When I answer "No, we don't have tv" most often they answer back, "Oh, well I don't watch it very much, either". My not having a tv is not a judgement on them, but they seem compelled to justify their viewing habits to me. Strange.
Well, we lived on a small lightly populated mountain at one time--by choice. It was pre satellite and pre internet-- for that area anyway---and there were not enough of us living on the road for cable to put in a line--as if we cared. No antennae was tall enough so---for 2 and 1/2 years we lived without t.v. I personally liked it but then---I am a reader. We of course got all the "how do you do it!" remarks as you are. You will never convince them that it's better though---they aren't ready for it. So just know that you are better for it and your daughter will learn like our kids did: to play with toys, use her imagination, and go outside and see nature. Best "t.v" there is.
debby:
I have been out of the loop with television there are shows I have never seen or even heard of. The reality craze has come out since I have given up my TV so I have never seen any of them. Most of the time when people discuss television I don't even know what they are talking about.
Monica:
I am certain our lifestyle of little media will be positive or our daughter. Already being born in our house out here in the woods have given her a strong connection with nature.
We got rid of ours when we moved. The Directv lady offered to put it on hold for me for nine months. When I explained that we didn't have electricity where we were moving, she was speechless. We also don't have internet access at home right now (fortunately I get my fix at work and use my laptop to download my husband's email for him to read and reply to.)
We have XM satellite radio and I'm very happy with it. My husband gets to listen to all the baseball games. He grew up listening to baseball on the radio so he's fine with it. I get my bluegrass fix. We spend time together again and he even has time to read now. A win-win all around, plus we gave our tivo to some friends which made them very happy.
teri: Thanks for commenting.
we often get calls from satellite or cable companies calling about their service. When we tell them we don't own a TV nor intend on buying one, they kind of go silent. That gives me plenty of time for a "thanks" and hang-up.
I thought about XM, but right now we have DSL, so I'm happy with the net.
I guess I just love my television too much to completely get rid of it. It's an addiction, true, that I feel I have to have once my three kids are in bed. I am SO exhausted in the evening - too tired to read, too tired to think, too tired to do anything but stare at the TV (and maybe do a little simple crafting). I am not fat, I am not lazy. I'm an intelligent person who, at the end of the evening just needs a release. I have to turn my mind off, and TV does it for me.
I do let my kids watch TV for a little while when they come home from school. We recently downgraded our cable subscription, which has helped with the channel wars (they basically have PBS now as a choice). When it is below zero degrees outside, I don't mind them watching movies and such. When it's warm weather, they get 30 minutes of television.
I think it's all a matter of how television is viewed. Oh, I am guilty of leaving the TV on as background noise, especially when I am the only one in the house. For some reason, music just doesn't comfort me the way people talking does.
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