How different am I?

[Tom G. Laury]

We have not had a television in our home for almost 30 years. I'm kinda prouda that.

Anybody else living in a non TV home?

[Derek]

You are 99.9999999999% different. In this case. Different is better. The real problem with people today is.... I will finish this later. Curb your enthusiasm is coming on HBO right now.

[Scrapfe]

We have not had a television in our home for almost 30 years. I'm kinda prouda that. Anybody else living in a non TV home?

No, but I find myself watching it less and less, and enjoying not watching it more and more. :thumbsup:

[Putz]

I'd say you're very different, and I also say that is a good thing to be different in. I don't watch much TV at all, but there is one in this house I live in. Seems to me like everytime I visit someone else's home, the TV is on all the time whether it is being watched or not. As each day goes by it's harder and harder to find any quiet environment which is so very depressing for me.

[tecumseh]

mr laury writes:
Anybody else living in a non TV home?

tecumseh:
yep... the marketing people seem somewhat taken aback when I inform them I watch '0' tv in any given week. via their non comment (ie a very long pause) I think they really don't believe me.

I do have a tv in the house for the playing of videos and such but I don't have this same tv hooked up to an antenna or cable.

my thinking is... since there is little content there anyway (where is the reality in reality tv?) I don't think I have missed much.

[indypartridge]

No commercial television since we moved to our cabin 4 summers ago. No reception, no cable and no satellite. Haven't missed it and neither have the kids. Like tecumseh, we do have set to watch the occasional video, mostly old movies from the library.

[Hobie]

Tom, I applaud you!

This thread reminded me of my post-college years, when I had no TV for several years. One day a salesman called to sign me up for cable. When I said I had no TV, he laughed. I said I was serious, and he then offered to sign me up for cable so it would be all set up when I got a TV. Had to give him credit for persistence.

[iddee]

Lucky you....If I had the choice, there would be none here. I got out voted by my wife. No, I do not watch it.

[Zane]

Tom,
We have a set I rarely use except during tornado season to see how close they are on radar.
We have one on @ work until I get tired of seeing the junk on it and turn it off. I dont want to see teens in trashy outfits,gays kissing,foul language,rude disrespectfullness and stupid reality tv junk!!!! I sure do miss a good ol John Wayne movie though!
Tom your not missing anything w/out it!!! good for you to have the thought of not watching it!!!

[Bizzybee]

350 or so channels and maybe three that have anything worth checking into at any given point. Endless garbage is choice of the day apparently. No wonder so many folks seem brain dead these days.

You aren't missing a thing!!

[Dan Williamson]

I grew up in a home with no TV. I didn't even know I was missing anything... Turns out... after years with a TV that I was only missing garbage.

I spent my time as a kid playing games... reading books... building forts... riding bikes... of course after we worked in the huge gardens that accounted for alot of the food we ate.... and after mowing grass and doing all the chores around the place. We played after we worked.

I want to get rid of the TV. Unfortunately my wife and I are not on the same page with that plan.

I hate that we pay to pump garbage into the house....

[MapMan]

I watch about 2-3 hours of television per week - more during football season. :) Not a lot by today's standards - the average American watches four hours per day. My children watch more than I do (only one left at home), but I am somewhat surprised and pleased at what my teenage daughter watches, even when I am out of the room - wholesome family-oriented shows - no violence, sexual situations and profanity (in other words, no MTV).

I don't watch news programs nor read newspapers - what info I need is all here on Beesource. ;)

MM

[dragonfly]

350 or so channels and maybe three that have anything worth checking into at any given point.

Man, you got that right!:)

[iddee]

>>> Originally Posted by Bizzybee View Post
350 or so channels and maybe three that have anything worth checking into at any given point.<<<

We must get 347 in this area. I haven't seen the other three.

[Tom G. Laury]

OK great I'm not that much different! I think it was really good for our two girls growing up although they got asked some funny questions in school like "Do you have a washing machine?". Love the stories about surveys telemarketers and salesmen. I bet they don't believe! So much garbage.

[BEES4U]

:)
I have not watched TV for three years.
I do not miss it at all!

Ernie

[Eaglerock]

Tom, I applaud you!

This thread reminded me of my post-college years, when I had no TV for several years. One day a salesman called to sign me up for cable. When I said I had no TV, he laughed. I said I was serious, and he then offered to sign me up for cable so it would be all set up when I got a TV. Had to give him credit for persistence.

How dumb are you, you should have said, buy me a TV and then I will sign up for your cable. :D

Funny- just last month I told my wife, who always has the TV on and I shut it off, that not more than 3-4 years ago we hardly had it on. Now the darn thing is running and she might be outside. Now I ask you, how dumb and stupid is that. But,... being a good man I keep my trap shut, and shut it off. Knowing darn well when she walks in it will be turned on. What a waste of energy. She likes having noise. I thought, didn't say it(why?-because am a smart man), I thought, buy a recorder and tape yourself and you will hear more noise than you could ever want. *Hey, share the love* :shhhh:

Really though, why do people turn it on, afraid they might miss something? But then, they never stop to watch it anyways. Sometimes I will come home and she will be sitting on the back porch reading. :doh: Hello, TV's on...

Last spring I asked who was visiting, she said, "no one, why?" To which I replied, "because I wondered who is watching TV if you are out here working in the yard." I would have said, Some oxymorons think electric grows on poles? But I like life and know what might transpire if I did.

*glad I got that off my chest*

[BULLSEYE BILL]

My girl friend does not have one, hasn't for about 20 years. It's a good thing too, she would never get a thing done if she had one. When she comes over and the set is on, and it doesn't mater what is on, she is transfixed to it. :no: Absolutely mesmerized by it, I've never seen anyone like that. Some people should not have one at all and she is one of them.
I live alone so it is just background noise, news and weather mostly, I just listen as I do other things like waste time here on BS. Now you want to talk about a real waste of time? This is the addiction I need to rid myself of. :(

[Eaglerock]

Now you want to talk about a real waste of time? This is the addiction I need to rid myself of. :(

BSC - B S CLINIC

Don't try quiting cold turkey.

[Bizzybee]

My girl friend does not have one, hasn't for about 20 years.

20 years!! I thought she was only 19 :scratch: You sly dog you, your trying to pull a fast one on us! ;)

[John F]

I don't think I have missed much.

How would you know? You need to be watching the TV all the time to make sure you don't miss anything. :)

We have less than 10 TVs in our house. Keeps the cat busy.

[Ben Brewcat]

We use our TV to watch videos occasionally but no cable or antenna. I can't imagine what we would do if we had to make time to watch TV regularly now. When I explain to people that we don't watch I always say "we just don't have the time". It's not that I think TV is evil or anything (though a lot of what I catch at friend's homes is pretty distinct drivel), it just kind of sucks me in to an hour(s) of watching something that I would later wish I had spent reading, fishing, hiking, beekeeping, or a million other things that are not a passive surrender of my mind to someone I don't know :).

[Eaglerock]

20 years!! I thought she was only 13 :scratch: You sly dog you, your trying to pull a fast one on us! ;)

Thirteen!!!!!!!!!?????????????? :D

[Oldbee]

OK. great I am not that much different. I think it was really good for our two girls growing up,...[without TV.] T. Laury.

But you ARE different and I commend you for not having a TV. for many years, especially in regards to your children.

I am of that generation when all we had was the radio to listen to when I was young. I remember the 'Lone Rangers', Srgt. Prestons [Yukon] and even 'Straight Arrow", if any of you can remember that, lol. I had the mumps [7-9 yo.] and was in bed for a week or more, so listening to the radio 'soaps', "Great Gildersleeve", "Amos and Andy", was fun. I listened to a few 'episodes' of different programs recently on 'Old Time Radio' and you can [well, I did] feel parts of your mind being,.. like,... reactivated to provide the mental images of what's going on and it was quite fun and interesting. I don't think my 'imagery' was quite as good as it was in,.. 1953 though.

Television has its place in society. It provides a nice diversion to the boredom of nursing homes and that is only one of many examples. During the fifties early sixties, TV. had a remarkable impact on our society. I remember now how my parents AND grandparents were enthralled with the 'Lawrence Welk Show'. That program played music of THEIR generation.

I don't much watch TV. now, but I remember times when I couldn't miss the 'Mary Tyler' or Bob Newhart' shows, lol.

The computer and the internet is the new 'addiction' [as Bullseye mentioned] but at least it's somewhat,...interactive. Computers are also entering the nursing homes as respite from,........boredom.

[MapMan]

We have not had a television in our home for almost 30 years. I'm kinda prouda that.

Anybody else living in a non TV home?

I think that you have to also be up-front with you and your family's use of the computer and the internet. A television is mild-mannered in comparison to what is accessible on the internet... And, based on a post count of 422 since May of this year, you have spent inordinate amounts of time on the 'puter. :no: Come on, fess up. The computer has replaced your television.:D

MM

[ScadsOBees]

My tv don't work so well since I pulled down the Tv antenna off the roof. Anyway, I read something about all tvs stopping working next February anyway.

My kids do watch a lot of DVD's on the computer though. And with the internet, who needs TV anymore??:shhhh:

I don't know what my parents did without the electric babysitter.

Seriously though, we do let the kids watch dvds, but we try to control it pretty closely. Hopefully we are doing ok. I don't watch much anymore, even though I love to watch it.

Yes you are different. But we are all on a beekeeping website, do you think that most of the general population are open to keeping boxes of stinging insects??? :shhhh:

Rick

[walking bird]

All things in moderation.

Nothing wrong with TV per se, any more than there's anything wrong with newspapers, magazines, books, the 'net, radio, or any other media. They all primarily cater to the lowest common denominator, but all offer some excellent content as well.

Watch what you choose, choose what you watch.

Dodgers games, f'instance!:) Gotta go do that right now!

[BULLSEYE BILL]

20 years!! I thought she was only 19 :scratch: You sly dog you, your trying to pull a fast one on us! ;)

Life begins at conception right? ;) That's twenty years. :D

[Tom G. Laury]

Yeah I will freely admit...inordinate use of computer. This is my first one, bought Jan 08. Bees are kind of my whole life and right now my wife is overseas teaching, and both my kids are...well I won't start bragging! But I am living alone. So I do enjoy interacting here. But you are dead wrong about replacement of one video screen for another. I am not exagurating in any way. This is a family of READERS.

[Jeffrey Todd]

TV is fine if you watch only the good stuff. I like being able to turn it on and see what weather may be heading our way, watch Texas beat the heck out of Oklahoma, maybe see a good gardening or home improvement show, watch a comedy, etc.
All told, we average less than an hour a day.

[kyfarmer]

I just canceled my DirectTV service. The $55/ month I thought was worth more to me in my pocket then in Directs. I am often reminded of that country song from a few years past, 'we slept in cribs with lead based paint, we had 3 channels and had to get up to change them' or something like that.

If I was not afraid of a small blonde woman, she is already angry from the above, I would sell the TV all together, and prob try to go off the grid all together.

[Tom G. Laury]

For all the great feedback. One thing we can all agree on!!!:p