What does TV mean to you? Would you say that you depended on it? In the years gone by people didn't have such luxuries and had to find other ways to entertain themselves. Could you imagine a life without TV? What would you do to entertain yourself?

I like to think that I could live without TV. I only use it when there isn't anything to do. Since the "dumbing down" of television, the increase in programs aimed at the big brother generation and the overall Celebrity Culture the quality of viewing has become terrible anyway. EVEN the simpsons is starting to seem tired and repetitive. Its a worrying thought that most of an average british persons day seems to be spent watching 1 of 4 channels.

:) [L.P.f.t.I]

I could quite easily live without t.v. I don't have much spare time so wouldn't waste it sitting mindlessly in front of the tv just beacuse it happened to be on. I guess on average that I watch about 2 or 3 hours telly per week and the tv only goes on when there is something I want to watch.

Now radio is a different matter. I have 5 dotted throughout the house. I would really miss these if they weren't there.:)

Likewise Mo, I only watch television when there is something on I really want to watch. It stays off otherwise, and my nightmare is if my girlfriend and I had to watch televions at mealtimes - but thankfully we still have plenty to talk about!

I don't have much spare time though, but when I do I tend to surf the net - that I do miss and perhaps I spend as much time on the net as other people do watching television...

It will not be long before TV is delivered via the net.
So we can all sit there with Eastenders on while we contribute to the forum.

Remember where you heard it first- Mikey 23/6/03

have quite a few friends who have made the choice not to have a TV in the house, although they are a bit holier than thou.

I don;t watch much and I can take it or leave it, but I would miss natural history docs and the simpsons...

I hope I could live without TV but I'd hate to miss any football! Listening to football on the radio just isn't the same! I don't think I watch that much TV (I hope!). I'd perhaps read more or get out more (ha ha!) if I didn't have a TV anymore. It'd possibly make me get up off my a**e and sign up for a couple of evening classes I've been considering as well...

I suppose most people are used to having a TV but if we didn't have them we'd naturally fill the time with other stuff. And if you had never had one then you wouldn't know what you were missing!

I knew someone when I was at school who's family didn't have a TV. I thought it was weird at the time and assumed EVERYONE had a TV! It's strange that it's only since my Grandparent's generation that TVs were invented. My Nana says they used to play cards by candlelight in the evenings! Bless!

When I worked on summer camp in the states I lived without TV for 10 weeks. OK a very short time, but I didn;t miss it!

I enjoyed the weather, played games, taught swimming, read etc and it was fun!

TV is great but not the be all and end all of life!

I'd find it MUCH harder to live without the net!

I have been without tv quite a few times - I'm a little surprised that most people seem not to have ever been:o

Every time it goes, I kick and scream and want to keep it. Then within a week I'm happier by far, actually getting all sorts of things done, and fulfilling little niggling ambitions, and not at all missing it.
The longest time was for a year, and then a friend died and left me their tv (don't ask:lol:). I tried desperately to hoist it off on someone else, but it was too old to be tempting to anyone. So I let it be brought into the house...big mistake. Cos if there's one in the house, it's like it calls to you to turn it on, and BOOM you're a slave to the horrible thing. It didn't take long to be sucked right back in, I'm afraid. Then Mark bought one of these big widescreen ones and I knew that was it, I'm probably stuck with one forever now...

At least I always multitask - write, do some artwork, whatever, so that I'm not just stting there...a poor justification.

I watch very little T.V and if i was single the only time T.V went on would be to watch cycling.
Now unfortunatley i have a family that does like watching T.V the kids in the day watch Fox kids and tover arf at night with her boring soaps and Big Bros so its in my face at all times.
Now i don't mind the box being on all day and half the night as long as i don't have to sit there and watch it.
It is a cause for amonosity at times as nobody can understand why i take no interest in any programmes and they think i'm mardy but i'm bug****d if i am going to sit through some uninteresting programme just to make them happy.
I,m an active outdoor person and i'm a freek because nobody in my entire family circle do anything active in there spare time.
Call me what you like but if its a choice of being physically active or a couch potatoe then i know which one i'd rather be.
OK slightly off the subject there but T.V is a killer and causes heart attacks and other nasty ailments due to the amount of hours people i know spend there.

Remember where you heard it first- Mikey 23/6/03

Haha someone's beat you to it! My boyfriend told me about it a while back! I should've posted about it there and then, didn't think anyone'd want to know! Silly me :P

I managed to live without a TV for year until my mom brought me one for christmas. Did I miss it? No - I was out all week and you could find me in Rebels night club every night in the week apart from Tuesday and Sunday when it was shut.

The other 2 days were spent recovering.

Telly is the other person in the room for me. I like the company.

Even when I have friends round the telly goes on. (Like the fire in the corner??)

We could have music in the background and be in deep conservation (a bit like tonight), but if the box in the corner is asleep, I don't feel right.

Turn on the flicker.

I don't have a TV. I haven't had one for years.

I couldn't live without the net though.

I am part of a generation that has simply lost the art of discussion (you could argue we never had it). The reason? Simple: Television.

How nice it is to have friends round, turn the bloomin' thing off and TALK. Good discussion about anything, or 'putting the world to rights' can be stimulating and exciting. It can teach you an awful lot about your own language (english as opposed to either wall-to-wall american english or worse, the complete bastardisation and lowering of standards of our language heard day and night on television).

I'm not a fan of television. It has become too central a fixture of 21st Century family life. Infact, 'life' is the wrong word because a family, sat eating their microwave meals sat gawping at the box in the corner of the room, not saying a word between each other, not even moving their mouths towards their food laden forks, is more a form of semi-existance. (Check for a pulse every two minutes.)

I do have an exception though and admit to watching some sport on television. Other than that, I use mine more to read Teletext and before I got a better DAB Hi-Fi, used to listen to the radio stations through it.

And that's what I prefer: Radio. The old argument is true: The pictures are better on the radio and that's simply because you are engaging your brain and using one's imagination. DAB has transformed radio - it's great to flick between channels and there is always something worth listening to. That's certainly not the case with T.V. Further, radio has not - as yet at least - been americanised like much of our television output has (and it hasn't been dumbed down to the same extent).

My kids watch (too much) television; my wife watches the majority of the soaps like it is some form of ritual and I like to watch a match or two.

Other than that, I'd sling the thing tomorrow and save myself quite a packet, money which could be better spent doing far more interesting things.

Finally, we've started playing Scrabble of an evening in our house. The benefits - discussion, knowledge, family time spent together, communication - not sat staring at some garbage on television have been an absolute revelation.

no dont takeaway my tele!!
i need it to waste,er i mean while away the hours going up and down all those sky channels looking at power juices,those get an instant six pack through electric shock treatment thingies,endless 1970's bbc sitcom reapated repeats and babestation!!

The ONLY time I would miss the T.V is when I am doing my ironing, it's by being able to watch the T.V (or DVD) at the same time that gets me thorough it. I hate the damm job. Thank god for TV and DVD's.

Originally posted by WTAW
The ONLY time I would miss the T.V is when I am doing my ironing, it's by being able to watch the T.V (or DVD) at the same time that gets me thorough it. I hate the damm job. Thank god for TV and DVD's.

Same here, although I do like ironing. I couldn't live without the net though.

As much as I do love some TV shows, I do think TV is one of the most destructive forces on culture and the general mental and emotional wellbeing of the general populace. Sounds like hyperbole but there are plenty of facts to back that up and excellent books on the subject.

Originally posted by Cycleracer

Now i don't mind the box being on all day and half the night as long as i don't have to sit there and watch it.
It is a cause for amonosity at times as nobody can understand why i take no interest in any programmes and they think i'm mardy but i'm bug****d if i am going to sit through some uninteresting programme just to make them happy.


I had this when I was growing up and now when the family are over they get mardy if I go in the other room to do something else while they watch their soaps. I've never really seen the point in watching something just because everyone else is! I'm quite happy to go and look on the net or read while they get their fix, and it puzzles me why I'm told I'm antisocial if I choose not to watch Eastenders!

Anyway, normally we don't watch the TV much at all, but I'd miss it if there was something good on, like Doctor Who. I have Sky, and though I don't make much use of it (maybe an hour a day at most on average through the week) I still like to have it as I have more choice. A great TV show is great entertainment, or it can be thought provoking. I just use it the same way i use books; I wouldn't waste time on a rusbbish book, why waste time on rubbish TV?

If you watched all the three main soaps every week, how much time would that take up??

Originally posted by quas
As much as I do love some TV shows, I do think TV is one of the most destructive forces on culture and the general mental and emotional wellbeing of the general populace. Sounds like hyperbole but there are plenty of facts to back that up and excellent books on the subject.
Blumin' hell, that is hyperbole! Quote some of those facts please :) .

Originally posted by ppn_2204
Blumin' hell, that is hyperbole! Quote some of those facts please :) .

I specialise in hyperbole! :) I can't be bothered rifiling through the books but I'll give you the books details if you're interested in finding out more:

Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn (the founder of Adbusters magazine)

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander

Get a Life!: The Little Red Book of the White Dot by David Burke

Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging our Lives - and What We Can Do About It by Aric Sigman

I haven't read all of those. In fact, I got most of my information from Adbusters magazine, I have to say.

Originally posted by Lickszz
Could you imagine a life without TV?

Yes I can but the TV licensing people can't accept that there are actually people who dont have a TV.

I don't have a TV, because I found it too annoying. I also object to the licensing regime (jailing single mothers in order to subsidise long lunches for BBC bosses).

I don't miss it - I listen to the radio or watch DVDs on the computer. If there's something I particularly want to watch, I can usually download it.

Originally posted by mikey
It will not be long before TV is delivered via the net.
So we can all sit there with Eastenders on while we contribute to the forum.

Remember where you heard it first- Mikey 23/6/03
Blueyonder are already doing it, all be it on a small scale see here by tv (http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyonder/getContent.jspx?page=services_blueyondertv)

I was about to say that - who needs TV when you have the Internet? :)

Originally posted by DIBS
Same here, although I do like ironing. I couldn't live without the net though.

I could live without tv with no probs...but the radio & Internet.. without those it would be very hard... for home and work.

My husband RocDoc and I have had spells where we haven't had a telly and I am usually the one who frets about it and misses my vegging out. However each time I quickly "detoxed" and began to enjoy the peace and extra time it gave me..

This posting had prompted us into a serious talk this morning about getting rid of the telly again. All the more important now as we are expecting out first child in july. Don't want to raise a couch potato!

What does TV mean to you? Would you say that you depended on it? In the years gone by people didn't have such luxuries and had to find other ways to entertain themselves. Could you imagine a life without TV? What would you do to entertain yourself?

For the first Ten or Eleven years of my life, Television for general use, did not exist. I believe that it was in 1948 that I first looked at a T.V. The screen at that time was about Six inches square. A large magnifying glass was put over the screen to enlarge the picture.
The first person who I can remember having a T. V. Set was a woman. She allowed all the children living locally to watch it through her front window. If any made a noise she'd come out, give them a clip and send them home for-bidding them to come back again for a week or so.

I've been working abroad for most of my life since 1988 [ thank God ! ] and before that I watched T.V. about the same as everybody else, I guess.

Since then, of course, I've not seen much t.v and I don't watch the t.v programmes vert much of whichever country I've been in.

I've found it tremendously liberating. I felt I'd been released fom a prison in many ways------suddenly, more time to go out, meet people, read, write and use the internet ; more time for everything in fact !

I was a "television-free" kid until 1953, aged 11, so I was never quite as addicted as some people seem to be. I find when I do visit the U.K., I do watch again but with less and less interest. I think that might be because the quality in general has got worse but also because I've now " broken the spell ". At any rate, it's a great relief !

We have 3 TV's in the house. The monitor I am looking at can be made into one. I also have cable but have watched one TV programme in the last 3 months. There are much more interesting things to do.

What does TV mean to you? Would you say that you depended on it? In the years gone by people didn't have such luxuries and had to find other ways to entertain themselves. Could you imagine a life without TV? What would you do to entertain yourself?

It would be radio for me thats what i enjoy half the time.
Football, news, affairs, thats what the english were brought up on.

I do wonder why I subscribe to Sky and then never watch it? I like tv but rarely get time to watch it and it's only when i get into a series that i get my money's worth. Even then if I'm out I don't really record things these days as finding time to watch them is a problem. I prefer to get boxsets and watch like a film in one or two goes..
Doctor Who is my current exception and I'll go into Big Brother mode in two weeks or so when the women are less annoying and screamy.

I don't have a TV. I haven't had one for years.

I couldn't live without the net though.

No TV but I do use a dvd player for movies.

I could do without it with little problem and am doing at the moment as I'm abroad and there is no english TV here at all.

The main reason I don't watch TV is that I refuse to pay a licence for the low quality rubbish that passes for entertainment.
With DVD I don't have that problem as I watch what I wish and when I wish to watch it.

Why do people bother with Sky ?
After all it's just a load of repeats with a bloody big price tag.

What does TV mean to you? Would you say that you depended on it? In the years gone by people didn't have such luxuries and had to find other ways to entertain themselves. Could you imagine a life without TV? What would you do to entertain yourself?

I haven't had it turned on since Sunday evening.

Now life without a pc and the internet, that would be more troubling.

I do wonder why I subscribe to Sky and then never watch it? I like tv but rarely get time to watch it and it's only when i get into a series that i get my money's worth. Even then if I'm out I don't really record things these days as finding time to watch them is a problem. I prefer to get boxsets and watch like a film in one or two goes..
Doctor Who is my current exception and I'll go into Big Brother mode in two weeks or so when the women are less annoying and screamy.

Thats what sky+ or tvDrive is for.
You schedule a series to record. You watch it when you like, you forward through the adverts and you pause it to get a cup of tea. And if you wait a few weeks you can watch several episodes in a row.
I rarely turn the tv on to see what is on, I turn it on to watch something i've recorded, at a time of my choosing, and then turn it off again.
I probably average about 5 hours of tv time a week.