Turn off your TV forever - Save Money???

OldCorpse

OldCorpse

macrumors 68000
Via Lifehacker:

http://lifehacker.com/software/tv/save-money-by-turning-off-the-tv-+-forever-250980.php

So the idea is that if you turn off the TV, you save $60 a month or $720 a year and thousands over a lifetime - enough to fund a college education for your kids.

Plus of course all the other supposed benefits, like saving money by not watching ads that make you buy stuff, going out and getting in shape, starting a second business, reading more, spending more time with your loved ones etc.

Interesting discussion follows in the link.

I don't know. I threw out my TV back in 2002, and haven't looked back. I watch Netflix DVDs through my iBook on my 21" LCD monitor. I definitely don't miss it. But do I feel superior? No. Did I save money? No - I just spent it on other useless junk, not to mention my cable internet connection. Did I save time? Absolutely not - I waste more time on the internet than I ever wasted on TV.

Not watching TV has brought no "objective" benefits to my life, and I don't feel superior to those who watch TV. Sure, when I waste time on the internet I do it a bit more actively, since I seek out everything that interests me, but I'm sure TV watchers say the same thing, especially if they have TiVo.

What's your take? I say down with the "no TV Nazis" - and that's coming from someone who hasn't watched TV since 2002. If you use your "no watching TV" time really well, maybe you are benefitting by giving up TV, but I say most (me included) don't use their time better as a result of not watching TV, they just "waste" it differently.
 
My lecturer had that going on. He didn't have a TV in his house, I thought that was kind of bizarre but I met other people who did the same thing.

Personally when I get my own place I don't think I'll get a TV. I watch about 2 hours of TV a week. I doubt I'd bother paying for a license and spending money on a big TV for 2 little hours.

I'll settle down with a monitor with component inputs, buy a Wii and be happy.

Super late edit: the only shows I watch regularly are Doctor Who, Life on Mars (deceased), Robin Hood and Casualty. Even then everything other than Casualty is on for a fraction of the year. Oh, and LOST.
 
raggedjimmi said:
My lecturer had that going on. He didn't have a TV in his house, I thought that was kind of bizarre but I met other people who did the same thing.

Personally when I get my own place I don't think I'll get a TV. I watch about 2 hours of TV a week. I doubt I'd bother paying for a license and spending money on a big TV for 2 little hours.

I'll settle down with a monitor with component inputs, buy a Wii and be happy.
Click to expand...

i'm very close to not having a TV, the only reasons i have one are for my gamecube and movies. and i will probably just buy a Monitor with a ton of hookups to replace it when i move
 
I got rid of my TV because my iMac is bigger--and with EyeTV and Apple Remote, simpler too :)

I never watched MUCH TV because most TV is just really badly done. I'l always enjoy the few that standout though. (Until they are canceled of course.)
 
Perhaps I'm a stereotypical American, but I couldn't live without my TV and the eleventy billion cable channels I have :D
 
Get me House M.D. on iTunes and I'm set!

That about all I watch on my cable regularly, and 24(sometime Family Guy, The Simspons and American Dad, but I could live with buying the on iTunes/DVD)...as for getting rid of the TV(the unit itself), no thanks I play vidoe games on it and I use my :apple: TV for it!
 
When I lived in houses with TV's, I never watched that much. I actually find that without a TV, but with a 24" monitor and a Blockbuster online subscription I watch a lot more movies and TV than I ever did before. Hmm... maybe I should cancel that subscription!
 
When HDTV came around last year, I started watching more tv. Now though, I don't think of the TVs in our house TVs but as HD Monitors with PS3 and macbook pro hooked up to them.

No cable since I was born. Only had cable because college dorms come with cable and even that I still have to to use the OTA HDTV to watch NBA in HD.
 
I don't watch TV too much either, but I wouldn't get rid of it.

I'll sometimes go weeks without watching TV, but I do need my "fix" every now and then.:rolleyes:

Plus, you know, video games.:)
 
Great if people don't want any TVs at all, nothing wrong with that. I couldn't do that, it would be far too quiet and boring! I only subscribe to basic cable so I just watch a few programs a week. But mostly I have it for watching DVDs, video games, and on occasion use the digital music channels (with the TV off and just the digital speakers on).
 
I am embarrassed to admit how many TV's I own. They just ..accumulated. The fact is, I seldom watch them. If I want to be visually entertained, I will almost always watch a DVD movie. I have lost interest in broadcast programming and sports. I do not trust network news and dislike being exploited by advertisers. What is now termed, 'reality TV' (which is anything BUT reality to me), I find to be the stupidest thing since Fox News (not news of course). That does not leave much to like. I will go for days without turning the TV on.

Mind, this is just a personal choice, preference actually. How people want to entertain themselves is their own affair (within the rules, of course).
 
I don't watch TV anymore. Most of the time I borrowed/buy movies or series and watched it through my computer. Anyway, there's nothing good anymore on TV now from where I lived.
 
I really only have it as background noise-- if I'm on my iMac, and I'm not doing video editing, I'll go crazy if iTunes or my TV is on.

As for shows I legitimately watch, I really only watch Scrubs (new shows and the reruns), Craig Ferguson, and that's about it. I once watched a lot of MTV, but that just gets boring, and YouTube is now the new MTV in this generation.

I'm glad I grew up with a TV actually-- I know someone who was raised without a TV and junk food, and she watches TV at every chance she gets and will eat a lot of junk food. It's good to know how to manage things like television at a young age before it really bites you.
 
Mine went around '98. Although I watched very little even then. The only thing I see with any regularity is bike racing round a mates.
 
Lower food and drink bills, slimmer waist, fewer trips for new big boy clothes, the couch doesn't wear out as quick.

Fewer eyes for the advertisements, fewer people buying services from others because they find out that they can actually do something for themselves.

Then the consumer-based US economy collapses, increasing the unemployment rate.

Plunging the US into chaos. :eek:

Edit: Remember we do not have a consumer-based economy, but a couch potato-based economy.
 
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