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Would you go without TV for a week?

I've been without a TV for months. Best thing I've done for ages -- frees up more time for more rewarding pursuits.

I even posted a thread about it....
 
Nice thread, Blue Velvet, just found it.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/102657/

How have you been finding it a few months on? I didn't have a TV for four years when I left home and loved it. I had great flatmates too. Now I live with my fiance, who is also a great flatmate, but he loves the TV. Drives me mental. So i have forced him to give it up for a week. Mwa ha ha ha ha.
 
How have I been finding it?

As I said, best thing ever... occasionally, someone at work will say 'Did you see X last night?' I just say No -- I haven't got a TV. That usually stops the conversation right there... :D

And when I do hear a conversation about TV it's usually about the most inane things, like soaps or gameshows. Couldn't care less...
 
I went a year basically without watching TV once -- actually twice, IIRC -- on purpose, to see if I could do it. It *was* an eye-opener in getting me to think about my habits. If the cause behind this were more, I guess I'd do it again. Since I got ReplayTV, I have been very binge/restrict about my viewing habits. I will go a week where I am constantly watching TV when I am home (since there is so much content I like available by virtue of the record filters I've set up ... even if I only had syndicated channels, I would be surprised if I couldn't constantly have TV to watch!). But then I'll ignore it for weeks at a time, or hardly ever watch it. Right now is the latter. I don't think I've watched more than one show in the past three weeks. It keeps recording them, and I even turned it on once or twice to make sure it had a new channel guide, etc, but... :)
 
Yeah, I could. There are so few shows I like to watch...I watch so little of it anyway that going a week would be no big deal.
 
Not unless someone's going to video the Liverpool game against Chealski and the next episode of 24... :D

I try to leave the TV off as long as possible every evening, I get the news later on BBC24, and I'll watch comedy or films if there's something on.

However, my 8 year-old daughter is addicted to Inspector Gadget re-runs on Boomerang, and likes Garfield too, so it's on during the day occasionally.

I still have 4 novels from Christmas that I haven't started yet, finding time is becoming a difficult business.
 
Mine was off for about a year (had no cable and I hated local)

I am back to not watching TV now, but I do have lots of videos that I play on my G5 and G4 in small windows while I am working..
 
I prob spend less than 5hours a week, if that, watching TV. Doesn't bother at all, like Blue said, most of the shows (yes, I'm looking at you reality TV!) are incredibly innane. Just please don't take my DVD's away from me, oh and my local for when the footie is on! :p
 
I'm not one of those people who has to have the TV constantly on as "background," but I do enjoy relaxing in front of the TV with the family at the end of the day. The hardest thing to give up would probably be the Daily Show, which in my view is one of the best TV programs, ever.

I thing if I felt my TV viewing was a problem, I'd try TV turn off week, but give the fact that I only watch an hour or two a day, I won't bother with the week.
 
I love not watching TV. Right now I'm in a kind of high point of watching way more TV than I normally do. Perhaps putting the thing in the closet would be a good idea (not that there's room in the closet).

One of my favorite things about travelling and living abroad is realizing how little TV I'm watching.
 
miloblithe said:
I love not watching TV. Right now I'm in a kind of high point of watching way more TV than I normally do. Perhaps putting the thing in the closet would be a good idea (not that there's room in the closet).

One of my favorite things about travelling and living abroad is realizing how little TV I'm watching.
Click to expand...

If I could spend money every day the way I do when I'm travelling abroad, then I'd have no problem giving up TV!
 
Blue Velvet said:
I've been without a TV for months. Best thing I've done for ages -- frees up more time for more rewarding pursuits.

I even posted a thread about it....
Click to expand...

So you quit watching TV so you'd have more time to post on MacRumors how you have more time since you stopped watching TV? :D
 
I could give up TV with the caveat that I'd still like to be able to go to a bar to watch my NFL games. There are a few other sports that I like having on as background - baseball and tennis primarily. Part of me would really like a plasma TV with a PVR but I watch so seldomly I really don't need it.

The only time I find myself 'glued' to the TV is when there's a major news event; and even then when they start repeating things on every half hour, I turn it off again.

I will say though that ask me to give up my Powerbook and you'd face a fight.
 
wordmunger said:
If I could spend money every day the way I do when I'm travelling abroad, then I'd have no problem giving up TV!
Click to expand...

I spend about as much every day at home as I do travelling. Probably more. Start with rent... That would give me over $35 a day right there. Then there's food, public transportation, and so on.

It's pretty easy to travel on $50-60 a day as long as you avoid the really expensive countries and enjoy walking. The trick is to go on long trips where the cost of the plane fare affords a long trip (say six months).

The difference is, it's hard to have an income during that time. So we're stuck at home with our TVs.
 
I wonder what the response would be if the question was, "Would you go without your computer/internet for a week?". Obviously work related usage would not count.

I for one would struggle.
 
I went without a tv for a couple of weeks while I was moving, but found that I would turn on the radio (npr, news talk, sports talk and music) in its place. When you live alone, I think it is harder to have the house quite.

Like most 14-40 year old males, sports and espn will never allow me to fully go without a tv, but I think I will try this week.
 
miloblithe said:
It's pretty easy to travel on $50-60 a day as long as you avoid the really expensive countries and enjoy walking. The trick is to go on long trips where the cost of the plane fare affords a long trip (say six months).
Click to expand...

That's impressive! Last time I was in Europe I often spent $50-60 per MEAL -- not counting my wife :eek:

I think I could travel cheaply, but I'd have to be out in the wilderness, not in a big city. There, the temptation to spend money is too great. And yes, if I was hiking through the wilderness, I suppose I could do without a TV ;)
 
munkle said:
I wonder what the response would be if the question was, "Would you go without your computer/internet for a week?". Obviously work related usage would not count.

I for one would struggle.
Click to expand...

as would i, but i have gone for two years + without TV now, its not a loss at all to me, because i can get my information from the internet. i could go a week with my computer and the internet, and probably will come the summer, but during the school year its impossible
 
I actually don't watch that much TV. The only time my TV is on is to watch soccer games, play on the gamecube or if some friend is at my place and we rent a movie. Other than that, it is always off.

Oh, I forgot, it is also my alarm clock... it turn on automatically in the morning to wake me up :D
 
I've noticed myself watching less "TV" lately. Mainly because of the rise of those god-awful reality shows. I do have quite a few DVDs that I like to watch every now and again.
 
The thing I always hated about TV was the fact that it dictated my schedule. "Gotta be home at 8PM on Thursday to watch Survivor" etc etc.. Now that I have discovered "Tivo" I do not have that worry and sometimes do go over a week without watching TV at all... That being said I do usually have a marathon session at the end of the week where I watch 10-12 hours straight through (Yes that includes FF through the commercials) but it is programming I want to watch and not the mindless junk that fills the airways these days.
 
I stopped watching TV at the start of the year thanks to Blue Velvet's thread. :)
 
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I stopped watching TV at the start of the year thanks to my TV going bang and smoke coming out of it!

I haven't bothered to replace it - I only really used it to watch the Simpsons.

Life without the computer would be harder - I feel the need to check my emails at least three times a day even when i'm not awaiting any important ones. Although in the summer when I'm not at university I do feel more relaxed and could probably manage a few days without the Mac mini.
 
Macaddicttt said:
So you quit watching TV so you'd have more time to post on MacRumors how you have more time since you stopped watching TV? :D
Click to expand...

True. I did realise the irony of it as I typed the post. :D

Still, believe it or not, I'm not on here as often as some others. Particularly when I'm at work... now where's Lacero? :p
 
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