[burtonridr]

I have heard at least 1 person say they plan to unplug the TV for good once they switch to digital.

Anyone else?

The only thing I feel I must watch each day is the news at night... I am a news junky, even as I type this I'm browsing 3 different media sources open in 3 different tabs.

I feel like the best defense to any doomsday scenario is to be the first to know. I can attribute my strategic repositioning of assets and shifting of personal liabilities to just paying attention to the news. I'm rarely wrong, its so hard to miss the trend when you just pay attention to what is happening.

So should I unplug that old TV and bask in the sweet silence?

[SMA]

I actually have a TV, but I barely watch it at all. Most of want I might want to see is available online anyway.

I mostly keep it for when friends visit, to watch movies and such.

[FoolYap]

We unplugged the TV in 2004.

Well, sort of -- we still watch DVDs, both rented (via Netflix) and purchased.

But we have no "live" television; no cable TV, no dish.

We don't miss it a bit. The few times I've watched clips on YouTube lately, or the times when I've been a captive audience in front of a TV playing broadcast programming, have been jarring, frankly. A real circus.

--Steve

[Twilight]

I last had a TV in 2004 too. I have been more than four years without a TV and don't miss it. Sometimes I hear the popular shows of the day discussed on the radio and have no regrets.

[NeoPeasant]

It's amazing how your compulsion to buy stuff fades away when you are no longer being constantly reminded of all the things you are supposed to want.

We unhooked from tv signals years ago. We keep a tv around to watch DVD's and tapes - mostly borrowed from the library. We keep a set of rabbit ears stored away in case some big thing like 9/11 happens.

[jlw61]

TV is worthless and a terrible drain on time, and it always has been. As far as most news is concerned, I can get it online faster than on TV. Only the "spectacular" news get's reported quickly and that seldom means anything to my preps (I don't care about AJ's or Brad's twins).

That said, we do have the most basic cable which allows my wife to watch her two soap operas (her only real TV vice) and in case we do want to watch something live (like election night or it's a really cold / rainy day). Mostly we watch DVDs.

[hippiema1]

While I've lived without TV for 41 years and my husband has done without for almost twenty years, we do actually own a tv--which we store in the closet for his parents who say they cannot go without one.

We're also planning to watch some of the olympics, the political conventions, and election coverage--and then out the tv set goes.

Living without TV (with only occasional exceptions) has been wonderful. It gives me SO much more time to be chained to this computer screen...

[burtonridr]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hippiema1', '
')Living without TV (with only occasional exceptions) has been wonderful. It gives me SO much more time to be chained to this computer screen...

[kpeavey]

I bought this house in 2002. there are no local channels. I won't spend my hard earned money to pay for cable. Waste of time as it is.
for news, the internet offers far more with as much detail as you desire.
for motion pictures I have a dvd player as well as this computer. I like a movie now and then. Youtube has an endless volume of material, and whatever you want to watch is on right now, and you can rewind it.

I own 3 TVs. wait, make that 4. I only use the little color unit in the bedroom for movies. The others I use to set things on top of.

I recommend dumping the idiot box. It will be a shock for the first month, going cold turkey and all that. It is a change in lifestyle to be sure. You save money, find all kinds of time. You will have to give it up eventually. Better to do it under circumstances you can control.

[ONeil]

I used to be a news junkie too. I'd watch the cbc then cnn and then see what the bbc had to say about the day. Once I found PO I realized that my previous assumption (as long as you check a few sources you should get a well rounded picture of what is going on) was wrong. My tv watching has dropped to zero. Unless it's a really good movie I just can't sit there for that amount of time watching a tube.

It's strange, once you stop watching television you become aware of much more. I've found that people who are aware of world issues and will talk about them will rarely watch television compared to the average Joe.

The media blacked out Peak oil. The media suppressed Ron Paul even though he had incredible grass roots support. The media is suppressing 911 truth. www.Ottawa911truth.com has taken this one step further. They are posting 8.5x11 flyers to utility poles with a very simple message:

"Turn off your TV, it lies to you."

[hope_full]

After my divorce in 2002, I went without a TV in the house for four years. I loved it. When I first started watching Television again after this four-year fast, I was shocked by the violence. It is, as another poster said, quite jarring.

And then I remarried and now we own a wide-screen TV but I go weeks without watching it. I have begged and pleaded with hubby to cancel the $100 a month cable bill (internet and TV) but he says NO. I think it's a massive waste of money.

If i lived alone, I'd ditch the TV, the cable and the whole enchilada in a heart beat. I can watch DVDs on my laptop but lately, I don't even have any interest in main-stream movies. Maybe it's my age but I find most movies unspeakably dull and/or foolish and/or too violent for my delicate sensibilities.

[burtonridr]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hope_full', '
')And then I remarried and now we own a wide-screen TV but I go weeks without watching it. I have begged and pleaded with hubby to cancel the $100 a month cable bill (internet and TV) but he says NO. I think it's a massive waste of money.

[DomusAlbion]

When we moved to our farm we took the decision that TV was one of the first things we would eliminate on our way to a Post Petroleum world. We've been without it for three years now and neither of us miss it in the least. We've acquired an extensive DVD library of good movies and documentaries and we have a subscription to NetFlix. As is we may watch about an hour of programming a day, often less.

Over the last decade I've had the growing feeling that commercial TV is actually an evil force in our society; not the shows themselves so much, but the constant propaganda from advertisers and "supposed" news programs.

[smallpoxgirl]

I haven't had a TV since 2000. It's such a time sink having one around. Now I waste too much time on the computer, but ohh well. I watch DVD's on my computer and I did watch the Jericho via streaming.

[catbox]

My MacBook pretty much replaced my TV. But we do let the kid watch 1 hour a day of PBS or a DVD in our collection. An occasional Simpsons sit down for the whole family happens now and then.
Since we're not TV junkies, I see no reason to dump the tube.

I always see the Kill Your Television stickers on cars....I am far more ready to kill our car than the television!


catbox

[SMA]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'I') haven't had a TV since 2000. It's such a time sink having one around. Now I waste too much time on the computer, but ohh well. I watch DVD's on my computer and I did watch the Jericho via streaming.

[vision-master]

Just ordered these today for the Big Screen.

Sennheiser HD600 Over-Ear Open Dynamic Hi-Fi Professional Stereo Headphones

[coyote]

I dropped the remote and broke it about a year and a half ago - haven't watched TV since!

The exception was when the fires roared through here last summer...

My mom got rid of our TV when I was quite young, and we grew up without one. I'm glad, now I don't miss it at all, while a lot of people can't seem to imagine doing without!

She also went health nut and organic in the 70s. She was ahead of her time.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DomusAlbion', 'O')ver the last decade I've had the growing feeling that commercial TV is actually an evil force in our society; not the shows themselves so much, but the constant propaganda from advertisers and "supposed" news programs.

[lowem]

Let me see :

1. Cancelled cable TV over 5 or 6 years ago, never looked back.

2. Bought a DVI-to-HDMI connector some time last year.

3. My LCD TV is now mostly just a monitor for watching DVD movies, and HD content from the PC. The TV tuner is now mostly for the benefit of my mother-in-law who visits now and then.

Yep, watching TV is for old people.

The young watch Youtube nowadays, anyway.