What age did you stop watching TV?

by **entropyfails** » Sat 02 Apr 2005, 22:55:55

How old did you get before you realized that the TV wasted your time?

Just curious.

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EntropyFails

by **RockHind** » Sat 02 Apr 2005, 23:24:35

Five to ten years from now when the grid goes down, and my solar panels only allow brief short wave communications.

by **UIUCstudent01** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 00:19:23

I choose 15-20, but yet I still do watch T.V. for the Daily Show, C-Span, the occasional History/Discovery/Forensics show, and reminders of disinformation and propaganda. Also, since I'm a big user of the internet, I also have downloaded and watched all the Stargate episodes for the season as well as some anime.

So, to clarify, I've stopped watching all the crap on T.V. (except where I watch it purposely and become amazed at how much press certain stories get.. and how little others get..).

For the most part, I see conservative news sites and blogs focus on the stories that the mainstream press covers (ones that seem... empty e.g. Michael Jackson, Shiavo, others) while liberals/progressives seem to cover the more important world-wide stories (the ones that have an indirect effect on your life, PO, Iraq situations, government infringement of liberties, criticisms on our economy).

Compared to my T.V. watching days of when I was 12, this is a HUGE improvement.

People who never watch T.V. are usually not that interesting. People who always watch T.V. are usually not that interesting. Therefore, I think the proper mix is the best. And this involves picking the shows you watch, totally turning it off is a bit foolish. Just my two cents

by **0mar** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 02:19:04

When I went off for my undergraduate work, I never had cable and basic TV sucked, so I basically went cold turkey.

When I came to Davis for my graduate work, I decided to get cable. Most of the crap on TV sucks hard, but there are a few good shows. My favorite right now is Battlestar Galactica. I also enjoy the documentaries on the History channel or Discovery.

by **entropyfails** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 04:41:44

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('UIUCstudent01', '
')People who never watch T.V. are usually not that interesting. People who always watch T.V. are usually not that interesting. Therefore, I think the proper mix is the best. And this involves picking the shows you watch, totally turning it off is a bit foolish. Just my two cents

by **tokyo_to_motueka** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 08:23:06

when my little boy started going to a Rudolph Steiner kindergarten, my wife put the tv in a cupboard. i used to get it out to watch football (soccer) matches, but i have given that up too.

when i do watch tv at other people's houses it generally makes me cringe, and i wonder how the other people in the room can stand to watch such crap. there are some good programs, but at the moment missing out is not a worry for me.

cars and tv, the two icons of the last 50 years. but no, we CAN live without them. :roll:

by **lowem** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 11:32:08

The TV in my living room mostly acts as a monitor for my standalone DVD/XVID player and my PC's TV-out signal.

I don't even know what are the shows that are on nowadays. I don't know, and don't want to know, what the latest ads are about.

But yes, I do get my regular dose of anime fansubs from torrents. Does that count as, umm, watching TV in Japan? But with the added benefit of English subtitles, heh. :lol:

by **born2respawn** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 13:56:27

I stopped watching much TV when I got 'net access, then I spent a year at uni watching an awful lot of TV, came home and got broadband. Hardly watch any TV at all, 'though I tend to watch the news when I'm eating in the evening.

TV over here seems to be a lot better than US TV is, at least going on everyone's comments.

by **DriveElectric** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 13:58:14

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('UIUCstudent01', ' ') Also, since I'm a big user of the internet, I also have downloaded and watched all the Stargate episodes for the season as well as some anime.

by **Licho** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 14:15:35

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') choose 15-20, but yet I still do watch T.V. for the Daily Show, C-Span, the occasional History/Discovery/Forensics show, and reminders of disinformation and propaganda. Also, since I'm a big user of the internet, I also have downloaded and watched all the Stargate episodes for the season as well as some anime.

by **lotrfan55345** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 18:18:12

I only watch TV around 30mins a day. I could quit if I wanted to, i dont thinks its habitual.

I get all my TV eps online though... does that count?

Apparantly: Yes

I watch around 2-3 eps every week, so I guess it really doesn't make THAT much of a difference.

I also have a TV tuner on my computer, so yeah.

by **entropyfails** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 19:54:24

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Licho', '
')If you are downloading series from internet, I think we should still count this as TV watching.. and yes, Futurama, Stargate, Babylon 5, Red Dwarf, Battlestar Galactica from internet, I count them too :-)

by **uNkNowN ElEmEnt** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 22:23:06

I quit when I was 16, coincidentally the same age when I quit smoking pot. I wonder if there is a corelation between the two... :lol:

by **PenultimateManStanding** » Sun 03 Apr 2005, 23:27:40

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'I') quit when I was 16, coincidentally the same age when I quit smoking pot. I wonder if there is a corelation between the two... :lol:

by **wzx** » Mon 04 Apr 2005, 01:13:57

I stopped watching TV in my early 20s when I read an article that the average American would have spent 10-15 years of his life in front of the TV. That did it and I turned to reading & finding out more about history & how the world works. only time when I watch TV is in gym. Need distraction while on the treadmill.

by GD » Mon 04 Apr 2005, 06:33:01

I stopped in 2002 so I could spend most of my evenings teaching myself programming (diversify skills â€“ helped keep me in a job!).
I thought â€œIâ€™m not missing anything when I miss TV. When I watch TV Iâ€™m missing out on my lifeâ€

by **Free** » Mon 04 Apr 2005, 18:21:55

TV could be such a great medium for learning, instead of all the disinfo crap it is now. I like very much the BBC learning programme, which is shown at night, for example.

But I think there would be so much more potential. Even if just plain university lectures where broadcast. Imagine a daily tv show where it is shown how to build stuff, but in detail, not just the usual overview. With mathematical solutions and all. Normally the programs shy away from complicated details because they think people will switch off then - they think the masses are dumb - so they keep the masses dumb.

History, philosophy, engineering, electronics, IT, chemistry, psychology, medicine.... There is so much to learn! Instead they have all this crap cooking programs on!

by **BabyPeanut** » Mon 04 Apr 2005, 19:04:18

The older I get the less I watch. Now I only watch it when I'm over somebody else's place and it's on.

by **Jake_old** » Tue 05 Apr 2005, 10:37:26

I gave up TV 2 years ago at 28, I have loads more time, I watch some torrents but as has been said they come without commercials.

The downside is, people find they don't know what to talk to me about, 'cause I haven't seen anything other than the new dr who.

I cannot watch it now, I fly into fury about the constant lying by ommision.

by **Trab** » Tue 05 Apr 2005, 11:12:06

I hardly watch TV at all anymore, except for the news, which I watch with the BS filter securely in place. The wife still has her shows, so it's on in the background a lot, which annoys me, to be honest.

I have a small son that has a few shows he watches, thankfully the satellite childrens' channels have very few commercials. I turned on CBS's saturday morning children's lineup and was horrified at the amount of glitzy commercials they were throwing at kids. Gotta make plans to wean the boy off the tube soon.