Could you live without television?

[Eira ClaptonParticipant]

I have been running a campaign to persuade DH and DD (now and adult but still at home) that we don’t need a TV.

1. You can get a network card for the computer and watch things at your leisure

2. You can get more done -I read somewhere the average 4 hours a day translates into an extra 30 days per year of reading, quilting, whatever.

3. You gain an extra room in your house- or at least we would! We have one of those 1970s houses where they offered a small TV room as well as a formal lounge room. We only go in there to watch TV. It could be an office or a craft room!

4. TV is (if you watch the commercials) a giant indoor billboard which wants to persuade you that you need STUFF. If you don’t see the ads, you don’t know you are missing anything unless you identify a real need!

I am not really winning this argument, but at least we are thinking about it. Could you live without television? Are you living without it?

[froot_loopzMember]

we have 3 tvs in this house. The only time I sit in front of a tv is to watch the cricket or football.

My 16 year old has a tv, but its purely for gaming, it has no tv reception.

My daughter 18 has a tv, she is the only one that watches tv on a regular basis, that is when she is home.

My digital box died in my room and Im not replacing it.

I do spend copious amounts of time, youtubing, when Im not studying or gardening, or working

[threedogsMember]

We still have our TV but we could live without it. Sometimes we go for days at a stretch and never turn it on. If it gets turned on at all it is always at night and usually only to watch a specific program that I have seen on the ABC website or SBS.

We had/have Austar pay tv. But a month ago I realised that it was a complete waste of money and that we were not using it enough to justify the cost…but…the next season of Game of Thrones will be on later this year lol, so I am currently paying $5/month to keep it ‘on hold’. :blush:

I would use the internet to watch more stuff but we do not have access to good speeds or data packages so that’s not an option. :angry:

[earthwalkerParticipant]

Probably not. I like to watch a little TV whilst I hand-quilt in the evening. I mostly watch SBS, ABC….stuff like Gardening Australia and I do confess I am a bit of a tragic when it comes to English series (Whitechapel etc.). My husband’s father built TV’s in the early days in Europe and had a small TV/Radio station, so going without this technology is not an option for him. We each have a computer in our joint studio/workroom, so if there’s nothing on “the box” we keep up with youtube and forums. We did cancel our Foxtel subscription when the kids left home, it was getting really expensive and we decided it was either Foxtel or the internet, but not both…..needless to say the ‘net won.

[ClaireCMember]

I have a tv but only watch movies or series I have downloaded on it. I am lucky if I switch it on twice a week, but I think I would miss it if it were not there for the odd film although I could definitely manage if I had a computer with a big screen instead of a laptop. I used to watch a lot more TV and find I am so much more productive without it!

[RommieMember]

We have two – the big TV in the living room and the 25-year-old dinky CRT in the back room. Either one is hardly used for broadcast TV, other than the odd show on ABC or SBS (nothing on the commercial channels is worth bothering with nowadays IMO). The big TV is mostly used for DVDs. Plus we have connectors and software in our laptops/PCs that allow us to hook them into a coaxial point and watch TV through them.

Subscription TV is hardly worth it either – neither of us watch enough TV to justify it and it’s full of nearly as many ads as commercial TV!

[mudhenMember]

I would love to go TV free, but my hubby and daughter don’t think they’d cope, or are not willing to try! My boys barely watch tv, they download and watch things on phones or laptops. I was very surprised though, that Foxtel has so many ads! We were on holidays recently and the motels had Foxtel and I wasn’t sure it really was Foxtel as there were heaps of ads – at least as many as commercial TV. How do they justify the extreme price Aussies are asked to pay when they are double dipping like that?

[SnagsMember]

I like gardening and cooking shows, docos,political shows mainly SBS and ABC and the footy

I watch a few movies a week that I record.

I watch them when I have time not when the TV station wants me to watch them.

I skip the adds if they are there.

I also have WDTV live that connects my pooter to the TV.

So no I like TV more than I like reading books and I get enough done when I have to.

I do have lots of Audio books that I listen too when driving or painting.

so I dont think Im missing out.

[pavbenthMember]

Absolutely. In fact, when I move out to the Murraylands I have no intention of buying one.

[Eira ClaptonParticipant]

It is interesting the variety of responses to this one!

[HummerKeymaster]

I could easily do without a TV. I rarely watch it, in fact when I am home alone it goes for days without being switched on.

Hard to convince the kids to switch it off though …

[lavmanMember]

I have lived without television since 1975.

:clap:

When we first moved on to our block in 99, we never bothered putting up the aerial, that lasted five years and we got so much done without distractions, I must say that in the five years the language used on telly had got a lot worse, we couldn’t believe how rough it had got in just five years.

Last year we made the decision to do away with tv for a while and see how we go, so

we didn’t bother upgrading our sat dish (and the box) when it changed to digital so we haven’t watched tv for 2 months now and don’t miss it at all.

[gypsyoakMember]

we don’t have a tv. We have a computer so we can either download movies or watch catch up tv online. If dh gets desperate in formula one season, he rigs up the aerial (complete with wire coat hanger outside) and hooks up the computer screen. We haven’t had one for years.

[katefishMember]

No TV here and kids grew up without TV :ohmy:

They are 22 & 19 now and happy we did it that way – despite some whinging when they were younger.

We played lots of games – cards, board games and made stuff. We had fun and talked a lot. When I go back home to the UK the TVs are on from dawn til bed time sometimes in a few rooms simultaneously-such a conversation killer. The racket drives me a bit barmy.

[AndreKeymaster]

I grew up with a TV .. but now I tend to watch the ABC News only.

I do admit to using it to watch dvds though, regularly.

Otherwise, the other members of the family tend to watch sport… yuck

:whistle:

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