Slashdot Mirror
National TV Turn Off Week
beforewisdom writes "Next week (April 19th - 25th 2004) is National TV Turn Off Week in the USA. Among the many benefits claimed by tvturnoff.org is that 90% of the people who participate in a TV Turnoff Week successfully reduce the amount of television they watch permanently."
I mailed that link (subscriber) to people at work and some friends. Already the replies have been:
"Great in theory, but there's a new Friends episode on Thursday. [...]"
[group reply to above] "Yeah, great...in theory...."
My sister, who hasn't replied back yet, will undoubtedly mention Trading Spaces or another of those TLC shows. Another friend will complain about missing NASCAR or Monster Garage or whatever...
How the hell can the kids have a hope at reducing viewing, or dumping TV altogether, when the adults around them come up with excuses to not give up the idiot box for just one damn week?
Trolling is a art,
Give it a try - you may never turn back. I stopped watching 2 years ago when my free cable got shut-off. Haven't watched more than 12 hours since. With the TV off you'll find lots of additional free time to indulge in more worthwhile pursuits. TV was the opium of the 80s it's time to kick the habit.
At the risk of being serious... why not? Part of the point is to spend a week doing things other than watching TV, as a learning experience. Coming back the next week and watching twice as much to make up for it might undo some of the good that accomplishes, but you'd still have that week's experience to draw upon.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Among the people I know and work with, it seems that those who spend lots of time on the Internet (or working/gaming on their computers) spend much less time watching TV than they did 10 years ago (pre-mainstream Internet).
Among the people who still see computing/the_Internet as an appliance, are the ones still watching TV, an age group whose average age is increasing as more and more youths leave television to embrace the Internet and Internet-connected devices.
Personally, the only time I watch TV now is the few minutes it takes in the morning to catch the weather on the news.
Coffee, weather, Slashdot.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
So many slashdotters act like everyone should be on some crusade to stop TV. Just because they aren't entertained by TV means nobody else should be.
Forget the 20-100+ hours you spend a week in front of computers (especially if you work with them). The entertainment industry is one of the biggest industries in the US (if not the biggest). People get bored, and people want something to do. So what if their little TV shows give them something to look forward to in the evening or on a Saturday afternoon? Is that any worse than the obsession of reading internet news sites?
Quit acting like you need to help people cope with their addiction to television. Ironically people who use this argument are often recreational illegal drug smokers. It's all about entertainment folks, don't judge people for the kind they like best.
If /. was somehow TV-based (I'm stretching, just follow), I would be on a lot more. Better for your mind you say? We can debate that, on /. of course.
Some people like Friends. I sometimes take a moment to wonder why. Of course, I'm sure they've been wondering what the hell I'm doing reading this website about "news for nerds" all the time. To each his own.
What's important is that you make the choice, not the companies that run television and that you make the right choice (i.e. don't give up more important things for TV like kids).
This whole campaign rests on the assumption that there is something bad or wrong with watching a lot of TV. I say that watching as much TV as you want is perfectly fine.
You're missing the point.
The point of National TV Turn Off week is to break the behavoir pattern where all you do when you come home is flop on the couch and turn on the TV for the entire evening and watch whatever happens to be on. Pure escapism, especially if you're not addressing other pressing needs. Some escapism is okay, probably even healthy, but too much avoiding of issues just leaves problems to fester and make things worse down the road.
Then there are the people who schedule their lives around shows, making themselves slaves of the TV schedule. Remember the slogans "must-see TV" and the like?
Same old story as a bunch of other vices. Moderation is okay, addiction isn't. But a lot of people live in denial about their addictions and trying to go cold-turkey for a weeks is a good way to determine whether you're in control or your addiction is in control.
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
I will leave you with a quote from Howard Beale, an overstressed news anchor turned mad street prophet, from the movie "Network":
Network is simply one of the best movies ever made about TV and the News. I highly recommend it. Despite 70s dress and equipment, it manages not to be dated. All the issues it deals with are still relevant, from how sensationalism taints objectivity and values to how quickly idealists can sell-out when given the opportunity.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
It's true what you say about not living in quite the same world as others around you. There are many cultural references which have their basis in TV shows and commercials, and people act strangely when I mention I have no idea what they are talking about. And I occasionally miss out on such gems as the (Honda?) commercial with the Rube Goldberg setup with all the auto parts :)
For news I've relied on the 'net--and the fact that I can get viewpoints from journalists outside the US very easily. What is fascinating is not so much the different spin put on world events from different parts of the world (everybody has spin), but rather what gets reported and what doesn't, or how long international events stay in the collective attention span of a region. From the attention given in America, you'd think the recent bombing in Spain or the Bali bombing never happened. When 9/11 happened they put CNN on 24x7 on a wall-sized display in our office cafeteria for a week. (Okay, different magnitude of events but the horror is the same.)
I travel a lot internationally for business, and I do occasionally turn on the TV set in the hotel room. Commercials the world over are hilarious, and frightening. Television advertising is a multi-billion industry subject to the same market efficiencies as everything else--only the most effective advertising techniques tend to survive in the long run. So what you see in TV commercials is the way it is because it works--a scary commentary on our collective psyche.
I've even turned off the radio, for the most part. Between the blandness of the FM dial and the hysterical pomp of AM talk radio, there just isn't anything worth listening to anymore. Try turning on a shortwave radio and tuning in to English language broadcasts to witness the vast variety "world band" radio has to offer. Yeah, there are still nutcases, but you also hear about a lot of things we never hear about in our cozy suburban comfort zone.
Babies are cute because they have to be.