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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,
...is it being televised?
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
According to this previous slashdot article, we are watching less TV anyway. Especially now that the summer is getting close, TV viewing will drop even more. I guess soon enough somebody will start a National turn off the Internet Surfing week. I could turn off the TV a lot easier than staying off the web.
--
Retail Retreat
I don't watch nearly the amount of TV that everyone else seems to. When I moved to Minnesota in November of 2002 I didn't get cable. Comcast gets enough of my money being that they are the only broadband ISP that is economically feasible... Without watching TV for 80% of my daily free time I have found that:
1. I enjoy the outside more than ever. I even have become accustomed to Minnesota winters and don't really mind when it is -10 or warmer.
2. I have a lot more free time to keep my apartment clean, cook better and more interesting dinners, and enjoy the company of REAL PEOPLE. Remember, Fahrenheit 451 is getting closer and closer every day with the advent of more and more time/brain sucking material on the TV.
3. I have found a lot of other interests that I normally wouldn't have. Currently those include reading, geocaching, and drinking. I think I get more out of those activities than listening to terrible singers make terrible renditions of terrible songs.
4. I have $50/month more to spend on other things that I enjoy to do (i.e. food, drinking, girlfriend, etc).
5. The knowledge that I am not wasting away, in my apartment, for five hours a night being fed with push content by large conglomerates that have only the size of their pockets to worry about.
As I have mentioned before, my favorite part of TV is that the government has mandated (with our tax dollars) HDTV to be used. Forcing it to be placed into sets in the future so that we can all double pay for it. Now they realize that we are all fat because we sit on our dead, dying, asses and watch TV. So get out and do something but make sure you pay more taxes to support better TV signals!
I am looking forward to advocating that others I know do this. Perhaps, if we try, we can get rid of the Reality TV non-sense and promote a healthier lifestyle (physically, mentally, and socially). It's unlikely but at least we can try.
if I just Tivo everything this week and watch it all next week?
Does this include watching episodes of the Simpsons I downloaded off BitTorrent?
But I think what most slashdoters (Including myself) need is a turn off cumputer week...
And 100% successfully reduce the amount of tv they watch that week.
:)
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
Do I have to stop tivoing too? It' would be more like "national watch it next week" ... week.
I'd probably get more done if I had a turn-off slashdot week.
-- Mein Systemadminstrator hat einen großen schwarzen Moustache.
I did and started saving $80 dollars a month in cable bills too. Didn't miss it a bit, thanks to Netflix.
Then about 8 months ago I moved in with my girl and now we have a Tivo-like cable box, now I still watch very little TV but I watch what I want, when I want. Very liberating and very cool. By the way, HBO and Cinemax On-Demand kick ass, if you know what I mean.
The organizers are obviously not hockey fans!
The More Reading, Less TV (MRLTV) classroom program motivates school children to put down their remote controls and pick up books.
In other words, stop watching Discovery Channel, read a Hustler instead.
This sounds like another correlation vs. causality fallacy: is it not at least as likely that those who are willing to turn off their TV sets for a week are likely to be those who have already gotten sick of TV? Why the addiction implication?
[ home ]
In any case I tend to play video games more than I watch TV on my TV. I also watch a lot of anime DVDs. When I do watch TV I generally watch channels like Discovery, TLC, HGTV, History Channel, Animal Planet & Discovery Health. There's just not enough stuff worth watching on TV to justify being a couch potato, at least IMHO.
Just get rid of the TV. I've been TV-less for a few years now, and I really don't miss it. I get all my news on-line, I can watch DVDs on my fairly-large computer screen, and all the quality TV series come out on DVD these days, so for those (very few) shows I can pick them up too. Who needs a TV?
Laugh at stupidity: mod idiots +1 Funny.
It just means that the load on slashdot will be higher than average for that week.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
I can turn off the TV whenenver I want.
Maybe later...
But what will we do when an annoying family member tries to talk to us?
Vote for new mod!!! Score:-2,Imbecile
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.
Wooohooo!!!!!
More TV for me!!!
TowerDave
Been without a TV since 87. If it's worth watching, :-)
it's worth getting up and going somehere else.
One less excuse for not communicating.
Less marketing drivel in the home.
Mind not put on standby.
Kids actually have to use their minds (or find
other ways to avoid it) when they play.
You really don't miss important news...
"I learn everything I need to know about the
world in slashdot..."
They picked a lousy week to try to go without TV. It's the playoffs.
I don't watch TV other than that anyway....
It's not just entertainment that you'll be missing out on if you participate in thie 'Blackout'. Lots of news, current events, sports, and informational programs will be lost due to this turnoff. Do these organizers realize that? Yes, you can read newspapers to get by, but having moving pictures in your home is one of the greatest inventions of all time. Why would you want to abstain from it for some enlightend purpose?
These people just need to get a life. It's just like that don't-buy-anything blackout. Some people don't like the choices others make, and try to bust your chops to be like them.
Slashdot Moderation: From positive to terrible in 2 "insightful" posts.
I love how everyone automatically assumes everything on TV is garbage. Like any other art form, there's good stuff and bad. Example: I read Tom Clancy and John Grisham novels, but I know they aren't going to go down in history as timeless classics in the way that, say, Shakespeare's plays did. But, oh no, I'm reading and therefore it must be better than watching TV.
It's not black-and-white, so to speak. :)
--RJ
I got a 36" Sony XBR and a Tivo and got sucked in. Sopranos, HBO boxing on Saturday nights, started watching the NHL playoffs (last year). I knew it was bad. I knew I was going down the "joe six-pack" road. Started laying off the bike and gym to play a little Xbox and watch a game. It was keeping me from my SANS studies. I knew I needed a plan.
I saw this article on CNN last year, and went out and got that stuff. Sold the Sony, sold the integrated tuner/Tivo. Hooked it up to a low cost DirecTV tuner only and dish.
I started watching TV in a window on my computer. Slowly, I started backgrounding the window, and would IRC, and then code a little, and then slowly, started using it less and less. The software still gave me the Tivo function, so I could take a break and still FF through commercials.
I highly recommend this approach. Get the fucking big box out of the house. Re-arrange your furniture. Spend the money on a good monitor, 21" or larger, non-plasma. Get the tuner card. Wean yourself off. If you have a family or SO that enjoys "movie night" - do them and yourself a favor. Go to the cinema. Get the hell out of the house.
But I don't even have a TV to turn off you insensitive clods!
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
They want me to miss series 2 of the NHL playoffs? I don't think so... Especially not when my beloved Calgary Flames are doing so well :).
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.
TiVo is your friend here, just like Nicorettes!
Instead of completely shutting off the tube for a week - just don't view anything for a week!
Leave the TiVo to grab those shows you actively choose to watch at a later time of your own choosing rather than the broadcasters'.
Watching less TV will decrease the stress in your life and that anxious feeling that there is never enough time.
Spend time talking to friends and relatives, reading classic books and in-depth analysis of current events, gardening, cooking from raw ingredients, or quiet time walking through natural settings.
You'll feel a lot less like an electrified monkey in a Skinner's box and much more like a human being.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
By Bill Watterson:
...It means Karl Marx hadn't seen anything yet...
Calvin: : It says here, "Religion is the opiate of the masses."...What do you suppose that means?
TV:
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
I found after 1st year university, I watched way less television. I didn't have one in my room (the people who did could only get maybe 1 channel with rabbit ears - no cable). The only way to watch was to go to the TV room on the floor, and we really didn't do that much.
After I moved back home, I just didn't watch that much TV anymore, because I was used to not watching.
Of course, my watching of movies went up dramatically, but what can you do.
Speak before you think
From Erik of oldmanmurray (may it RIP):
"People who don't watch TV love to mention it and never fail to pair that statement with the fact that they read books too. But as long as they're patting themselves on the back for simply not doing something, it seems to me that there are lots of worse things you could be taking credit for not doing. For instance, next time someone decides to lord over you the fact that he doesn't watch TV, go ahead and tell him "Good for you!" Then while everyone around you is reflecting on his massive intellect, up the awful-things-you-don't-do ante by mentioning that you don't rape people and then add that you watch lots of television instead. Not only does that make you a better person - after all what kind of psychotic jerkoff wastes his time not watching TV when he could be busy not commiting violent sex crimes? - but it gives you sort of an air of barely suppressed operatic rage, which makes you more like Batman."
linkified.
I've found that since I got my TIVO my TV watching has declined enormously. I used to plan my schedule so that I'd be home in front of the TV for the three or so shows I liked to watch. Invariably I'd end up watching something before and after "my" shows, and start following those shows as well, even if they weren't that good.
Now with TIVO, TV is not a part of my schedule anymore. I only watch TV for exactly three hours a week, and each of those hours take up 40 minutes real-time (no commercials).
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
This is great. Just think of how much more Everquest I'll be able to play with no TV.
But I still believe that it's gay mariage that is endangering families the most.
Absolutely.
With the law of Conservation of Marriage, there are only a fixed number of marriage licenses available. That's why divorce rates have soared as the population has increased--there just aren't enough stable marriages to go around. Now with homosexual marriages starting in a month in Massachusetts, there will be roving bands of homosexuals roaming the streets forcing people to divorce at gunpoint.
Please Governor Romney, defend my marriage!
The side effect is that I dont live in quite the same world as everyone else, and I am totally not influenced by televised events, so I often do not have the same reaction to things as my co-workers. I never saw the images from 9/11 until weeks afterward. Life was the same for me, before and after, but everyone else around me adopted new postures on life. It was wild. Nothing in their life had changed either, but they went mental. The iraq war did more to change actual life instead of virtual life, becuase some of them have kids over there. Thats reality.
This reality TV, this Trump thing going on - it has precious little impact on me. I know it's going on but I dont watch it, I dont see the ads, the companies paying for that ad time dont get me.
I hate TV becuase I consider it to be a tool of government and corporate control and I dont want to be affected. So I dont have a TV in my house and I dont watch. I live a different life becuase of that and my choice I've made.
On second thought, keep on watching. Watch to your heart's content. The bike paths are already crowded enough, and I shudder to imagine what some of your kind would talk about around the water cooler if it weren't for "Survivor".
What nobody seems to realize is that the world needs mindless drones--lots and lots of mindless drones. I don't want a deluge of sensible, enlightened, productive non-TV watchers. For one, it'll wreak havoc with my sense of superiority. What's more, it'll mean that I'll face stiffer competition both in the workplace and in my pastimes as more and more people wake up and become thoughtful, productive individuals. What, you think I want more competition for that promotion?
If you stop watching TV, you won't be able to roll your eyes at me and my freakish, elitist, hippie lifestyle. Similarly, I'll be unable to fire off snide insults about your sedentary, mindless lifestyle. Why ruin the fun for both of us?
I encourage you to watch as much TV as you want, and to share that time in front of the tube with your children, as well. You'll be happier, I'll be happier, and everything will work out wonderfully.
Hugs 'n' kisses, AAiP
(hint: tongu_ in ch__k. Buy a vowel...)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
(like the entire Dune series, including prequels) - Now, I'm sucked back in watching reality TV ... bah .
Tonight on the Arrakis Broadcasting Company (ABC): "The Kwisach Haderach". 220,000 originally applied, but tonight only one will by chosen by Trump-Gesserit as the Kwisach Haderach. Tune in and spice up your life!
Over on Tech TV, yet another panel discussion about how Tech TV will survive once the Butlerian Jihad reaches its completion. Quote from Leo LaPorte: "A Vic-20 does not count as a thinking machine, does it?"
Over on the other network, there is Fear Factor. Yet another worm-swallowing episode. I doubt the typical outcome with the worm swallowing all the contestants in one gulp will ever be altered.
Also, on CBS (Caladan Broadcasting System), there is "Survivor". Find out who survives when the royal family is dumped on a harsh desert planet.
On CNN, an interview concerning the ongoing search for Shaddam IV's weapons of mass destruction.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Instead of watching a little TV, you're now spending more time and money on the Internet, drinking, and women.
Sounds like you've got the solution everyone's been looking for. "Be exactly like me or you're stupid!"
By the way, HDTV is not mandated by the government. You're confused with Digital TV (DTV). The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standard will now be used instead of the National Television System Committee (NTSC). This really has little (if anything) to do with pricing. If you want it high-definition, then you can fork out the money.
In the third week of januaray 2004, it's reported that there is an unusual increase in % child birth...
... turning off your TV?
I cancelled my TV subscription when I moved house about 4 years ago, and have resisted getting a TV in ouir new home. My wife took about 3 months to adapt, but survived. I rediscovered my evenings.
TV is very close to a drug. I guess it provides many people with a virtual social exposure with no interaction: sitting still, getting bombarded with faces and voices is kind of bizarre when you think of it. Since program makers can't increase the amount consumed (limited hours in a day), they increase the dose by making TV ever more intense.
Turning of my TV was hard, very much like stopping drinking coffee or alcohol, but worthwhile for me.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
While I don't claim to be "holier-than-thou" I'm a former TV addict who stopped watching TV when I had kids. I just didn't have time anymore. (As evidence to how bad my addiction was, I even watched Relic Hunter!!!!)
Let's scratch a little deeper to see how much TV I actually watch now: Monday: Nothing. Tuesday: Nothing. Wednesday: Nothing. Thursday: Nothing. Friday: Nothing. Saturday: Nothing. Sunday: Nothing.
How much deeper do you want me to go?!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
I don't think that the idea behind this is to stop adults from watching TV for a week. Adults should already be aware that there is more to life than TV and if they arent, that's just sad. I honestly think it's too late for the current generation of adults. Sure, it may help to change a few people's minds, but I dont think it will have a tremendous effect.
I beleive the main idea of TV Turn Off Week is to get the next generation, the kids in elemntary and middle school to pry their eyes away from the television and read or play outside or do something that requires thought. I'm a Freshman in High School and am absolutely astonished as to how many kids in my class watch more than 5 hours of TV a day. That's why I'm teaching elemantary students in my school district about Media Literacy and encouraging them to participate in TV Turn Off Week.
Perhaps if we get children thinking now, we won't have as many apathetic, ignorant burn outs by the time they reach my age.
God is a comedian playing to an audience to afraid to laugh - Voltaire
My TV watching consists of downloading last week's Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle episode using BitTorrent. Apart from that, I have a television, which hasn't been on in weeks because I don't have cable (by choice, not circumstance - my roommates have cable and even spliced it for me, but I'm just not interested in hooking up). I have a VCR and DVD player for when I feel inclined to go out and rent something, but I don't do your general plop-down-and-watch-TV.
Personally, I can't stand it. There are far too many reruns, and the commercials are so insulting to the intelligence that watching them is a painful experience. After a couple of years where I wasted a few hours every day watching TV, I realized what a tremendously dissatisfying experience it really was and decided to cut about 95% of my television viewing out. I can tell you that my stress levels dropped (because I'd just sit quietly and focus on doing one thing instead of trying to accomplish in front of the TV) and my happiness and productivity skyrocketed.
I like the BitTorrent compromise - I get to select the shows I want to watch when I want to watch them (instead of it being up to the discretion of the media), I don't have to suffer commercials, and I pay nothing.
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).
For those that participate and manage to deprive themselves of their precious idiot box programming, let me bring you up to speed on what you'll be missing:
... DID YOU KNOW NORTHERN BATH TISSUE IS THE SOFTEST?
* Soaps: Wife secretly sleeps with husband's brother who's being blackmailed by their chauffer who is actually a
* Talk Shows: All this week: Crack Whore Makeovers on Jenny Jones, plus a special appearance by... AMAZING NEW WEIGHT LOSS PILL!
* Survivor: This week contestants swim through shark-infested waters with dead fish in their mouths; winner receives one sock and... TRY NEW CREST CHEESECAKE-FLAVORED TOOTHPASTE!
* Saturday Night Live: Woman with nice boobs hosts; cast members create skits so they can cop a feel; musical guest... THE NEW NISSAN XTERRA HAS A V8 AND FIVE (YES FIVE) CUPHOLDERS!
* News: War going bad; war going good; one guy says other guy will tax everyone into poor house; some dude in Peoria is suing Wal-Mart for $5B for... ISN'T IT TIME YOU TRIED VIAGRA?
* American Chopper: Paul Sr. continues to abuse Paul Jr.; Mikey explodes after all-night twinkie binge; OCC scapes the bottom of the barrel looking for politically-correct bike themes with their new chopper commemmorating the lawyers who set up the 911 Red Cross fund. Special appearance by... HALLIBURTON.. SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS.
* Monster House: Team of dysfunctional contractors install a 12' bong and jacuzzi filled with Patchoulli in new "Hippie House"; owners are stunned when they peek in and discover... CHEVY, AMERICA'S TRUCK
* Talk Shows: Jay Leno's special guest: Billy Bob Thorton; tonite on Conan: Billy Bob Thorton; tonite on Late Night: Billy Bob Thorton. Check out Billy Bob's new movie about... HIENEKEN BEER - IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BEER
CHAPEL HILL, NC--Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers--as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building.
v ision.html
"I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television," Green told a random woman Monday at the Suds 'N' Duds Laundromat, noticing the establishment's wall-mounted TV. "I don't even own one."
According to Melinda Elkins, a coworker of Green's at The Frame Job, a Chapel Hill picture-frame shop, Green steers the conversation toward television whenever possible, just so he can mention not owning one.
"A few days ago, [store manager] Annette [Haig] was saying her new contacts were bothering her," Elkins said. "The second she said that, I knew Jonathan would pounce. He was like, 'I didn't know you had contacts, Annette. Are your eyes bad? That a shame. I'm really lucky to have almost perfect vision. I'm guessing it's because I don't watch TV. In fact, I don't even own one."
According to Elkins, "idiot box" is Green's favorite derogatory term for television.
"He uses that one a lot," she said. "But he's got other ones, too, like 'boob tube' and 'electronic babysitter.'"
Elkins said Green always makes sure to read the copies of Entertainment Weekly and People lying around the shop's break room, "just so he can point out all the stars and shows he's never heard of."
"Last week, in one of the magazines, there was a picture of Calista Flockhart," Elkins said, "and Jonathan announced, 'I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. Calista who? Am I supposed to have heard of her? I'm sorry, but I haven't.'"
Tony Gerela, who lives in the apartment directly below Green's and occasionally chats with the 37-year-old by the mailboxes, is well aware of his neighbor's disdain for television.
"About a week after I met him, we were talking, and I made some kind of Simpsons reference," Gerela said. "He asked me what I was talking about, and when I told him it was from a TV show, he just went off, saying how the last show he watched was some episode of Cheers, and even then, he could only watch for about two minutes before having to shut it off because it insulted his intelligence so terribly."
Added Gerela: "Once, I made the mistake of saying I saw something on the news, and he started in with, 'Saw the news? I don't know about you, but I read the news."
Green has lived without television since 1989, when his then-girlfriend moved out and took her set with her.
"When Claudia went, the TV went with her," Green said. "But instead of just going out and buying another one--which I certainly could have afforded, that wasn't the issue--I decided to stand up to the glass teat."
"I'm not an elitist," Green said. "It's just that I'd much rather sculpt or write in my journal or read Proust than sit there passively staring at some phosphorescent screen."
"If I need a fix of passive audio-visual stimulation, I'll go to catch a Bergman or Truffaut film down at the university," Green said. "I certainly wouldn't waste my time watching the so-called Learning Channel or, God forbid, any of the mind sewage the major networks pump out."
Continued Green: "People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit--or, shall I say, addiction--eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours. That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television."
Source: http://www.theonion.com/onion3604/doesnt_own_tele
I cant turn it off this week because there is too much hockey to watch! Maybe Im just a hoser, but Hockey Night In Canada is just too important to me!
spend money here
...since it's also National Library Week.
I'm all for turning off the TV, but I think the 90% figure is misleading.
People who participate in this event have probably already decided or at least desired to reduce their television viewing, and are merely using this as a catalyst. They are self-selected: you couldn't expect a 90% success rate with a random group.
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
they are going to take it upon themselves to determine what my value structure should be and make those decisions for me?
Could you have missed the point any further than you did?
The point of National TV Turnoff Week is to provide people (most of who are largely unmotivated) with support through an organized event to reduce TV consumption. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would like to cut back on the number of hours they spend in front of the TV but lack determination to do so.
No one's pressuring you into participating. It's there as an aid if you feel that it would be useful. If not, by all means, disregard it.
I wish no one watched tv because I'm sick of "did you see that Seinfeld episode" as relating to any topic during the day. Friends is also used in that capacity as relating to real life. I'm so sick of hearing about the last year of this show. NBC is trying to pull at people's heart strings and equivacate the ending of the show with a life changing event. It's a fucking sitcom, those aren't real people, and if you're saddened by the end of the show then you need to get a fucking life!
If anything I might have the tv on for the news in the background while I'm doing other things and when I go to bed I put in a dvd to put me to sleep but other than that I don't watch any tv.
I refuse to watch reality tv because if my life is so boring I have to voyeur in on someone else's life I want to take 50 bullets to the head. TV is such a waste of time. Now being on a computer isn't because at least you're using your brain and you can be doing contructive things like downloading mp3's, movies, programs, and tons of pr0n:) Computers are about freedom and free shit!:D
I work all day long as an IT guy and I do other work at home but I go to the gym, race sports atv's, play a lot fo other sports, go camping, and just stay busy. If I get into a game way too much I make myself do other things because real life needs to be concentrated on much more than my "virtual" life. It's about priorities and working towards a constructive life.
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
But but but! I already paid for the NHL hockey package! I've got to find out who wins the Leafs/Senators series! My life depends on it!
I consider watching CBC and TSN broadcasts of hockey games as positive credit towards learning about another culture. Without these broadcasts, I never would have learned about Don Cherry, Tim Horton's, and Canadian Tire.
-sharv
By implying that watching television is an activity that people should strive to avoid
*nods*... I can appreciate that. I'm of the opinion that television watching in moderation is perfectly fine and probably even healthy if it helps you to relax, but for a lot of people, television watching can probably be unhealthy. I look at people like my grandparents, who watch eight hours of TV a day or so and sit around complaining about how miserable their lives are. I'm of the opinion that if they had some sense of accomplishment, they wouldn't be feeling nearly so pessimistic.
I agree that the website takes a decidedly negative anti-TV slant. I find some of their claims questionable and think that using these kinds of tactics to promote their goal isn't particularly encouraging. However, I still find their cause to be noble; for people like my roommates who work jobs they dislike, plop their asses down, and watch TV for seven hours a night until bedtime, I think that having the added motivation to experience something new for a week would broaden their horizons and let them see if alternative activities are worth pursuing.
I have been successfully participating in this 'Week' of no TV for the better part of a year now. With the exceptions of my occasional remembering that on Sat Night, the local PBS plays Red Green / Red Dwarf / Dr Who in a block, I would not have any change in my life if I did not own a TV at all.
I do not watch television outside of the afforementioned three shows, and I'm lucky if I remember once a month. I have never watched "Survivor", I had no idea "Apprentice" ended, nor do I really care what other crap is being shoved at me over airwaves I do not listen to.
I have never seen "The Sopranos", "Seinfeld" or even "Friends". Even when I watched TV, I never watched outside of Cartoon Network/Boomerang or one of the "TLC/Discovery Channel" Use Your Brain channels. Those channels never -once- insulted my intelligence. Yes, Cartoon network used to try and convince me my life was meaningless unless I was breathing Scooby Doo, so I just turned -that- off too.
Am I missing out? No. The only real reason I have a TV anymore, is to connect to my DVD player|PS2|XBox and if I had a decent VGA box for the latter two, I'd not need more than my monitor. (Except I have a 17" monitor and a 29" TV and a better home theater than my computer's audio....) (Yes, I know I can use a vga converter, but I'm a zealot. Ever played a Dreamcast on VGA? Lord love a duck, there's no comparison.)
If I wish to catch up on something that I might have missed, that a co-worker/friend/some-putz-on-irc things I -NEED- to see, oddly enough, there's Torrents and shares of practically any broadcast TV show now these days, if you know where to look.
If you cannot give up something, even for a mere -week- then you are addicted, and should seriously take the time to to a self check on if thats good, or bad.
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.
The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
My wife teaches first grade, and says that the kids have zero imagination. Halfway through one of their stories, she realizes that they are just regurgitating a movie or TV show. When she asks them to use their imagination, they think that are...
One of the students wrote a story about how a new kid moved into the neighborhood named "Legoras".
That's when we decided our kids will have omish toys--big blocky wooden stuff with wheels. Or maybe Legos. If they want to have fun, they'll have to invent it.
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").
"TV-Turnoff Week Works!
According to hundreds of responses to our TV-Turnoff Week follow-up surveys, 90 percent of responding participants reduced their TV-viewing as a result of participating."
Who's going to go to the bother of responding to the survey to say how the whole exercise was a waste of their time? This isn't even an attempt at a scientific poll and should have been reviewed with more scrutiny by the editors.
I gave up tv several years ago.
My Mom, unfortunately, bought me a set for Christmas when I moved into an apartment. I say "unfortunately" because my wife is now addicted to tv, and I can't stand the thing, personally.
After the Army, everything changed for me. I had been there, done that in a very big way. After college, I became aware of how positively assinine the programming was:
Television really doesn't offer me anything anymore.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I stopped watching television entirely from November 2001 until September 2003. I still watch very little, but I'm at college now and have a roommate, and sometimes it's fun to watch it with him.
I guess I would say that by the time I had quit watching tv, I had probably settled into what would have been my "adult" pattern of watching television.
It was especially difficult to give it up for me because I was very badly addicted. I watched tv from when I got home from school until around midnight. I did homework and ate while I sat in front of the tube. I realized this was terrible so I gave it up cold turkey. No exceptions for Simpsons or any other favorite shows.
The act of sitting in front of a tv and grabbing the remote was an automatic motion and it was very strange to keep doing that and then remembering that I don't even watch tv anymore. You're right indeed that it felt very strange for a while. It did feel like that's what I was "supposed to do." Eerie.
Giving it up for a time though very very definately has permanently changed the way I watch TV. I can't watch TV by myself without feeling pathetic(rightfully). The amount of time I spend watching it has been greatly reduced and how engrossed I get in it has changed dramatically. It's so creepy the way that some people can't have any distractions when they watch tv. If I'm watching with my sister and try to make some comment about the show, she'll shush me for distracting her.
The strangest thing is how it was actually difficult to START watching tv. TV is ACTUALLY EXTREMELY STRANGE. This is obvious of course, but why doesn't that bother you? It's disorienting, fragmented, most shows change camera perspectives every few seconds. Commercials are even worse. Everything looks fake, you notice people's makeup, you notice the strange way studio lighting falls on a set, not like a real house or apartment, there are only a few voiceover people that do a lot of commercials, etc etc.
These things I noticed not by watching a lot of tv, but by viewing it with fresh eyes. TV was actually quite creepy when I came back to it. Even creepier is how quickly I'm getting used to it again.
I don't believe it.
What does she do with her life?
I don't read or respond to AC posts
Just make sure your Tivo is on, and then watch twice as much TV the following week...
Oh sure, pick the week to be during hockey playoffs! C'mon... let's turn our TV's off during the world series or something.
... watching TV on plasmas and TFTs? Since they don't form a picture by updating one dot at the time, you would by your idea be less prone to advertisement?
Just like sugar, cigarettes and crack. While you're on it, you think all-in-all everything's ok. Sure, you know it'd be better to stop, but heck you deserve to enjoy yourself and you work too hard to take on another 'project'.
But stop and think about it objectively for a minute. What do you *really* get out of seeing each and every A-Team/Friends/Night Rider/Buffy episode? Doesn't it seem pathetic when you realize most of your cable viewing consists of hours of watching something mildly interesting for 3 minutes, flipping, repeat?
And let me promise you, if you do stop, the world seems like a different place. You'll actually enjoy TV more when you watch it, say, at a hotel. You'll realize how TV more or less recycles the same storylines and junk because after years of not watching, you really won't have missed much.
The strangest thing is that you'll realize how much you are talked down to by commercials and the news. Wonder why people in classic movies talk with sophistication while adults today sound like junior high dropouts of the past? It's because we rise or lower ourselves to our environment, and TV has become in a twisted way our primary interface to reality.
Don't even get me started if you have kids...unless you want them to turn out to be just like all the other illiterate, overweight, short attention span, "can't compete with Indian kids after $80k of eduction but knows every Simpson's/Sponge Bob episode by heart" losers.
So...do what I do. No broadcast TV. No cable. Take it out of your house. Like a drug, the only way to really kick it is to quit completely and keep it out of sight. Don't even connect the antenna. There are plenty of Movies and DVDs to keep you occupied.
Does it hurt to hear them lying? Was this the only world you had?
Besides, if you want to literally kill your television, what better place to do it? (As long as you're playa-friendly, of course!)
But, uh, don't take it from me. Don't go. You wouldn't like it. It's so over. It was better last year. It's just a rave. Too many people. Too hot. Too many drugs and naked freaks.
Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television
CHAPEL HILL, NC--Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers--as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building....</snip>
You are annoying.
As well as tortious interference with pre-existing contract. I'm quite sure that consumers watching tv is the basis for the business model of TV networks. Telling people to not watch their TVs interferes with that business model. Clearly those who buy TVs have an implied contract to watch them (and the commercials). Since interference with a business model when electricity is somehow involved (e.g. electronic devices) is a DMCA violation, this is a DMCA violation. Also, tortious interference with contract. Let the lawsuits begin. Sadly I'm only half kidding.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
My wife and I have not had cable for nigh upon 5 years now; we have a TV, but it's got a DVD, VCR and Gamecube hooked up to it.
Netflix has allowed me to watch TV shows that I'm interested in at my pace. A couple of episodes of Smallville here, some Stargate SG-1 there, etc. etc. We're also getting caught up on the movies that we missed in the theaters (mainly stuff that appeals to her than to me...) Other than that, the TV isn't on. I get my news from the radio, the local newspaper and Google News.
Instead, I read. And surf the net. And use Safari to "check out" books on subjects I'm interested in, to see if I want to buy them.
There are all sorts of things you can do if you're not sitting in front of the TV. For every amazing new TV show that's out there, there's probably an equally amazing comic, or novel, or movie. (And don't get me started on the crap that some people feel like wasting precious hours of their lives on...)
Jay (=
odd... didn't see that reported on the news tonight... I'll watch again at 10, maybe it'll be on the late news.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
How I spend my time doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but the last thing I need is a time sink just for the sake of wasting time.
[javac] 100 errors