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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?
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.
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 ]
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...
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
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 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.
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.
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.
Because it's not productive or constructive. We (as in /. geeks) aren't saying all television is bad, or even certain shows. We're saying there is so much else to do with your life than sit on the couch. I don't own a tv, simply because I'm never home, between work and school. But I do watch tv. My friends and I will watch South Park and Chapelle's Show, and do it as a social activity. Then those shows are over, we'll generally then go do other things, like play music or sports or anything else really. TV as an activity is OK. TV as a lifestyle is horrible.
Th
... 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
I think the question is the quality of the entertainment. Spend your life in front of a tv and you'll never know that richer more rewarding types of entertainment, like reading for one, are available.
I think the idea is to just try it for a week. If you don't like in then go back to tv. But if you're afraid to even try, then tv sounds a wee bit like an addiction:-)
But who cares really, it's your life. As far as I'm concerned people who encourage you to watch less tv are like people who encouraged you not to smoke 25 years ago. Anyone can take or leave the advice but many people who took it were glad that they did.
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 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").
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.
The entertainment industry is one of the biggest industries in the US (if not the biggest)
Are you sure about that? Compare it to the computer industry. The top US entertainment companies for 2003 made:
Total $163B. In comparison, look at the top computer companies:
Total $268B, in an industry that has many more small players, so the total industry revenues would be even further apart.
And even that's nothing compared to a really big industry, like the automotive industry. Ford and GM *each* made more money than the entire entertainment industry. And the oil industry makes the auto industry look small.
The entertainment industry is big, but it's not nearly as big as people think it is. It has influence that is all out of proportion with its real scale.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.