In a recent thread (sorry, don’t remember which thread or who said it) someone seemed to suggest that people who don’t watch TV will sometimes brag or be snobby about it.
Do you agree?
It’s a meme because of The Onion, but the only people who don’t watch TV whom I’d consider snobs are the people who think not watching TV is a source of pride.
I don’t watch TV except on my computer or around other peoples’ places (which in practice means I watch TV all the damn time) but I do that out of protest at the TV licence. I don’t consider myself a snob.
I never watch movies and almost never watch TV shows (certain movies are supposed to be cool, right? even to the too-cool-for-TV crowd?). I almost never say anything about it. I’m not too cool, I just have a short attention span for passive things.
I know it’s an Internet meme, but I don’t know anyone else IRL who doesn’t watch TV, let alone bragging about it.
I haven’t owned a TV in over a decade, and probably never will own one again.
But what I watch online or when I’m at friends’ houses tends to be reality shows and other very lowbrow fare, so I couldn’t possibly pull the bragging/snobby act without cracking up laughing at myself.
There are few activities where you can’t find someone who won’t or be snobby about.
For the record, I don’t watch TV. I do watch a lot of YouTube videos, though. 
I’m just hoping nobody thinks I’m a snob.
I haven’t owned a TV for 17 years and have not missed it.
Judging from the little bit I do watch at other people’s homes there is little
if any more respectable content than there was 17 years ago, despite there
being several times more channels available. TV sucks.
I haven’t lived in a house with a tv since 1972, so if there is a prize, I feel I should at least get an honorable mention. I used to feel snobby about it but I outgrew this in time along with some but not all of my other annoying beliefs. It really isn’t tv I mind, it’s commercials, they really bother me. So now, I stream netflix tv, not exactly current, but since I haven’t been up to date since I Dream Of Jeannie, I don’t have much to compare it to.
I don’t own a TV, but I watch one on my computer.
There’s your answer.
For EmilyG and others who don’t own or watch TV (but watch stuff online etc) why?
I don’t and the reason is fairly simple - I absolutely cannot fucking stand commercials; they’re like fingernails on a blackboard to me. A one-hour TV show is reduced to about 40 minutes on YouTube or Hulu.
I also don’t listen to commercial radio for the same reason. It’s either NPR or music stations but I hit the switch button the instant a commercial or inane DJ chatter comes on.
Edited to add - I see at least one person shares my hatred of commercials!
When I had a DVR and fast forwarded past commercials, that was less annoying than Hulu commercials that you can’t FF.
What annoys me is when someone posts a link to some info or cite and it goes to ewwtube. I do not want to obtain information at someone else’s chosen pace, I want to read, because then at least I can skim the fluff.
My perspective:
I’ve never watched a lot of TV and this is why I still don’t; please consider the following:
I lived in the UK from when I was born in 1962 to 1968. I don’t remember watching TV at all, and it probably was because my parents refused to pay for a TV license.
I recall coming to Canada at age 6 in 1968 and we had a little black and white (14"?) TV that we watched very occasionally. It didn’t take long for my dad to jump in with both feet though and we had colour TV and cable as early as maybe 1970.
The thing is, there were no kids shows apart from Saturday morning cartoons, which I loved with all my heart. (Thanks Bugs!)
In the evening the TV was monopolized by my dad. I had no interest in the shows he was watching.
In high school I started watching syndicated shows right after school, including Gilligan’s Island, Bewitched, Get Smart, Star Trek, I Dream of Genie, etc. But in prime time there was nothing that interested me, at least from the shows tuned into by adults in the house.
When I left home I had no baseline of TV programs in which I was interested. I had never followed anything. I had no interest in TV shows. I liked the syndicated stuff I was used to, but it wasn’t getting airplay. I liked The Tonight Show and the news; that was it.
I still to this day (I’m 50) do not watch any TV show with any regularity, and I rarely even watch TV at all. It’s not because of snobbery; it’s because I just have never invested the emotional time in following anything on TV and the thought of changing my lifestyle at this point is ridiculous. I completely and utterly do not understand people whose, say, Wednesday night depends upon a TV show at 8:00, for example. It’s not snobbery at all. I don’t care. I just don’t get it. It’s not like I’m missing any valuable life lessons by not seeing the latest “Dexter” or “Dancing With the Stars.” I’m supposed to organize my life around scheduled television programs? Really? Fuck that.
Well, that’s my take on it.
This too! I think there ought to be a “YouTube” warning standard on this board, same as pdf warning. Unless it’s appropriate, like in a music thread. Usually I click right out of a video link without watching it. I dislike them as a general rule.
**
Blackberry**, doesn’t Hulu Plus (the paid version) have extremely minimal commercials?
Wow. “Internet meme” or not, this is pretty much the last place I’d expect to find a group defending TV watching as a worthy effort.
This meme goes back to the dawn of the television era. Television was low class entertainment, not the kind of thing proper well educated people engaged in. Even in the 60s this would pop up from time to time, and there was a bit of reinforcement for the idea among the self-imagined elite. But it wasn’t long before people laughed out loud at those proclaiming with pride that they did not watch television. They had been cut off from culture and news. Even now when I hear this come up it’s from people who are well connected online and simply eschewing one aspect of electronic media. There may be some who are still cut off from the world by choice, but if they consider it a matter of pride they sound like asses.
Same here, Leaffan. I did not grow up with TV, and the little I watched as a kid was in the UK, infrequently, at friends’ houses, in black and white. (Blue Peter, anyone? Anyone? 
)
So it really wasn’t part of my culture; there’s no emotional connection. When I was married we had a TV in the house because that’s…normal, I guess. I owned a TV and even paid for cable for about six months in 2005, but couldn’t even get myself to watch an hour per week so I gave the TV away and cancelled my subscription.
But snobbish about it, oh hell no. Online, I watch Cops, Supersize v Superskinny, Reno 911, Restaurant Impossible and other distinctly brainless fare.
Only if I have to hear them talk about it like it’s an accomplishment. There are not eyerolls enough for when people declare they don’t “even own a TV” with pride, but then watch things online or dvd on their computer.