# Do you still watch TV?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 29, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211 "2012-03-29T22:28:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/1 "2012-03-29T22:28:51Z")
If so, how much per day?
Most of the people I know don’t watch much, if any, television. Among my friends, few even own a television set. We’re in our mid 20s, in California.
We do spend a lot of time on the internet.
I know this is an increasingly common trend, but what about for Dopers?
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### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/2 "2012-03-29T22:29:39Z")
I still watch TV, although the internet now takes up a lot of time that used to be spent watching TV
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/3 "2012-03-29T22:33:40Z")
If I watched any more, I would physically meld to it.
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### Author:  [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/4 "2012-03-29T22:39:43Z")
I watch the TeeVee constantly. There is always a TV on when I’m at home. Always. Except when I’m sleeping (and sometimes, even then). And despite that, I know nothing about anything that’s on TV. Nothing. I don’t follow any series on any networks. No sit-coms, no dramas, no singers I think suck anyway, no Nasty Housewives of Boise, Idaho, or whatever. I’m an inveterate surfer.
Mostly I watch sports and movies. And generally I kill the early evening surfing the Dope and watching reruns – _Friends, How I Met Your Mother_, an occasional _M_A\*SH\*\*. I’m leaning heavily toward ditching cable altogether and just going with Netflix and online programming.
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### Author:  [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/5 "2012-03-29T22:42:45Z")
We haven’t watched TV on the TV in years. I do watch a lot of stuff online (hulu and netflix).
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### Author:  [@Anna\_Nimity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anna_Nimity)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/6 "2012-03-29T22:51:59Z")
Same here. No TV on the TV but I sometimes (not often) watch TV shows on Netflix. I just finished watching all the episodes Of “The Killing” which was an excellent crime drama. When I’m home its mostly the computer or reading.
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/7 "2012-03-29T22:55:16Z")
Sports and a few select shows I DVR
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/8 "2012-03-29T22:59:59Z")
I still haven’t gotten around to cancelling my cable service–mostly because visitors tend to like watching it–but I spend essentially zero hours watching stuff on a channel. I do however watch several shows via online sources (probably 2 hours a week on average). I’m 34. A 55" screen is still very nice for watching stuff, but the idea of “channels” is nonsense in this day and age.
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### Author:  [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/9 "2012-03-29T23:00:04Z")
Tossed my old CRT TV in the trash when I moved last year, though I had already stopped watching it years ago. I still watch some TV when I’m visiting my parents or happen to be somewhere with the TV on, but that amounts to only a few hours per month. If I feel like watching a TV show, I buy DVD boxes and watch them on my computer.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/10 "2012-03-29T23:00:12Z")
We still watch things _on_ the TV, but we don’t have cable - it’s all via a media computer hooked up to the TV, or sometimes DVDs.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/11 "2012-03-29T23:00:14Z")
It’s hard for me to answer this question. Yes, the TV is on quite a bit, but it’s mostly tuned to Nick Jr. My toddler son has a lot of favorite shows and when he’s awake, he gets to choose what we watch. So if you include things like “Team Umizoomi” and “Dora the Explorer”, then yes I still watch TV. But I pretty much never get to watch anything I actually like.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/12 "2012-03-29T23:03:12Z")
I watch TV more when I’m with my wife and daughter - Laura and I like to crawl in bed and watch whatever is on, or catch up on DVR recordings. When I’m by myself I tend to turn the TV to ESPN and spend my time on my laptop, talking to you fine people. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/13 "2012-03-29T23:05:06Z")
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> We still watch things _on_ the TV, but we don’t have cable - it’s all via a media computer hooked up to the TV, or sometimes DVDs.
This.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/14 "2012-03-29T23:06:26Z")
Oh, my, yes. Our DVR is almost full alread, and “Game of Thrones” starts back up this weekend (in case someone hasn’t noticed the stickies) to add to the fun.
(TV watchers - the first part of my response is a TV reference. Name it!)
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### Author:  [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/15 "2012-03-29T23:07:40Z")
Yes, plenty of it.
Top of my head:
I watch Justified, Archer, Awake, Daily Show, Happy Endings, How I Met Your Mother, Through the Wormhole & Nova.
Laserkitty watches CSI, American Horror Story, Archer, Happy Endings, HIMYM, Hoarders (guilty pleasure).
Daughter (who is 5) watched Phineas & Ferb, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Through the Wormhole, & Nova.
My TiVo is generally about 50% full, and I clear stuff regularly.
We also Netflix stuff like Invader Zim, Portlandia, various movies.
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### Author:  [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/16 "2012-03-29T23:09:13Z")
Throughout the last year I’ve started using it less. I’ve not been actively ignoring it, I just spend almost all my free time on my PC. I would have been using it to watch Formula 1 but the BBC only has the right to show half the races this year. There’s nothing showing that demands I watch it live (like sport or Doctor Who) so I use the BBC iPlayer instead. The other free channels have online players too but never broadcast anything that interests me anyway. Along with Netflix and Lovefilm I have more than enough to entertain myself during those rare periods when I’m not playing a PC game.
I’ve been considering getting rid of my TV and buying a bigger monitor.
So, a couple of hours a week, at the moment.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/17 "2012-03-29T23:10:14Z")
Of course I do–I’m an old woman, and I still have a 1990s TV, with a 2000s VCR and a 2010s DVD player.
I even still read books that don’t need recharging!
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/18 "2012-03-29T23:29:38Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> Most of the people I know don’t watch much, if any, television. Among my friends, few even own a television set. We’re in our mid 20s, in California.
>
> We do spend a lot of time on the internet.
Single? TV-watching has more of a potential to be a communal activity than web-surfing. I suspect people with families, or at least SOs, watch more TV than single people.
As for myself, I “watch TV”—approximately one show per day, on the average—but it’s mostly TV-on-DVD (though most often watched on a real, CRT-type television set).
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/19 "2012-03-29T23:29:40Z")
Not much live TV anymore. It’s a minefield to navigate anyway.
I do source a lot of television from _other sources_. And then, if it’s a good show, I’ll pay that back, and alleviate my (rapidly decreasing) guilt, by getting the DVD.
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-watch-tv/617211/20 "2012-03-29T23:31:28Z")
Yes. I DVR several series.
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