# I don't have a TV, deal with it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 6, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307 "2004-11-06T02:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/41 "2004-11-07T19:30:47Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I also don’t understand people who won’t make plans for a night when one of their favorite shows is on (and I’ve known a few). The day that watching TV becomes more important to me than spending time in the real world with other people, take my sets away! All 3 of them! Plus my VCRs and DVD player! Yeah, the other day, I wanted to talk to a friend of mine, but he had plans to go see a movie, instead! That jerk needs to get a life! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/42 "2004-11-07T22:26:50Z")
> [@cityboy916](#): > > Because it’s more convenient than waiting to catch it in the reruns. 😉 But that’s what VCRs and TiVo were made for… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/43 "2004-11-07T23:31:52Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Sure life is possible without television’s warm glowing warming glow. But it is no longer worth living. Urge to agree… rising… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/44 "2004-11-08T05:24:06Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Like I said in the OP, I can watch DVDs on my computer, and I have a Netflix subscription. > > **Mr. Blue Sky** , project much? I am not condescending towards people who watch TV. I like TV fine! I just happen to not have one. > > Heh. This is beginning to remind me of another problem I have - I’m a vegetarian and can say, with great sincerity, that I do not care what you’re eating (unless maybe it’s bananas, which are just nasty). And yet, I am constantly dealing with people who presuppose I am going to tell them what to eat and get on my freaking case about it. Ah, but a lot of mine are still on video and I have tapes of shows that were never released on DVD (all my episodes of _MST3K_.) I have noticed that half of the time when I do have the TV on, I’m not paying attention anyways. When I watch tv, I’m usually doing something else at the same time-reading, embroidering, etc. It also ends up being nice for background noise when I’ve been home by myself or up late at night after reading that brand new Stephen King. (Putting on a comedy so I can sneak down and use the bathroom makes the house less spooky!) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/45 "2004-11-08T06:10:26Z")
I’ve now clocked up three months without a television and there’s been only one occasion during that time when I wished that I still had one (on the night of the recent Australian election). Otherwise, I don’t miss it at all and I don’t intend to buy another. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/46 "2004-11-08T10:23:46Z")
I don’t have one either at the moment. Irish terrestrial TV is, for the most part, profoundly crap. Cable costs more, which I can’t justify on my own. I also really really covet an espresso machine and that to me is worth the money more. It’s no big deal either way, though. One thing that Irish television does broadcast (and sooner than the English channels) is The Sopranos. When they come back on I might get one. I do miss the soccer, though. I did have to argue with a friend of mine to refuse a spare telly she had. She really seemed uncomfortable with the thought of someone not having one. The cost is in the license fee, not the machine. Also it is an interesting thing to see what happens if you can’t just zonk out. So that’s why I turned the offer down. I lived without one for a year before and you do read a lot more and are also more motivated to get out the house to do a course or something like that. You do miss some really good programs, though. As for smugness. Well…I have to admit to a bit of that. Because it is amazing how you can shock people by just innocently stating you don’t have one. It’s not that I think not having on makes me a better more intellectual person. But it can really throw some people and that’s kind of fun. I also really really hope the license fee people come and check. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/47 "2004-11-08T10:26:21Z")
I didn’t have one for nearly a year up until 9/11. I went out and rented one the next morning. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/48 "2004-11-08T13:39:18Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I have noticed that half of the time when I do have the TV on, I’m not paying attention anyways. When I watch tv, I’m usually doing something else at the same time-reading, embroidering, etc. How do you manage that? If I have the one-eyed monster on, it sucks my brain right out. I can do some motor intensive activities - modelling, for example, while the TV is on, but if my brain has to be involved, like for reading, I cannot function while the idiot box is on. Hell, I can barely have a conversation in the same room as a TV. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/49 "2004-11-08T14:27:28Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > How do you manage that? If I have the one-eyed monster on, it sucks my brain right out. I can do some motor intensive activities - modelling, for example, while the TV is on, but if my brain has to be involved, like for reading, I cannot function while the idiot box is on. Hell, I can barely have a conversation in the same room as a TV. Not **Guinastasia** , but I do the same thing. I’m one of those people that MUST be doing two things at once. If I’m cooking, I usually have a book propped up so that I’m reading at the same time. If I’m online or playing the Sims, the television is on and I’m watching it at the same time. I have always read and watched TV at the same time - it doesn’t take that much brain power to do both. My husband gets mad at me in the movies because I have a tendency to bounce my leg in the movies. I chalk it up to the ‘not able to do one thing at a time’ syndrome. He calls it a short attention span, but it’s not that I have a short attention span - I can do something for quite awhile as long as I’m doing something ELSE with it. Ava ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/50 "2004-11-08T14:40:24Z")
**Avabeth** , it’s not that I have problems with the concept of doing two things at once: I read and cook, or read a book while I’m online, or read while I’m shaving, or walking. I will play a game while carrying on convesations, and other things. It’s just the one-eyed monster that defeats me. If it’s on, my brain isn’t. 8-( ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/51 "2004-11-08T15:19:46Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > **Avabeth** , it’s not that I have problems with the concept of doing two things at once: I read and cook, or read a book while I’m online, or read while I’m shaving, or walking. I will play a game while carrying on convesations, and other things. It’s just the one-eyed monster that defeats me. If it’s on, my brain isn’t. 8-( I don’t know why it’s so easy to watch TV and do something else, then. Maybe I’m just really, really practiced at it? (I don’t know if that’s good or bad). It’s very rare that I put things down to watch a show – the only time I’ve done that lately was for the Farscape miniseries. But after an hour, I was dying to check my email at the same time because I couldn’t stand _only_ focusing on the TV. Ava ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/52 "2004-11-08T15:24:22Z")
Not saying that Kyla does this, but what gets me is this one. . . “Did you see that game yesterday?” “I don’t have a TV.” OK, Mr. Thats-not-what-I-asked. It’s like asking someone, “Did you eat yet?” and they say. . . “I don’t have a microwave.” ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/53 "2004-11-08T18:22:18Z")
Fine with me, so long as you realize that being a vegetarian, not having a TV, and not playing video games does not make you any better than the rest of us. Nor does being an omnivore, having a TV, and playing video games make me (or anyone) a better person than anyone else. I’m not sure why this is so hard for some people to accept, but it seems to be. But you’re right about bananas, **Kyla**. Maybe realizing the awful truth about bananas makes us better than other people 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/54 "2004-11-09T05:51:58Z")
Watching DVDs on your computer comes dangerously close to owning a TV. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/55 "2004-11-09T13:20:10Z")
> [@aaslatten](#): > > Watching DVDs on your computer comes dangerously close to owning a TV. Okay, then. What’s your point, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/56 "2004-11-09T16:06:29Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Seriously, though. Sometimes, when people who don’t own a TV say that to someone else, it’s with a superior tone of voice. They make it sound like owning a TV is a cardinal sin. Maybe it’s not intentional, maybe it is. Not saying that you say it that way. > > A lot of people like or even love TV and like all things that people are crazy about, some can’t understand why others don’t feel the same way. > > To each his own. My thoughts exactly. It bugs the shit out of me when some jackass says, “Oh, well I don’t _have_ a TV, you see. I’ve got far better things to do than lose brain cells while watching.” Um, like pulling your head out of your ass every once in a while? Still, the OP sounds pretty reasonable - and I feel her pain. I don’t have cable anymore (not quite the same as not having a TV), mainly because we only watched a few cable channels when we had it, and our use didn’t really warrant the service. Then Charter kept hiking our bill for basic cable, trying to get us to get digital, which we weren’t really interested in (though my mom does have digital, and whenever I visit, I can’t stop flipping channels). In fact, my mom is visiting today until Sunday, and one of her first questions was “Do you still have cable?” When I told her we don’t, she said, “You don’t have cable? What do you DO at night? _sigh_ Oh, well. At least I’ll be able to watch my shows (soap operas).” But, like **Mr. Blue Sky** said - to each his own. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/57 "2004-11-09T16:41:52Z")
This will probably get me in trouble with the PETA people but my wife leaves the TV on all day for our birds. They are especially fond of “Jerry Springer,” though that proves what we have long suspected–Jerry’s best appreciated by birdbrains. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307/58 "2004-11-09T19:10:35Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Not saying that Kyla does this, but what gets me is this one. . . > > “Did you see that game yesterday?” > > “I don’t have a TV.” > > OK, Mr. Thats-not-what-I-asked. Maybe that was to avoid having to keep hearing questions like this in the future? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-have-a-tv-deal-with-it/273307.md?page=2)