I’ve never owned my own TV, and I haven’t had one in my home since I moved to my current apartment over a year ago.
I have vague plans to get one eventually, but just for watching videos on my own or with friends. For now, I use my computer for that.
I realize it’s not the traditional way to watch TV, but a lot of people in this thread don’t qualify. If you have one and say “all I use it for is to watch DVDs” you have a TV. Or, if you don’t have a TV, but use your computer to watch Hulu all the time, you have a TV.
And I agree with phreesh, saying there’s nothing good on when there’s so much good TV out there is like dismissing every book ever. And the SDMB has a collective stroke everytime someone says they don’t read, so don’t be so hypocritical.
Required link for these threads.
We have public radio stations that play NPR and PRI etc. Love 'em.
Well, no, you don’t have a TV. You have a computer.
I mean I agree that my question “Anyone else opted out of TV” is a little vague. But I think it is clear that I was asking about the appliance not the behavior.
Besides - it is interesting to see all the different ways people consume media while opting out of traditional cable on a 50" LCD.
“The appliance” is just one way for television programs to get to your house. The Lost you watch on Hulu is no different from the Lost I watch on my TV. And trying to make a distinction between the two just makes you should a snob (or the guy from Hal Briston’s Onion article).
What if we think of it as similar to the “do you have a landline or just a cell phone” question. Does that make you more comfortable?
It isn’t about being superior, because yep I love some television shows. But I do think it is interesting to know who doesn’t use a particular, traditional delivery-system.
That help?
It does, but that still doesn’t change the fact that this question usually gets asked to show how special the non-TV watchers are.
The question is not do you watch TV, but rather do you have a TV. So, people who have one but only use it to watch videos… have a TV. People who do not have one but watch TV shows on their computer… do not have a TV.
This is not that complicated.
I went to the expense of buying a digital and antenna only to learn that some days 14 channels come in and others 3 if I’m lucky. Won’t pay for cable. So basically, I turn it on for background noise and the cat.
I moved across the country a couple months ago and decided it wasn’t worth shipping my monstrously heavy old TV. Since it’s less essential than major items of furniture I won’t buy a new one until the credit card bill I ran up in the move/apartment set-up is paid off. I may not get one even then since I’m a terrible procrastinator and I now have one less way to distract myself.
Crap. I guess I’m the only one here who watches real TV.
I grew up on TV. My mother watched the soaps. The original ones–The Guiding Light, Secret Storm, Edge of Night. It was on while she ironed, cleaned, whatever. I cried when Howdy Duty went off the air, sat in front of our b&w TV when The Home Show with Arlene Francis (I think) was the first program to go color and wondered where the color was, saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald happening LIVE. I still remember my Mom and I sitting there in awe as we realized what was happening BEFORE the newscasters did.
Arthur and Katherine Murray dancing, Kate Smith singing when the moon comes over the mountain, my Saturday programs–My Friend Flicka, Sky King (with niece Penny), Ramar of the Jungle. Yup, I watched it all. The Wizard of Oz the first time it was on TV and every time after that. First time I wanted to go to bed because I was scared of the witch. My father made me sit through until the end so I could see what happened to her. He liked Gunsmoke and Palladin.
A lot of good memories and a lot of fun.
Now I have it on a lot for noise value. I’m in the other room on the computer but the TV is on in the living room and I can hear what’s on.
I watched TV die the day it switched to digital. It went against my grain to get cable and I didn’t really need all those programs. Network is good enough for me. I got the converter box and a new indoor antenna and could only get CBS. When a plane flew overhead or there was a breeze everything pixalated or disappeared totally. I returned the antenna to Radio Shack and I finally surrendered and hooked up to my building’s Dish network cable for only $10 a month. But I feel I lost something… although I do like Cake Boss, Moving Up and Royal Pains.
I opted out, sorta, for 8 months out of the year. The college has TVs, but I never felt like watching them. I didn’t miss anything.
I didn’t have one for a year or two before 9/11. That happened late at night here and I walked up the street to watch it at the pub. To keep track of what was happening I rented a TV the next day and at the end of the month bought one.
I mostly watch downloads rather than regular programming other than sport.
I actually have 2, but they very very rarely get turned on.
I don’t have cable… not paying fifty bucks a month for something I used a couple hours a week, if that. I had decent but not top of the line rabbit ear antenas on them and bit the bullet to buy the converter boxes for The Big Switch.
Niw I get shitty reception that cuts in and out on 3 stations… and the station I watched most, FOX, doesn’t come in at all any more, just a message that says no signal.
I get tired of having to fiddle with the antena and rescan the friggin’ converter box, so it is easier to just not watch it at all these days. sigh
We have a TV, but we do not have satellite or cable; just rabbit ears. Even then, I never watch broadcast programming. I only use it to watch a movie on occasion.
It does seem to be a trend - more and more of my college students tell me they watch little, if any, television.
Of course, they are glued to the Internet and do download movies, check the news, see video clips, etc. I think they are referring to watching regular television shows.
At this point, I think it is fair to say that a good computer can offer just about anything television has to offer - so saying you don’t have a television in the house is kind of like saying you proudly don’t own a car - but happen to live in an area with great public transportation; you just get there differently than the rest of us do.
Well, we currently have 2 tvs, both with basic cable, and I have no burning desire to alter the situation. Until recently, the second tv, in my bedroom, had no cable or reception, so it was used only for videos and dvds…still mostly is. (thing is 16 yrs old and they had to run the cable through the almost as old VCR, lol, so it’s a bit of a hassle to even get to the tv/cable function)
But I’ve lived without tv for years at a time in the past, and noticed that I quickly became totally disinterested in it. That when I found myself in a room with others and a tv was on, I found it exceedingly odd that they were so engrossed in that box instead of with those around them. 
The “activity” of watching tv quickly became weird and boring to me.
I could live quite easily w/o one, after the initial withdrawal period of course:p
But I admit, I love movies, and being a film student, watching them is not only a pleasure but a requirement…but commercial tv? Cable? There are a few shows I really enjoy currently, but I could live w/o them (or rent them later).
I think the option of opting out of the tv thing is becoming more and more common and no longer always elicits the shock and awe of others when revealed. After all, most of it is crap anyway…hardly worth the waste of time. If I want to waste my time, I’ll do it on good films or shows I choose and on my own schedule. 
P.S. or on the internet 