I was always a person who would rather do than spectate. For example I am living my lifes deam in a part time way... I have my own private online record label, audio video mobile studio services. You can see live music videos and audio on my website.  Keeps me mostly doing something with music which I like.  As for my wife, any tips on how I can get her from "relaxing in front of the tube"! My three year old, my wife and I all talk to each other "staring at the brainsucking tube"  I actually think you can hear a sucking sound as our brains are being whisked through a venturi tube!  My wife is tired and I tell her if she just tries an activity, she enjoys that relaxes her I would be more than happy to do baby duty!
Anyhow, I'm with ya man!!!
xxxx

Hi!

Nice.

We gave away our 6 tv's and moved to an Amish farm.

Peace,
xxxx

I don't know if someones already mentioned this, but your article made it to www.whatreallyhappened.com (excellent  site)

Love the essay (TV = Lowest common denomenator), I figured out the TV the same way you did, something just clicked and I  sold the TV. I'm reading much more and socializing more often, but I  do watch the promising movies and a few shows on my PC.

And I totally agree, tv is mostly an addiction.

TV wasn't so much an addiction for me. I turned it off about three years ago. I was living in a house with 5 other people so the bill for digital cable was not too bad per person, and I endured. But I could feel it getting worse. I was working 9-5 in a cubicle and I was spending the entire day reading on the internet and that really started to put a wedge between me and the boob tube. At work I would read how Iraq was bombed into the stone age and there is no way they pose a risk. I would then go home and gape at the news (so called) and the unmanned chemical war far drones. 

Then, the next day at work I would read about how these drones (there was only one) had there wings duct taped on and they wouldn't fly much over 50 miles anyway. The sensationalized natured started to bother me. The constant lies, the filth, the scantily clad idiots and the cave men who love it.  And the commercials,  OHHHH GOOOOD the commercials. I was all just too much.

To be honest I never watched a ton of TV out side of the occasional after school drivel when the weather was bad and saturday morning cartoons,  I didn't even have cable until I was a senior in high school. At college there was a TV in every room and it was on every minute.  It only took me 4 years to absorb it all and realize that there is nothing new on TV.  I could flip through and tell you what you were watching with only a half a second snippet.  If I hadn't seen it before I could guess the plot with in a few minutes.

 And the commercials, OHHHH GOOOOOOD the commercials.  I wasn't long before I decided that in my next house, I wasn't going to pay for it.

And I didn't.  I still have the box, and it sits waiting for me to turn it so I can watch a DVD as I munch on a sandwich.  I download the occasional South Park or Simpsons but out side of that, I have no use for TV at all.   TV now, is something other people have and talk to me about.

"you don't watch tv? You don't know what your missing."Yes I do.  They tell me about it all the time. I stop in at peoples houses and some times watch for a while. I tend to just stare in awe at how awful it is. It's like watching a live execution. It's so disgusting but you can't turn your eyes away. I probably look like everyone else who is watching, glossed eyes, mouth slightly open, almost no movement.  But inside I am reeling, squirming, wishing I was somewhere else.

The silver lining of watching TV comes when the Commercials come on. OHHHH GOOOOOD the commercials. I tend to drift off during the commercials.

Suddenly I will notice that I am staring at the ceiling, thinking about whatever, kind of just off in my own world.  When I finally remember that I was watching television, I think that someone has muted it and look back and realize, no, it's still there, blaring away, I had just tuned out.

While TV programs can be alluring for reasons somewhat macabre, I can only watch for a little while before I remind my self that I am wasting my time. I think the aversion for TV programs comes from knowing how good they really could be. Then a commercial comes on, and I am pushed away violently, reminded that the TV is killing my brain, killing me, killing my society.

I grew up with TV in the 60s.  Around the time I was 15 or so, while I was still living with my parents, I just kind of stopped watching.  No real revolt, I just lost interest.  This was the late 70s and TV stank anyway.  After I moved out on my own,  I shared houses with other people, and no one seemed  interested  in having a TV. We listened to a lot of music, and we talked.  Really talked, not just quick snatches of conversation during the commercials.

Then one day, after about eight years of no TV, a roommate brought one home that his parents were discarding.  We figured that we could keep an ironic distance, laugh at it, and turn it off.

Well, yeah -at first.  Within a few months, however, we were pretty much sucked in. And darn it, I've been an addict (more or less) ever since. Beware!

Lately I've been watching a lot less.  The "reality" shows are nausea-inducing, the crime shows have sunk to incredible lows of depravity to get ratings, and the sitcoms are just mind-bogglingly stupid.  But as another person commented, my wife likes to "relax" in front of the TV at the end of the day.  Since my computer, where I get my news, is in another room, she thinks I don't want to spend time with _her_ - but it's the TV I'm trying to flee.

Otherwise, I'm ready to leave it all behind again. I will miss the Simpsons, though.  :-) One fun trick to "decontextualize" the TV content: Take an erasable marker and draw a line from top to bottom, and another from left to right, each directly in the middle. (Optionally, you can add a circle around the center so that it looks like rifle crosshairs, but that may be too violent for some folks.) This is great for seeing how they frame things. The most interesting aspect, for me, is how the more TV-addicted react angrily to the screen markings.  Their reaction shows how  much  it breaks the context and makes it more difficult to "slip into the dream".
(name withheld to protect his marriage)

Dear Sir

I've just read your article about Killing you TV.

I'm an expat living & working in Moscow, Russia. When I first came here I didn't buy a TV as I didn't speak Russian. Eleven years later and still no TV (but I can play DVDs on my computer) I'm still a happy man. I read plenty and check out alternative news (WRH.com) on the net.

I looking forward to turn off TV week too!

Cheers

Comments on Kill Your Television

TV wasn't so much an addiction for me. I turned it off about three years ago. I was living in a house with 5 other people so the bill for digital cable was not too bad per person, and I endured. But I could feel it getting worse. I was working 9-5 in a cubicle and I was spending the entire day reading on the internet and that really started to put a wedge between me and the boob tube. At work I would read how Iraq was bombed into the stone age and there is no way they pose a risk. I would then go home and gape at the news (so called) and the unmanned chemical war far drones. 

Then, the next day at work I would read about how these drones (there was only one) had there wings duct taped on and they wouldn't fly much over 50 miles anyway. The sensationalized natured started to bother me. The constant lies, the filth, the scantily clad idiots and the cave men who love it.  And the commercials,  OHHHH GOOOOD the commercials. I was all just too much.

To be honest I never watched a ton of TV out side of the occasional after school drivel when the weather was bad and saturday morning cartoons,  I didn't even have cable until I was a senior in high school. At college there was a TV in every room and it was on every minute.  It only took me 4 years to absorb it all and realize that there is nothing new on TV.  I could flip through and tell you what you were watching with only a half a second snippet.  If I hadn't seen it before I could guess the plot with in a few minutes.

 And the commercials, OHHHH GOOOOOOD the commercials.  I wasn't long before I decided that in my next house, I wasn't going to pay for it.

And I didn't.  I still have the box, and it sits waiting for me to turn it so I can watch a DVD as I munch on a sandwich.  I download the occasional South Park or Simpsons but out side of that, I have no use for TV at all.   TV now, is something other people have and talk to me about.

"you don't watch tv? You don't know what your missing."Yes I do.  They tell me about it all the time. I stop in at peoples houses and some times watch for a while. I tend to just stare in awe at how awful it is. It's like watching a live execution. It's so disgusting but you can't turn your eyes away. I probably look like everyone else who is watching, glossed eyes, mouth slightly open, almost no movement.  But inside I am reeling, squirming, wishing I was somewhere else.

The silver lining of watching TV comes when the Commercials come on. OHHHH GOOOOOD the commercials. I tend to drift off during the commercials.

Suddenly I will notice that I am staring at the ceiling, thinking about whatever, kind of just off in my own world.  When I finally remember that I was watching television, I think that someone has muted it and look back and realize, no, it's still there, blaring away, I had just tuned out.

While TV programs can be alluring for reasons somewhat macabre, I can only watch for a little while before I remind my self that I am wasting my time. I think the aversion for TV programs comes from knowing how good they really could be. Then a commercial comes on, and I am pushed away violently, reminded that the TV is killing my brain, killing me, killing my society.

I grew up with TV in the 60s.  Around the time I was 15 or so, while I was still living with my parents, I just kind of stopped watching.  No real revolt, I just lost interest.  This was the late 70s and TV stank anyway.  After I moved out on my own,  I shared houses with other people, and no one seemed  interested  in having a TV. We listened to a lot of music, and we talked.  Really talked, not just quick snatches of conversation during the commercials.

Then one day, after about eight years of no TV, a roommate brought one home that his parents were discarding.  We figured that we could keep an ironic distance, laugh at it, and turn it off.

Well, yeah -at first.  Within a few months, however, we were pretty much sucked in. And darn it, I've been an addict (more or less) ever since. Beware!

Lately I've been watching a lot less.  The "reality" shows are nausea-inducing, the crime shows have sunk to incredible lows of depravity to get ratings, and the sitcoms are just mind-bogglingly stupid.  But as another person commented, my wife likes to "relax" in front of the TV at the end of the day.  Since my computer, where I get my news, is in another room, she thinks I don't want to spend time with _her_ - but it's the TV I'm trying to flee.

Otherwise, I'm ready to leave it all behind again. I will miss the Simpsons, though.  :-) One fun trick to "decontextualize" the TV content: Take an erasable marker and draw a line from top to bottom, and another from left to right, each directly in the middle. (Optionally, you can add a circle around the center so that it looks like rifle crosshairs, but that may be too violent for some folks.) This is great for seeing how they frame things. The most interesting aspect, for me, is how the more TV-addicted react angrily to the screen markings.  Their reaction shows how  much  it breaks the context and makes it more difficult to "slip into the dream".
(name withheld to protect his marriage)

Dear Sir

I've just read your article about Killing you TV.

I'm an expat living & working in Moscow, Russia. When I first came here I didn't buy a TV as I didn't speak Russian. Eleven years later and still no TV (but I can play DVDs on my computer) I'm still a happy man. I read plenty and check out alternative news (WRH.com) on the net.

I looking forward to turn off TV week too!

Cheers