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Has anyone killed their TV?

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My solution to the TV pollution. For every hour you watch TV spend an hour outdoors. Outdoors can be any activity requiring you to move your body. I just started trying to do this and right now the TV is winning but I will keep at it because it is really a matter of life and death (recent AMA study).

That said- I love news, sports, discovery channel, animal planet, history channel, entourage, curb your enthusiasm, HBO documentaries and FOOTBALL (IMO this is similiar to religion). I am thinking of cutting out the news (CNN,FOX,ABC,CNBC) for my first round of TV cuts. Discovery channel and Animal Planet next. HBO docs and NFL Network rounds out my list of TV cuts. Wow, maybe I will have more time for naps, exercise and healthy dieting.
 
I'm curious about those of you who have unplugged. Did you just stop watching tv, or are you streaming off the computer, or just watching dvd's,, or using something like Roku?
I'm thinking about not renewing my Dish contract when it expires. I'd like to still be able to watch some tv, but the amount I watch is really not worth the cost.
 
I gave up on cable television almost ten years ago. I do not miss it one iota. I do however utilize netflix. It's amazing to me how much people base their life on TV. I am consistently asked, "did you see this ... last night etc. etc.".
 
It varies - my most extreme time I went completely off the grid for a 35 day wilderness trip in Northern Canada. No radio, no tv, no phones, and we would go days without seeing any other humans or signs of humans. This is a bit much as you start to hate "civilization".

Another time I lived in Europe for a year and the only TV I saw was some soccer and an attempt at watching the Super Bowl. Never missed it, so many better things to do.

In Sowal I lived for a year with no TV by choice, but had roommates to entertain me and we went to see movies regularly.

Spent years vacationing with no TV and loved it, but after decades of bliss, the family vacation house is now my brother's house, so there is now a giant plasma TV, DVR, and satellite so he and my father can (and do) watch it 24/7.

Now I have basic TV and have it on a lot for noise most of the time, but it always loses to another activity - especially now that I can watch anything I catch anything important (basically News or Project Runway) online.
 
NotDeadYet said:
I'm curious about those of you who have unplugged. Did you just stop watching tv, or are you streaming off the computer, or just watching dvd's,, or using something like Roku?
I'm thinking about not renewing my Dish contract when it expires. I'd like to still be able to watch some tv, but the amount I watch is really not worth the cost.
Click to expand...

well, we are still plugged in, we just don't turn it on unless we are ready to relax and watch something specific. only once or twice a week - usually bed time. It is so nice not having TV on in the bacikground. Whenever I visit family or friends with TVs blaring constantly, it is very hard to relax, converse, concentrate. I just try to get the volume down and ignore it. Background noise is all it is - and it is annoying to me now...

We will unplug completely eventually and come up with some kind of streaming solution, I am guessing.
 
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Tootsie, it sounds like you would probably be just fine with netflix, as long as you are ok without the background noise, sports, etc. It did take some getting used to, but now I really enjoy it.

I stream netflix through a Playstation 3. They have many of the most popular TV shows - this summer I watched the first 6 seasons of Weeds. No commercials, in order, as many episodes as I wanted, when I wanted - it was great! However, they don't have the latest seasons yet, and that is the case with most of their available television shows. I am sure they have some cooking shows, but I don't know how good they are!

I had hulu plus for a few months, but for me, it wasn't worth it. I used it to watch recent episodes of Grey's Anatomy, but they have several commercials during each episode; actually one commercial that they repeat 6-8 times an episode. Very annoying. You can watch newer episodes for free on the network websites, also with commercials, so that's what I do now, on my laptop.

What I'd really like is a mac mini, using my TV for a monitor, with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and stream directly to my television, from the computer. It opens up an entire new range of possibilities. If you don't want to go that far, there are options for wirelessly streaming from your computer to a device connected to your TV.
 
It's doubtful I'll go completely off the TV grid until the collapse forces me to. However, choosing to watch stuff on/from a computer gives a sense of being in more control of one's personal 'programming' choices. If cable companies offered ala-carte menu planning I'll bet it would be a real come-to-Geesus for the networks ;)

I said NO! to network-news-nonsense years ago, which instantly improved my state of mind. My preference is educational programming. Now that even my old stand-by, the history channel, has fallen into the abyss of shows like axe men, ice road truckers, and swamp people (wtf??)... No Thanks.

With that... over the summer I discovered the wonders of how-to videos on u-tube!!! (now trying to figure out how to watch from my computer on TV without a big investment in time & accessories).

In my experience, men are generally more attached to TV than women.
OK, gentlemen... bring it on!! LOL!!
 
Carol G said:
Tootsie, it sounds like you would probably be just fine with netflix, as long as you are ok without the background noise, sports, etc. It did take some getting used to, but now I really enjoy it.

I stream netflix through a Playstation 3. They have many of the most popular TV shows - this summer I watched the first 6 seasons of Weeds. No commercials, in order, as many episodes as I wanted, when I wanted - it was great! However, they don't have the latest seasons yet, and that is the case with most of their available television shows. I am sure they have some cooking shows, but I don't know how good they are!

I had hulu plus for a few months, but for me, it wasn't worth it. I used it to watch recent episodes of Grey's Anatomy, but they have several commercials during each episode; actually one commercial that they repeat 6-8 times an episode. Very annoying. You can watch newer episodes for free on the network websites, also with commercials, so that's what I do now, on my laptop.

What I'd really like is a mac mini, using my TV for a monitor, with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and stream directly to my television, from the computer. It opens up an entire new range of possibilities. If you don't want to go that far, there are options for wirelessly streaming from your computer to a device connected to your TV.
Click to expand...

well, I've got the PS3. I need to just try it!
 
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