Please be HONEST and take my poll re: TV

[Dayle in Guatemala]

Cable is included in our rent, so we have cable and watch it regularly. We also do DVDs and classic tv shows on dvd. We usually watch about an hour or so a day maybe more depending on the day and if it's rainy season or not.

[Sun]

No, I am not annoyed that people don't watch regular TV or even if the semantics are different (which I am grasping a little better after reading responses), what annoys me is when people have an air of self-righteous arrogance and turn up their noses at those of us who do watch TV announcing proudly that they "Don't watch TV" when they really do watch things.

 

Now, if it is said more matter of factly, I really don't care what you choose to do about TV as long as you aren't rude to me about our choices and as long as, after turning up your nose at me, I don't find out that you actually do watch more than I do, you just find a different venue to enact it.

 

Does that make sense?

 

This is all triggered by a few people lately who have made VERY rude comments to me (and those around me) about my TV watching or allowing the kids to watch TV and telling me how much better THEY are because they don't do such things.....

 

One mom even told me, "Oh, we don't watch TV. We love our children." It was everything in me not to say, "Oh, well, we hate our kids, so we watch TV."

 

Of course, I find out later that they do indeed watch TV, they just don't have cable.....

 

Dawn

 

That makes total sense. Thanks for explaining! I hope I have never come off as being smug about what we do. I certainly don't feel smug about our choices! (Well, okay, once when I tried to kindly let another mom know that her toddler was playing with a plastic bag over his head--when she screamed at me that she could parent her own child, I did feel a tiny moment of superiority about my no-plastic-bags-over-my-child's-head parenting, but mostly I worried about her child.)

 

I can not even imagine the gall or lack of awareness someone must have to reply like that one mom did to you. As if someone who lets her children watch TV doesn't love them! That was a really offensive, rude comment, and I don't blame you at all for being annoyed! Those situations are when I really wish I could come up with a snappy zinger for a comeback. I only think of the perfect response hours later, though.;)

[yellowperch]

This is a very long thread! Holy tomoly this is a hot-button issue.

 

I wish I could find an old you-tube spoof of a guy singing a song about how he doesn't watch tv. it was so funny because it poked fun at all the obnoxious drama about the whole issue. The guy in the clip (I know...the irony...) would introduce himself to everyone he'd meet and immediately weave in that he doesn't have a tv, and manage somehow to insult the other person while doing so.

 

After watching that clip I vowed never again to utter the words "oh, we don't have a tv". But we don't. Really. And yet you could still hear my kids talk about scooby-doo and sponge-bob and even elmo. But that doesn't mean I'm lying. It just means that when they were sick we streamed some scooby or when they went to their grandmother's they watched sponge-bob (and boy did they). And someone gave us an elmo doll that my 4 yo has always loved.

 

We don't watch tv because I hate the noise, and I don't like how I get sucked in. I haven't owned a television since I moved out of my parents' house. It's not really a parenting decision.

 

Now things have gotten cloudier since the advent of mini-dvd players and computer streaming, etc. My kids do watch a movie or two a month, but they often go long stretches without watching anything. So what? It's really just a matter of habit and lifestyle, not a comment about anyone else's morality. Back when I did bring it up in polite conversation it was usually in response to a question such as "oooh, you love bob the builder? whose your favorite machine?" when a ds was sporting a hardhat.

 

Now I just let it go. Nothing says sancti-mommy louder than "we don't watch tv". (except maybe "we homeschool", of course.)

 

The main issue now is that I spend too much time on the computer, which I am girding myself to abstain from for a little detox. I think in facebook lines sometimes. Not good. 2011 screen-time is much more pernicious and difficult to keep reasonable than 1990s screen time. Oh for the good old days when no-tv meant no-tv.

[min]

Sun, I've always had a blanket no-plastic-bags-on-heads rule in my family too. :)

 

Min

[teachmejoy]

I just put other because we don't have any TV at all, but we do stream some netflix shows or movies at times. We also watch DVD's that we feel are appropriate.

[DawnM]

Hmmm...I will have to think about what my stand on that would be.....:lol:

 

Sun, I've always had a blanket no-plastic-bags-on-heads rule in my family too. :)

 

Min

[Garga]

We just got rid of cable, but started up with Netflix and we watch more tv than ever! And not just on the computer...OoooOOOo no! We hook that baby up to the projector in our back room and watch tv on our 4 foot by 3 foot screen.

 

Oh baby! Do we ever watch tv! My eyes practically dry up and roll out with all the tv watching we do.

 

No longer do we have to wait until something good is on tv. We just pick and choose from about a BILLION choices on Netflix and watch and watch and watch and watch...

 

It's really getting out of hand!

 

Garga ~signing off now to finish watch the last 15 minutes of a movie that got interrupted earlier tonight...

[blondeviolin]

We have a TV but no cable or satellite. It's solely Netflix and/or Hulu here. My kids watch about 2 hrs a day (max). My husband and I? More like 3 hours a week, if that.

[Ibbygirl]

One mom even told me, "Oh, we don't watch TV. We love our children." It was everything in me not to say, "Oh, well, we hate our kids, so we watch TV."

 

Dawn

 

That's horrible!! :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

[joannqn]

We have a TV, no cable, no satellite, no rabbit ears, no reception of any kind. I would love to have TV, but cable fees are too high for our budget. We regularly watch Netflix.

[Rosie_0801]

Other. We have a television, it does pick up free to air tv, but we never watch it. We do have dvds or videos on almost constantly. Not that they actually spend a lot of time actually sitting and watching, really. It's my mother-of-a-toddler addiction and I'm planning to cut back the habit in about 18 months time. Ideally I'd prefer not to have it on, but I'm realistic so I compromise by being careful to keep the quality reasonable.

 

Rosie

[Peela]

We have satellite TV. I do often say I dont watch "normal television" because people are always mentioning shows and we just dont watch normal commercial TV and haven't for years- our satellite TV doesn't even pick them up. So I am probably one of those annoying people you are referring to :)

I also watch maybe 2 hours a week. But the rest of the family watches plenty.

[weddell]

I didn't read all the pages, but I answered the we had rabbit ears. We actually just relocated to India for the next two years and we will be getting cable here to help with homesickness.

 

But in the U.S. we had a huge antenna put on our roof. The antenna line was connected to the computer where we had a tv recorder program (similar to tivo or a dvr) that records the programs we like. So it is broadcast tv but with quite a few stations and we only watch shows we record or that are playing at the moment. When we watch recorded shows we can skip through the commercials, pause, etc. So we had a large selection of PBS kid shows recorded and available at any time and things like House, Glee, and shows we like. We also had Netflix streaming on the computer and wii on the tv. Kids were allowed some sort of commercial free program after lunch, but that was it. We watched a few things after they went to bed.

[ereks mom]

Yep, same here. And guess what, despite all of the media we watch my children still love Jesus, have a meek and quiet spirit and get a long with each other.:D

 

Mine too! :)

[LaissezFaire]

We have satellite and all that jazz, I think our category would fall under "We do not watch tv during daytime hours." We maybe watch a movie in the evening and I watch tv when everyone goes to bed if there is anything on. The only time tv is on during the day is when someone is sick and in bed.

[Ohdanigirl]

I only get that when I am state side. People practically live in front of their TV's where I am.

 

Now to answer your question, we have a satellite. I like TV, but don't get to watch much, or at least I don't control the channels. Dh enjoys it every chance he can though.:D I have learned so much about sports of all kinds.:lol::lol::lol: No really. Hockey, soccer, football, tennis, gymnastics, and ROLLER DERBY.

 

I prefer to spend my time on the computer, mostly in these forums....um doing education related reseach.:D

 

Danielle

[KidsHappen]

WE have cable but rarely watch shows (only House, Bones & Fringe) on TV. We watch TV shows on disc one season at a time or stream from Netflix on our computer. We also get movies from netflix.

[lionfamily1999]

WE have cable but rarely watch shows (only House, Bones & Fringe) on TV. We watch TV shows on disc one season at a time or stream from Netflix on our computer. We also get movies from netflix.

That's my hulu viewing list :D

 

You forgot Modern Family though :lol:

[Crimson Wife]

I always say that we have no cable/satellite and get no reception. We do watch DVD's and DH watches certain shows on the computer (I don't care for doing that).

[sgr123]

I don't watch a lot of TV. I watch my soap that I record with the DVR and rerun sitcoms that don't really need my attention. I have tried to get into the network shows, but always forget to watch them and lose track. I was watching Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, but lost my place from missing too many episodes. We were trying to watch No Ordinary Family, but again, I forgot. I guess I will order that one on DVD because my oldest really liked it. I usually have it on one of the music stations (love the 40's era stuff) and the kids will watch Sprout, Disney, Nick or PBS.

 

We do have Netflix and I stream it through our Wii. There are a lot of great IMAX movies on there. Those of you who don't have it should check it out. You can get the watch instantly package for like $9. My package is one dvd at a time and watch instantly for $10 a month. I can't see spending any more than that.

 

I try to be choosy about what the children watch. There is way too much sexual content on TV these day. Even in some of the kids shows. The Disney show with the Sprouse twins, Suite Life on Deck, has been banned for a comment I heard the other day that the kids didn't even get. It was just the point.

[Tabrett]

I chose: No TV but watch on computer, but this is not exactly correct. We HAVE TV's, but our computers are hooked up to the TV's. We watch TV show from the computer on our TV's and we also watch DVD's.

 

We do not have rabbit ears, cable or satalite.

[DawnM]

If these are all you watch, couldn't you just get regular network TV and not pay for cable? Those are all network shows.

 

Dawn

 

WE have cable but rarely watch shows (only House, Bones & Fringe) on TV. We watch TV shows on disc one season at a time or stream from Netflix on our computer. We also get movies from netflix.

[Crimson Wife]

If these are all you watch, couldn't you just get regular network TV and not pay for cable? Those are all network shows.

 

My parents pay for cable even though they basically just watch network shows because their broadcast reception is so terrible. When I was growing up before our town got wired for cable, we got PBS and ABC and that was it.

[lionfamily1999]

My parents pay for cable even though they basically just watch network shows because their broadcast reception is so terrible. When I was growing up before our town got wired for cable, we got PBS and ABC and that was it.

It's like that in a lot of places. We had bunny ears for a while, but all we could get were scratchy snowy pictures of any channel. We went to cable, then switched to dish, then dumped the whole thing :p

[LostSurprise]

In my family growing up we spent 2-3 years with no television (and obviously no streaming then). I think we attended movies rarely (maybe once during that period?) or never. My parents instituted that off and on 2 or 3 times. It's actually very restful and creative...although I was mad at the time.

 

I voted Other. I think we've done all of those at one time or another (just television-no cable, no television reception but vhs tapes for the kids, no cable--netflix, etc.). Currently we have a television and cable, but they're not hooked together. We need the cable in order to have high speed internet (they're bundled together). We watch television online and rent occasional movies.

[JessReplanted]

We have the smallest cable package possible (10 channels maybe), but we also have netflix which streams through the Wii. And, I also watch shows on Hulu on my laptop.

 

We try to limit tv for the kids, but it is on at least a few hours a day (if you count all day & video game time).

[foxbridgeacademy]

I used to be one of those people, we went 2 years without "TV" watching either on computer or netflix. Total cost including internet $50. Now that we live in the boonies :glare:, we have to pay $60 per month for internet, that is to slow to get netflix (also has usage cap!), and $80 for satalite per month. We will be moving in the near future, I need high speed!

[Lovedtodeath]

My parents pay for cable even though they basically just watch network shows because their broadcast reception is so terrible. When I was growing up before our town got wired for cable, we got PBS and ABC and that was it.

The reception here is much, much better, (perfect, like having cable) now that it is digital. Our rabbit ears would only get two channels.

[Lovedtodeath]

I used to be one of those people, we went 2 years without "TV" watching either on computer or netflix. Total cost including internet $50. Now that we live in the boonies :glare:, we have to pay $60 per month for internet, that is to slow to get netflix (also has usage cap!), and $80 for satalite per month. We will be moving in the near future, I need high speed!

The main reason we got our internet back was in order to get Netflix streaming, but it doesn't seem to be working well. It has to stop and load in the middle of movies about every 10 minutes. We have 3Mbps DSL. What should we upgrade to?

[Alice]

We watch occasional shows on Hulu or Netflix and more frequent movies from Red Box or Netflix or the library.

 

Sometimes I say "we dont' have TV" as it's simpler than explaining the above. Usually it's because someone is asking if I've seen a particular commercial, if I'm going to watch something immensely popular that most people watch (the Super Bowl, election results, State of the Union, Olympics, Oscars) or if it's a pop culture reference that I don't get at all.

 

Watching on computer is somewhat different because you pick and choose so miss a lot of the ads and in particular trailers for other shows. Also there isn't the channel surfing. It's not better morally but it just makes for a different experience.

 

I don't mean to imply that I'm better than others by saying we don't watch TV or to mislead them, it's just faster than describing what we really do in a quick conversation.

[lionfamily1999]

We watch occasional shows on Hulu or Netflix and more frequent movies from Red Box or Netflix or the library.

 

Sometimes I say "we dont' have TV" as it's simpler than explaining the above. Usually it's because someone is asking if I've seen a particular commercial, if I'm going to watch something immensely popular that most people watch (the Super Bowl, election results, State of the Union, Olympics, Oscars) or if it's a pop culture reference that I don't get at all.

 

Watching on computer is somewhat different because you pick and choose so miss a lot of the ads and in particular trailers for other shows. Also there isn't the channel surfing. It's not better morally but it just makes for a different experience.

 

I don't mean to imply that I'm better than others by saying we don't watch TV or to mislead them, it's just faster than describing what we really do in a quick conversation.

A few other posters (and myself) have said the same thing. It's just a quick way to say, "I did not see ----- because I do not have my television hooked up to any outside source. We watch hulu, netflix &tc, but no actuall real time television programming."

[LBS]

Due to reading about it here, I educated myself about Netflix. I found out that the TVs and game system controllers were not just limited investments. For 1/5 of the price of satelite (we live in the country, there's no cable), I can control, at my convenience, the movies, and TV series reruns, and I LOVE IT! I can watch all the current TV I wish, on my computer on Hulu, and I don't even subscribe to Hulu Plus. I use the Wii on my bedroom TV, and the PS3 on the big TV in the den. The kid at college has an XBox, and we have three computers to watch whatever we wish. This does not mean we watch more hours, but we watch smarter, and when we wish. I can watch while folding laundry. I just feel like I'm in control of the TV, now, not having to work around the schedule of when shows come on, and watching endless commercials. We do have a housetop antenna, for those dozen channels, that come in on that, for news, etc. Current TV shows are a guilty pleasure, so I have to be doing something useful to justify watching, kwim? But the amazing access to documentaries and movies to use for educational purposes, that are found online, Netflix, at Top Documentary Films, etc., are just pricless for my son's education.

 

By the way, op, perfect title/challenge: "Please be HONEST!"

 

LBS

[skueppers]

I voted that we have "rabbit ears only," but that doesn't really describe what we have at all.

 

We have an indoor antenna that's several steps up from rabbit ears. We have TiVo. We have Netflix streaming. We have AppleTV. We have a ton of DVD's.

 

My kids watch a fair amount of TV, between the German-language children's shows and the English-language documentaries. They watch 15-20 minutes a day of American children's shows that are not specifically selected for their educational content. This would be things like Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, Wild Kratts, etc. My Kindergartner watches 20-30 minutes a day of some kind of documentary related to our schoolwork. Both of my kids watch German TV shows and podcasts, which we consider to be an important aspect of our language program.

 

After the kids are in bed, I watch shows like "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY." My husband watches sports. We sometimes watch things like "Masterpiece Mystery" or a DVD movie together.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Three or four days a month are "yup, Mama's still epileptic" days for our family. On those days I sit the kids in front of Hulu or Netflix and let them watch as much as they want, complete with microwave meals from the freezer. The rest of the time they simply don't watch, not on the computer, not on a TV, not DVDs, not Hulu, not anything. But, since that amounts to 32 - 40 hours a month (yikes! I've never tallied it before), I answered your poll as a TV-watcher-via-the-computer.

[Erica in OR]

We gave up cable when we started Netflix a couple of years ago. Our current TV does not pick up any network stations at all and we don't have any sort of antenna. So we're Netflix/DVD/VCR only. We do watch a lot of Netflix instant streaming through the TV.

 

Erica in OR

[catz]

Ok - we do not have cable, satellite, or netflix. We do not watch any currently running series. We like movies on DVD and have watched old series on DVD (like Buffy). We might occasionally watch Jon Stewert now and again on the computer, but that's about it. My eyes glaze over when people start talking about recent TV series. So I often do answer that "We don't really watch TV". And I feel that is fairly accurate. But we're not anti technology by any means. I have to admit, I now have zero tolerance for TV advertising. Even my kids can't stand commercials watching cable at their grandparents houses.

Edited March 5, 2011 by kck

[secular_mom]

I find myself reminding folks that we 'don't watch TV', because they are always asking about whether I watch American Idol or have I seen such and such commercial, etc. What I mean by that is that we don't watch commercial television- and I do clarify that we watch lots of DVDs including TV series and we do Instant Netflix.

[Elfknitter.#]

I voted satellite, cable, or pay. We have Verion Fios, so I assume that's like uber cable or cable with steroids or something. :lol: Anyway, we get it as apart of our home bundle. Dh is very much a TV fan, so there's no way we could go TV-Free, (as much as I'd sometimes wish for it to be on less.) However, the TV is off during the day sometimes and during lessons. On the flip side, we are screen/ visual oriented. So there are times when the TV might be off, but we're in front of the computer screen for various components to a lesson. Tonight we were watching some videos on Nat Geo in relation to Dinosaurs and Fossils. All the while I was thinking, "this is so cool! It's like how I remember some of my fun PS lessons to be!" Honestly, in our day and age, it's a disservice to not at least somehow connect to the world via TV or online. It doesn't need to encompass all of one's life, but you should be aware and have some experience with it.

[Lizzie in Ma]

We only have basic cable and we only have that because it is more expensive not to. But that is because I'm cheap and can't stand most of the channels anyway.

That having been said, I am a huge fan of tv and movies and we use our Netflix account heavily.

Incidentally, we watched Ramona and Beezus last night, sweetest movie ever.

Then I watched Baghdad ER with my oldest who wants to be an ER nurse. Hard to watch but really well done documentary by HBO.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I sure didn't know how to answer that poll.

 

We *have* tv and cable, and pay for extra channels. However DH is the only one watching it. The kids and I don't watch tv!

 

This year, we started getting DVDs, twice a month, and the kids have discovered a liking for Star Trek. But that's it. Nothing on the computer.

[rieshy]

When people are talking about a show or a commercial and ask if I've seen it- I just say no. I don't say we, "don't watch T.V."

 

However, I found it amusing/irritating how often people will push you to clarify why you haven't seen something. Then I find it easiest to say that we don't have cable.

 

We do watch Dvd's. We do watch Netflix- but rarely ever T.V. on Netflix. We don't watch Hulu because I cannot stand commercials.

 

It's like homeschooling. I don't announce that I home school. People can get so defensive about their own choices.

[Lovedtodeath]

The main reason DH and I don't watch TV is that we are attached parents and the majority of TV is not appropriate for our children. We tried to watch Heroes but it got to be not worth banishing the kids from us for an hour each week.

[KidsHappen]

If these are all you watch, couldn't you just get regular network TV and not pay for cable? Those are all network shows.

 

Dawn

 

Really? I didn't know that. That is something I should look into. We have a package from Charter where our internet and cable are bundled but it should be cheaper with no or just absolute basic cable.