LuvingLife Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 My family and I have two TV's in our house, but two months ago we got rid of our satellite (for financial reasons) but to really get back into being a family. We have all been so into TV for so long that it pretty much became our lives, especially for my brothers and sisters, and my dad who always wanted to watch football. I noticed how attached I was getting to certain shows and if I didn't watch them I would be very angry and upset! How pathetic is that?!!! But ever since we shut it off, it's like everything is so much better, I find myself picking up new hobbies, and getting more involved with orchestra, volunteering, reading, crotcheing, exercising, and I have so much more time to study it's ridiculous!! I wish we had done this a long time ago! My friends think I am odd for not having TV or a Facebook, but I feel just fine, I have a cellphone that has texting, and emails and internent access, I am all set! Has anyone done this and seen results like this? Or maybe even had satellite? I would love to hear more!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 I voted other, I wasn't sure if specifically meant satellite or would include cable. Yes we have cable and enjoy it. It is part of our entertainment, we don't go out to eat much, go to the movies often, so we use cable as such. However, ds rarely watches. Dh is the big tv watcher. I have certain shows I will watch, some I never miss, but I don't feel "hooked" to TV. When dh is gone it's rarely on. We have movie channels (free thing) and I have caught some good movies I would never even know about. My dad worked for a TV station when I was a kid, TV was a big deal in our house. I don't find it odd about the TV or facebook, even though it's a given in our household. Ds doesn't watch, he doesn't want facebook, but he does his share of online stuff. The world will not implode if you don't stay caught up on a show. I think you are wise to recognize it might be an issue and just avoid it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nono Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We have two screens in the house -- downstairs. We're planning on ditching the satellite in the new year. The push is because we need to lower our bills with my dh being unemployed, but the real truth is we watch just a few channels, and our only local channel was dropped by DirecTV. :glare: We only watched that for news and weather after the kids went to bed. And we really want to get away overall from the broadcast mentality of being tied to a time slot to watch something. Frankly, the only thing that should still be time-driven is a sporting even. And, if a good game is going to be broadcast, we'd rather go to a sports bar as a family and enjoy the game in a group. So, I'm not looking to get rid of our screen entertainment, but get control of the schedule, I guess. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutor Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 I voted other. We have two TVs but no broadcast service of any kind, just Netflix DVDs. We love it, however, we are trying to figure out if we can afford satellite for a year so we can watch the olympics this summer (we can't do Internet streaming here). Dd13 wants to fence in the Olympics 4 yrs from now, so we'd love for her to be able to watch this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We do not have a TV at all, and don't want one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 (edited) We have had satellite television since 1996 (cable isn't available this far in the boonies), and I don't EVER want to be without it. :001_smile: I record history- and science-related programs for educational purposes, and we watch (and discuss) other programs as a family also, just for entertainment. We mainly watch old television shows; we watch very few current programs. A few months ago, we bought a 55" HD television, and it's great! Our family doesn't watch indiscriminantly, however; we are very selective about what we watch. We discipline ourselves to turn the television off and play games (including the Wii), and we play together frequently (Wii or board games) or read together instead of parking in front of the television and just watching whatever's on. I think that's the key to keeping television from taking over. Edited November 11, 2011 by ereks mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabrett Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We got rid of ours for finantial reasons, but we bought a Mac mini and hooked it up to the tv and watch everything via Internet. We have a Netflix streaming and a Hulu account, so we don't really miss any tv shows. Doing this caused our entertainment bill to go from $80 a month to $15. :D If you search hard enough, you can find the football games on the Internet. My dh watches all the games free that way.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We own a tv and do have a digital converter box (I think that's what it's called) so that we can get local digital channels. We pretty much only ever watch the Packers' games. We do also watch movies and occasionally play the Wii. We started out not having satellite or cable for monetary reasons, but I do like it much better this way (we watched quite a bit of tv growing up). We have much better things to do, and it definitely affects my kids adversely. We gave up tv entirely for probably a year or so because when 5yo ds was 1yo he got scared from any show we watched and it also made it more difficult for him to sleep at night. Now it's just an occasional thing (maybe once or twice a week). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
********* Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We don't watch much tv. We watch the news, and the boys have some PBS shows they like, but other than that, nope. No series we follow, no show we just hafta see every Friday night. Got rid of cable a few years ago, and it was a great thing for our family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm37 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We had basic cable for many years, basic being just the broadcast channels and a few others. The fee went from $10 when we started to $30+ when we disconnected. We just put up a big antenna for network football. Wow, is it huge and ugly on the roof! It had to go right on the peak. What will the neighbors think? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 growing up, tv was on all. the. time. and it was a change having my own home. I just got busy with other things and stopped watching. We have satillite - but we are very choosy about what is watched (and dh *must* watch football :tongue_smilie:), and it isn't that much. the computers are a much bigger distraction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 (edited) We have Direct TV, and I cancelled it today. No one watches it except during baseball season. I bought a Roku instead, kept our Netflix streaming subscription, and plan to subscribe to Hulu Plus. It's a lot cheaper. I hope the Red Sox games are satisfactory through MLB.TV on Roku, because that is the only reason we subscribed to Direct TV in the first place. Edited November 12, 2011 by RoughCollie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 (edited) Where we used to live we had sattelite with a bajillion channels. We moved and got cable (not nearly as many channels, but that was ok). Last year, we really needed to cut corners and get rid of expenses that we really didn't need...so we cancelled the cable. We don't have an HD tv, so my mom sent us her used converter box (she no longer needed it since she got cable). She could get about 22 channels on that thing (she lives right on Lake Michigan). We can only get 3 channels on it... But....that's ok with me. I LOVE it. I do miss the Lifetime movie channel..but I can live without it. :001_smile: ETA: DD would love for us to get Netflix....but I see no reason to get it. I'm happy with the 3 local channels and we can get just about any movie we want from the library (free for one whole week!). Edited November 11, 2011 by ~AprilMay~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Running the race Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We have TV, but we only use an antenna and converter box to get local channels. The kids play video games. We also have Netflix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We have SkyTv here from the UK and it's 85 bucks a month. I need someone speaking English or I would go bonkers.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We had Directv, but cancelled it. We have a two Roku boxes (for the 2 main tv's), and use streaming through Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus. We also have digital antenna tv. I don't know that we watch less tv, but we *are* more selective about what we watch. With satellite we'd just flip through the channels to find something, anything to watch. Now we have to actually choose what we want to watch. And it's so much cheaper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaton Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We got rid of ours for finantial reasons, but we bought a Mac mini and hooked it up to the tv and watch everything via Internet. We have a Netflix streaming and a Hulu account, so we don't really miss any tv shows. Doing this caused our entertainment bill to go from $80 a month to $15. :D If you search hard enough, you can find the football games on the Internet. My dh watches all the games free that way.;) This. We did the same thing... Ours was about 150 with the internet combined... We switched to a direct line, dropped our phone line and cable/satellite, and pay about 15 dollars a month for Netflix and Hulu. Couldn't be happier. We spend a total of 50 dollars a month, with internet included... And we watch what we want when we want. Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithseed Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 The first thing that people say to us when they find out that we don't have a TV is "you aren't missing anything". I can write it down, that's what they are going to say. I can't help but wonder why, if I'm not missing anything, they all keep theirs? But, I haven't been able to get enough nerve to ask...I'm afraid it will be a little snarky-ish :tongue_smilie: We got rid of our satellite in 2005. There is the adjustment period of "what to do now", but it goes away. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 I answered that we do have a tv/satellite but we don't watch it that much. We're more computer addicts than we are tv addicts. If it wasn't for Netflix, we would probably have the tv on for maybe one show a day. DH watches Jeopardy every night. Now, I refuse to give up internet. There was a thread about it sometime in the past several months I think. Nope, no way, nuh-uh. :D I can do much more on the internet than I can by watching tv anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We do enjoy TV but we cut out Satellite about 4 months ago. I do miss my DVR but we have Roku boxes and get Netflix and HuluPlus ($18 total/mo) and we have an antenna. The other thing we accidentally found out was that the cable internet that comes into the house can be split and there are quite a few channels that are not scrambled, so we get some channels that way as well. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 We have DirecTV and have for a lot of years now. I need, yes NEED it for baseball. It's the only way I can see all the Braves games. I also get MLB Extra Innings in the summer so I can watch just about any baseball game that's broadcast. We have two TiVos and I couldn't live without them. We record and then watch 99% of the time, fast forwarding through commercials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abigail4476 Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 We have the most basic plan because when we do watch TV it's usually via Netflix or hulu. I like to have the local channels because of severe weather coverage, but we usually lose our satellite when the storms get really bad so I guess it's not really necessary. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 We don't have satellite. We barely have a TV! We don't get any broadcast TV at all; our TV is only used for watching movies on DVD (and occasionally VHS). DH and I watch a couple of shows online, and that is plenty for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 We do, they just changed all the TV stations and transmitters to digital form analog. we could no longer get TV reception because of our location. we were eligible for free satellite setup because of our location, we now have television reception. this is only for the free to air programs, we don't have paid TV (cable) stations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvingLife Posted November 14, 2011 Author Share Posted November 14, 2011 So sorry for not being able to get back any sooner, but I have been super busy this weekend and didn't get a chance to get on the computer until now. It is really neat seeing the diversity among all of you and I am glad I started this poll for fun! I enjoyed it and I am glad to live life without any Satellite for now...:D Thank you for participating!! I enjoyed reading all of your opinions and views. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 I voted "no & don't want to," but "no" would have been more accurate. I don't know what satellite is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 We had no cable/satellite from '03-'06, then got it for a year only to turn around and cancel it again because we weren't watching it enough to justify the price. We do watch DVD's and sometimes Hulu or other online streaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 We got rid of satellite about 4 years ago, in favor of cable (because they also provided our Internet) and cable about 2 years ago, in favor of antenna and dsl. We thought we would miss it, but we really don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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