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Life without television?


Television in your house Yes or No?  

  1. 1. Television in your house Yes or No?

    • Can't live without tv
      26
    • No tv in our house
      52
    • Have tv but have restricted access to it
      153
    • Have tv: no restrictions.
      47
    • Obligatory Other: please explain
      36


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My first poll: please be kind.

 

Lately I've been wondering about life without television. Yes, sometimes I watch too much, or just have it in the background as "white noise"... but it also allows me to watch my favourite programmes ...but then again maybe ds will pick up my watching habits ... but maybe the house will be too quiet, or boring.

 

Have you lived without television? Did your kids change? Did you change? Did you try it and wanted to jump out of a window? Did you find it liberating? Please share. :001_smile:

 

:bigear:

Edited by desertmum
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We have been TV free for almost a decade. DH had a harder time than I did but it was a no brainer for me. I don't miss a single thing about it. We raised DD completely free of electronic media until about age 4. We now use educational documentaries a bit. Neither DD or I like fictional movies much.. we really prefer books.

 

TV just has never been a part of her life so she has never missed it. We are not unusual for our local friends.

 

As a family, we craft, read, play games, talk, etc in the evenings instead.

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I am being hard to get along with and voting other, but it is due to not always living at home. At home we have no TV (dh hates TV) I have lived without it for extended periods of time.

 

Part of the time while he is working we stay in hotels. I have to have some noise on although you would thing between a baby girl and a dog there would be plenty of noise. Unless the weather is bad we do try to spend a few hours outside each day so it isn't on 8 or 10 hours a day, but it is for a few hours. I know dd and I would be better off without it, but it isn't easy.

 

At home it isn't so bad because there is lots to do around the house. I also end up having a radio on a lot more at home.

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We have a TV. It is on first thing in the morning while dd eats breakfast for about 30 min. then is turned off for the rest of the day until evening when dh wants to watch it though sometimes when not doing schoolwork at lunch, dd will turn it on while eating lunch so maybe 3/7 days a week. Now that it is getting warmer we will start taking our lunch outside on nice days so even less.

 

We do watch some education shows or DVDs. My dh likes cooking shows or antique type shows. I love history channel shows about different topics.

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Explaining my obligatory other. Got rid of tv before eldest was crawling. Which was fine for years. Then a grandparent introduced her to the fact that our national broadcaster puts all their content (non-commercial) online. Add to that an iPad and an app just for that online tv content....may as well have a tv.

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We have a TV in the basement. It's a good compromise for us, and I enjoy not having it in the main living space. It gets rid of the temptation of just keeping it on for noise, and you have to actively seek it out if there's something you want to watch. If we got rid of it all together, I'm pretty sure I would watch my favorite two shows on my computer, so I don't really see much of a difference.

 

ETA I voted restricted access, but it's not really restricted, just inconvenient.

Edited by Annie
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I chose other...we have a tv and I enjoy the tv. I didn't just choose the first option, because it's not that I can't "live without a tv". I just enjoy having one! It is not on all the time and the kids have to ask me first. They don't have a certain amount of time a day that they are allowed to watch...instead, it just varies by the day (sometimes I need them to watch tv IYKWIM!). My dh works out of town a lot and after I put the kids to bed I enjoy watching a show or two. So for us, it is a form of entertainment that we choose to enjoy.

 

One more thing to add...we don't have cable, just netflix and hulu plus. Also, I never use the tv for background noise. The kids watch a show and then the tv is turned off (same for me when I watch a show).

 

Hope that helps!

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We have not had TV for over 10 years. I'm very happy without it. I wanted my children to grow up without the constant influence of advertising.

 

My son once told me that my decision not to have TV has has contributed more to his welfare than my decision to homeschool.

 

I think he was referring to the hours of his life that he has been free to pursue other interests.

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We have 3 TVs in the house, but only two of them are actually hooked up to cable. The third is in the kids' room (which is also their playroom) and can only be used for Wii or DVDs. I have one in my scrapbooking room- very old, and just to watch if I'm in there working by myself, or if the kids want to hang with me and watch a movie while I work. There are no TVs on the main living level. I could easily live without a TV. Dh, on the other hand, could not. He has a big TV in his basement man cave, and spends a lot of time watching absolute drivel :tongue_smilie:- cartoons, sports, and other dumb TV like Man vs. Food.

 

I do record some shows, like Big Bang Theory, and enjoy watching them when I'm down the basement doing laundry. But, I would probably just listen to audiobooks if I didn't have the TV down there. No biggie.

 

ETA: The kids' screen time is limited to weekends only, and after other obligations like chores. They can occasionally earn extra weekday screen time, too.

Edited by thescrappyhomeschooler
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We have a tv but have VERY restricted access. Oldest dd uses it for Latin and Spanish. Otherwise, we don't watch anything during the week. We might watch one or two (or no) shows/movies on the weekend.

 

ETA: We also have no cable/satellite. We do have access to digital channels, though we only watch Packers games. Everything else is DVDs.

Edited by Lisa in the UP of MI
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We have one tv...with directv. We have few restrictions on it, off during school hours, turn it off when you leave the room, and we all like to mute the commercials....mostly because we don't like the medical commercials.

 

I've toyed with disconnecting the tv from directv...but we love our documentaries and hgtv. We never watch primetime tv. If it isn't on hgtv, discovery, animal planet, or food network...chances are we haven't seen it. Well, Cartoon Network and Nick also.

 

As the weather warms up we spend less and less time in front of the tv. Now... the computer is a whole other deal. :tongue_smilie:

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I voted other because we have a TV in our house, but only watch DVDs on it ... absolutely no television. We didn't even have a TV for years. The kids have never missed it. They've been too busy LIVING.

By the way, we quit watching TV over 32 years ago, when we got married. It was one of the best things we ever did!

Edited by mamajudy
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I wasnt sure how to vote (did you mean the physical tv, or cable service?) so i voted tv with restrictions. We have a tv but it is only connected to a dvd player.

 

I love the effect reduced electronics has had. The kids are playing outside more. They are playing together more. I have more time for my chores and to play with the kids.

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I said other. I have a "TV" that is used as a monitor for the DVD player, but it doesn't get reception. I've lived without cable for over 50 years, and my parents finally got it in their 80s when they couldn't go go go go all the time. How I remember my mother at 87: she'd garden for half an hour, come in and put up her feet and watch 30 minutes of the gardening channel, and go back out. And she fell in love with Britcoms in her ancient old age.

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No TV, kids have never had it.

 

Don't miss/glad we don't have

-- violence on the news

-- advertisements

-- junk tv

-- telling kids to turn off the tv (never had to do this, but not liking the thought)

-- using tv as a reward

-- scheduling around tv show times ("almost time for the news")

 

Still miss/wish I had

-- food & home channels (still miss these, even after 12 years)

-- TIVO (never had) to record documentaries, Masterpiece Theater, etc

-- discipline enough to watch only when planned, lol

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Like others we have a t.v. screen but we don't watch t.v. We use it to watch DVD's. We've had very limited access to t.v. for 16 years. We don't watch t.v. shows on the computer. We do access Youtube for stuff occaisionally.

It is such a time sucker. As it is both dh and I can spend hours on the computer- news and homeschool stuff.

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... it barely gets used. More now than in years past, as we do watch Nova and other documentaries. We watch movies sometimes too, not often.

 

Access is not restricted at all, btw. We've just never been TV watchers. TV isn't evil though. Mostly. lol

 

Penny

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Other: We don't watch commercial television but we do watch/have in the background a lot of dvds. I'm pretty picky on what they are allowed to be though. Given time I'll wean us off most of those too.

 

The only bad thing about not having tv is we still haven't seen the last Dr Who Christmas special!

 

Rosie

Edited by Rosie_0801
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I voted other because we have a tv but don't have cable or an aerial (no stations). Currently it is only used for videos and wii. Access is restricted to no more than an hour per day.

 

Way back when we had cable, we watched far more tv although it was still restricted. I would say the kids play more with each other and don't generally think to watch anymore. Dh and I will often talk and discuss news etc in the evenings which would never happen if the tv was on.

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I voted the third option.

 

Many years ago as my Valentine's Day gift, dh agreed to toss out our TV. He and dc demolished the entertainment center and he put the TV by the curb, and we never looked back. We lived for a long time without it, all the years older dc were growing up.

 

Then a few years ago, my dm wanted to get dc a Wii, so we bought a small flat screen for the family room. Now we watch movies once or twice a week, too, and dh and I will sit down and watch network TV for an hour or two in the evening to relax.

 

It has been wonderful for dc to grow up without the TV on all the time (the way I grew up.) I think it has been a key part of the way they have turned out.

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I voted "other." We have a TV and no restrictions for 3 of the 4 of us. We watch sporadically. Sometimes it's off for days . . . sometimes we have a movie marathon. If it broke it wouldn't be an emergency.

 

My 11-year-old son does need TV limits and doesn't appreciate them

. :glare:

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ETA: The kids' screen time is limited to weekends only, and after other obligations like chores. They can occasionally earn extra weekday screen time, too.

Yes, I use the extra screen time reward, or movie time reward.

 

I wasnt sure how to vote (did you mean the physical tv, or cable service?) so i voted tv with restrictions. We have a tv but it is only connected to a dvd player.
Sorry. By "television" I meant service,where you get live braodcast from misc braodcasting stations. I assumed pretty much anyone can watch dvds on their computers.

 

Like others we have a t.v. screen but we don't watch t.v. We use it to watch DVD's. We've had very limited access to t.v. for 16 years. We don't watch t.v. shows on the computer. We do access Youtube for stuff occaisionally.

It is such a time sucker. As it is both dh and I can spend hours on the computer- news and homeschool stuff.

BOLDED text my idea.

 

Yes, that is my problem too.

 

Lots of people have voted other. Lots of people have taken 'physical' measures (putting tv set in the basement for example) to avoid using the telly as 'white noise'. Uhmm. Interesting. I like the fact that most children don't seem to have dropped dead because they don't have telly!

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I have not had a TV for 22 years, ever since I moved out of my parent's home. I consider watching TV a huge time waster.

When the kids were little, we would watch two movies on DVD each weekend on the computer.

Now with technology having advanced the way it did, we are able to stream anything to the computer and get DVDs from netflix - I'd say I watch about two films and one episode of a show a week. I do not have time.

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Sorry. By "television" I meant service,where you get live braodcast from misc braodcasting stations. I assumed pretty much anyone can watch dvds on their computers.

 

 

OH, I HAVE a TV, but haven't had cable or any channels for about 5-6 years now. We have Netflix.

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Now we have one - a really big, ugly American one - but it's off in a "bonus room" so in order to watch it, one must make a decision to watch it. There is no just turning it on and going about one's day. I could never ever live with someone who uses the tv for background noise. I am NOT a back ground noise person.

 

We all love watching tennis tournaments on our television, and I don't think we would get rid of it for that reason. During the biggest tournaments of the year, our tv is on for hours, and we all curl up in the evenings and watch the big matches. Likewise, we will watch Carolina basketball.

 

Other than that, DH and I have a couple of shows we watch. My boys like to watch Wild Man and River Monsters.

 

That's pretty much it.

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We have not had tv during my son's lifetime (9 yrs). I think that it may be easier to never have it than to have it and then for it to be taken away. (From a child's perspective.)

My son does watch television at his grandparents occasionally and we are selective to what programs he can watch even then. I can always tell when he has had screen time though.....all those commercials are sooooo enticing to him. He comes home talking about new toys he suddenly has to have.

 

All that said. We do not miss tv. We do not have time for tv. My son is too busy playing in the yard using his imagination, riding bikes, playing basketball, building things with his papa, playing piano and drums, making lego masterpieces etc. I do not have time for tv. I have a hard enough time getting my household chores completed as is.....maybe too much time at the WTM :tongue_smilie:

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We have a tv with rabbit ears for reception :) No cable.

 

We use the tv for video games and DVDs. We don't have the tv on for white noise... that's what the radio's for!

 

We so rarely watch network tv that when my husband watched the end of the Super Bowl, my son asked him to pause it (in the last few minutes) so he could ask a question. I haven't had anything show me how much things have changed as hearing "Pause, please," during a live game. :lol:

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We have a TV, but we do not get any TV stations since we don't pay for cable. We have restricted access via netflix. With kids in the house, my thoughts are that the main downside to unrestricted TV access is all the exposure to commercials. It's always kind of annoying when my DD spends the day at my in-laws' house and comes back crowing about the new toys she saw advertised on their TV. ;)

 

I did live without TV for a couple of years in my early twenties. Then I decided to get one again, and pretty much binged on it for a while. Now I don't really watch it, but I spend far too much time on the internet.

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We ditched network television almost 2.5 years ago. Sometimes we think we miss it...and we get through it. We have netflix and we get movies from redbox and BB.

 

DH and I miss major league baseball most of all - in fact, that is probably the only thing we miss; fortunately, sometimes we can catch a game we want to see online.

 

This past week, we are on vacation and all the bedrooms have televisions -- dh and I have decided that we definitely do not need tv at home.

 

The kids are having a great time watching Food Network and HGTV -- THAT's what we all have been watching...we will be fine without it when we get home.

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We have several TVs, but my kids don't watch them enough for me to restrict their screen time. They sometimes watch hockey or baseball on TV with DH, but I don't mind that because they're not zonked out staring at the screen for hours. They're constantly discussing the game and a thousand other things with DH and each other. I like their male bonding time. :)

 

My oldest and I don't really watch sports, but we do watch Criminal Minds together every week and sometimes watch other shows on DVD or online.

 

And we never have the TV on as background noise. I hate it.

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I voted have tv, no restrictions, but I don't keep the TV on as background/white noise either, because I find that irritating and intrusive. If I am in the mood for background noise, I turn on music. If the kids want to watch something, they ask. My answer just depends on whatever is going on that day/at the moment. They turn it off when they are done. We watch mostly Netflix, movies, or Wii (too much!). Broadcast TV? Very rarely. I have an extreme aversion to commercials... our old TV had an info hazard sticker on it... I need to find another. It was one of those little things that made me :D

 

ETA: After typing that, it looks like I should have voted have tv, with restricted access. But it doesn't really feel that way because I don't have any hard rules about it, they don't ask that often (Wii excepted) and I often say yes, as long as they aren't currently working on schooly stuff.

Edited by Flux
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We have TV with basic cable and Netflix, and we have no restrictions. No one in our house is hyper focused on watching, though. Days will go by without it being turned on. If someone in our family was glued to it all the time, there would be restrictions.

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Well, I chose can't live without tv. But... the truth is I could do it. I should have chose other. I would choose better if there was one that said - can live without it, but choose not to. In our house, my youngest will watch cartoons before I wake up. Then the tv is off most of the day unless I watch Anderson Cooper - which is pretty rare. In the evening, I love my dvr. There I said it... I love it and I don't care what anyone says about it. I like to sit down for a couple hours and lose myself in my shows. Some shows I watch with the whole family. Some with just dh and some with just the kids. We have netflix too and on and off we will find a series to watch. A couple times a month I rent a move from redbox. So what? I think since the invention of the internet people worry too much about what others think of them. If you like watching tv - who cares what anyone else is doing? Do what feels right for you. For me - that is zoning out for a couple hours each night.

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We have a tv with restricted access. It's not on at all during the day. We watch an hour or so around dinner time. Then we're off to activities most evenings. I watch tv after 8 until 10 or so. Weekends are unlimited, but again, we have lots going on. The boys do watch an hour or so in the afternoon at my parents' house when I am working. I don't like it, but it's a compromise.

I don't have any problem with tv.

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we have a television, but it is only hooked up to a dvd player, no commercial tv at all. we like it that way. a lot. we turned off commercial television during the first gulf war, so its been about twenty years now.

 

the thing we like best is that none of us are exposed to commercials. it was the most amazing thing that first christmas many years ago when i asked what the dc wanted, and they didn't have a whole list of specific things, because they hadn't been exposed to the marketing.

 

then there is the lack of attitude from teens and preteens, that we treasure, too.

 

i'd love to say we play games in the evening, and we used to, but these days the dc dance or play the violin most nights, so what we do is chat in the car....

 

we do use electronic media, though, so that they can watch shows if they choose to.... but mostly don't.....

 

fwiw,

ann

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We have TVs and some restrictions. (ditched Satellite so we only have Roku and antenna)

 

Two oldest rarely watch it, they don't like TV. They prefer computer time.

 

Youngest watches some, Dh watches some but has little time to do so, I watch the most. I typically watch it in the evenings.

 

I won't die without it. I didn't have TV growing up (we didn't get any signals where I lived anyway.)

Edited by DawnM
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OH, I HAVE a TV, but haven't had cable or any channels for about 5-6 years now. We have Netflix.

 

I have cable bacause that is the only way to get stations in English. Netflix is not available (read:not allowed) where I live, because the state-owned company doesn't like competition. :glare:

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I would like to express my unabashed love of the art form of television. I like a quality TV show better than most movies.

 

But all things in moderation and all that.

 

:iagree:

 

I see no reason to get rid of my television.

 

:iagree:

 

 

We like our tv. :D It is entertainment, it is down time.

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when the digital swtich came, we never switched. We watch DVD's and have a good selection of older shows in our collection...Andy Griffith, I love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes, etc.

 

Love it.

 

We all get much more done and we are more intentional about watching TV instead of scrolling through the channels. My children are also very picky about what they watch at Grandma's and other places that do have TV since they are not conditioned to accept swearing, blatant sexuality or half naked people in commercials. I feel like their innocence is more protected by not having commercial TV.

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We have TV, I have no restrictions on it and never have, and my kids hardly watch it.

 

My oldest son (21) watches NBA basketball games when he's home and my youngest watches the occasional cartoon, but he much prefers to read. My dd watches every once in awhile when she's here, but she's usually too busy for TV.

 

My dh watches it in the evenings...mostly news, but other stuff as well. He grew up in a home with a TV in every single room (even the bathrooms...I'm not kidding :001_huh:), so he enjoys it more than the rest of us.

 

I don't watch at all, unless it's a good documentary. We do watch a fair amount of documentaries with our DVD player for school, but other than that...unless I'm having an Andy Griffith marathon :D...it's not on.

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