Do You Have a TV

[Ghost Lemur]

Personally I'm more than happy to be without one.

Grew up in a house where the tv was always on, and people's lives revolved around the idiot box.

My childhood memories are intermingled with the appropriate periods tv shows.

Now if there is something I want to watch, a particular series or whatever. I download it watch it at my choosing and adfree.

How about you guys? Do you have one? Why?

[Ms Piggy]

Yes we own a t.v but I could live without it. Maybe that sould be another option in the pole. Cos none of the voting choices there apply to me.

I watch very little. 1 programme a week that I MUST see. It used to The Sopranos and that finished just in time for it to now be Six Feet Under.

Apart from that most of it is bollox, even the news. There's a few good docos but apart from that it's just rubbish.

I must admit though that the time I spend not watching t.v, I spend on the net. Maybe for some time wasting on the net rather than in front of the box is the new thing.

I hate being in a place where there is a t.v on too. I always get drawn to it :blink: and find it just about impossible to hold a proper conversation. I can't understand how some people can have their t.v on all the time, it drives me nuts.

[jrandom]

I grew up in a house without a TV. Did me a world of good, I suspect.

I posted in t'other thread about having one now, but seriously considering ditching it.

Perhaps I *will*. Dammit.

[Motu]

Yes,and couldn't care less would get my vote if it was a choice.We have old TVs given to us that die,then a few years later we get given another to try out.But we have 3 now - things come and go.I'll only watch a good documentry or a good movie - trouble is documentries have disapeared - went with Prime...good movies are rare,better of renting them.The boys watch Monster Garage and Top Gear....um,it's the only time they show any interest in things mechanical,so I often watch with them.Oh,MotuGP and F1 too,Bathhurst....sometimes you just gotta have a TV eh?

[MikeL]

The Simpsons.
Six Feet Under.
Anything on TCM.

Otherwise I can't be bothered.

If I had young children now I wouldn't allow a TV in the house.

The internal combustion engine and the cathode ray tube, which could have been the most liberating, have turned out to be the two most pernicious and socially destructive inventions of modern times.

I might make an exception for the internal combustion engine.

If it's in a motorbike.

[Milky]

I grew up in a house without a TV too. Never really missed it during that time, but since inheriting one and getting this infernally indispensible computer I find it much harder to occupy myself with worthwhile pursuits. I watch Futurama/Simpsons, other than that there is only a minimal amount that is worth seeing.

I think it is much better for kids to be brought up without a TV - encourages self reliance, gets them to be creative or enjoy the outdoors, doing work around the house and so on. Idiot box is a very apt name IMO

[Ghost Lemur]

I grew up in a house without a TV. Did me a world of good, I suspect.

I posted in t'other thread about having one now, but seriously considering ditching it.

Perhaps I *will*. Dammit.

I had a friend like you (without tv). I used to love staying at his house, his family talked, moved around at times not dictated by ad breaks, read. Dunno if it was a coincidence or not but I got rid of mine when the elder punk was born.

True he watches kids movies and stuff. But I dictate the times, not some tv guide. And the way I see it at a bare minimum he is still missing out being subjected to the deluge of advertising, etc. More often then not though him and his brother are playing the their billion toys, trashing the house, and just being boys in general.

I truely think it's the best thing I could have done for them, and my sanity for that matter.

[James Deuce]

The Simpsons.
Six Feet Under.
Anything on TCM.

Otherwise I can't be bothered.

If I had young children now I wouldn't allow a TV in the house.

The internal combustion engine and the cathode ray tube, which could have been the most liberating, have turned out to be the two most pernicious and socially destructive inventions of modern times.

I might make an exception for the internal combustion engine.

If it's in a motorbike.

Rather over stating the point methinks. I barely watch telly, what with study, work, kids, and sometimes when I'm lucky, sleep. Children's educational telly has come along in leaps an bounds since they days of play school. I don't get Japanese cartoons, and thankfully neither does my four year old. He prefers Dinosaur documentaries, which if you look carefully you can get the Discovery Channel stuff on DVD for $14.95.

However, recent studies into the mental activity of adult male humans, tends to suggest that all men need a certain amount of "fire gazing" to relieve stress, and most importantly reflect on the day and learn new stuff. I know it isn't PC to point out the men and women are quite different, and it is almost heresy in the post modern world to suggest that men need anything apart from a good thrashing for being oppressive autocrats for millenia, but I can watch telly and not take anything in. I just like to watch the flickering shapes. Makes me feel relaxed. Which again is bloody important if you want to maintain balance.

I do enjoy the Simpsons and Futurama, which is being re-run on 2 at 6:30pm on Saturdays. Did anyone see a recent episode of the Simpsons where the teenager with cracking voice cries out from the top of hill, "Why did they cancel Futurama? WHY!!?"

Nice Groening moment there.

I didn't vote in the poll, because like all things faintly controversial, questions about the relevance of TV tend to be asked in loaded terms. There isn't an option there that says that it is a balanced part of our family activities. It's either all or nothing.

[k14]

Yep well I was one of the 10 people that have so far gone for the top option. I was bought up with tv and now I think it is just engrained into me. I can do without all the programs but I couldn't do without sport.

We have sky satellite and I would say that 50% of my time is watching sport (Rugby, cricket, motorsport etc) 30% normal tv and maybe 20% on history or discovery channel. Don't watch very many movies on TV, I've already seen all the ones I need.

I don't think I'm a couch potato, but would I be "better" off if I didn't watch tv? Who knows, doesn't really bother me really. When I have kids I will let them watch TV, just make sure it isn't over used, maybe 2 or 3 hours a day max. It can be a helpful tool for educating kids.

Now, better go and buy that $10000 50" plasma screen for the NPC semis :niceone:

P.S. GO THE NAKI!!!! :headbang:

[MikeL]

Rather over stating the point methinks.

No. Television + computer games have changed forever the way in which we access and process information.

Pre-literate societies relied on oral/aural transmission and processing. Required advanced language skills and auditory memory. How many people today can formulate a complex sentence (one with dependent clauses) in their head and deliver it correctly? These days by the time they reach the predicate most people have forgotten the subject.

Then came writing. Oral/aural skills declined - we can always stop, go back and re-read a sentence. But the social and cultural advantages of literacy outweighed this small drawback. Written information can be input at varying rates, repeated, pondered, weighed up.

Television destroys the recipient's ability to manage the information. The viewer loses control over the message, which is delivered in timed sequential bursts which condition the viewer into passivity and the expectation of specific short-duration packets of data. Attention span is reduced and the threshold of boredom lowered. Sustained analytical processing of complex messages becomes impossible.

Just my opinion, of course. Could write more about the insidious and malevolent influence of television but it's almost time for The Simpsons.

[Jackrat]

Yeah we have one.
Watch some of the News,don't belive half of it.
The Simsons,Star Gate when it was on,The NZ cop shows,Rugby union and some times that other game,not much else.

[dhunt]

We've got a tv in our flat, which I watch sometimes but could easly do without (99.9% of whats on ant worth watching). I grew up without tv and it ment we kids were much better at making our own fun and really enjoyed reading books etc.

[marty]

i'd give up my 43" rear projector for......

[marty]

a 50" one :)

[カワサキキド]

We have five in my house, not that I them watch them much, mainly I just watch DVD's, the stuff they brodcast is just so crap(including saturn & sky).

[MOTOXXX]

Watch tv too much. grew up with free use of the telly.
i guess its done damage to my imagination somewhat and i still love tv.
Im trying to stop watching it so much. I mean if you think about it, tv is a time killer. you just sit there...watch...and get entertained. Nothing productive gets done. You could be doing a lot of other things instead.
Still find it a good way to relax tho. :bleh:

[marty]

it's ok watching porn though - get plenty of exersize then....

[Ms Piggy]

I know it isn't PC to point out the men and women are quite different, and it is almost heresy in the post modern world to suggest that men need anything apart from a good thrashing for being oppressive autocrats for millenia...

Is it really un-PC? It's so obvious though! The differences I mean. Men are always in need of a good thrashing though, after all wymin have had years of oppression under a patriarchal society of blokes etc etc.... :msn-wink:

Ooooo sorry a bit :Offtopic:

[jazbug5]

Thrash the heretic! Thrash the heretic!

:kick:

...there. That's better.

[riffer]

Ah yeah whatever Cathy ;)

back to the topic. Grew up in a house where telly was regulated as part of the balance of family life, with the exceptions of Bathurst, All Black test matches and cricket which were allowed at will.

I watch bugger all telly - spend too much time on the net I guess.

Sopranos, Six Feet Under is a must, along with International Rugby, Super12 and NPC (Hurricanes and Wellington) and motorsports, to which I must admit I'm ridiculously addicted.

My wife is a telly watcher, and my boy Tim is a shocker, feeling the need to "own" the remote control. However, he also has a great love of outdoor activities, creative pursuits (he spent yesterday morning painting) and reading, and seems quite good at self-regulation, thank goodness.

If telly is left on during the day, its either on Juice 2 (my wife uses it as background music) or Tim's inside watching SpongeBob SquarePants, or Rocket Power (to learn new tricks on his bike, skateboard, etc).

So, we couldn't do without telly, but we don't let it rule our lives. We all have things we enjoy on it, and quite often use it for inspiration (ie cooking shows, music, art, etc).

So telly's not all bad, if used sensibly. I guess, a lot like everything else we are told is bad for you...

[James Deuce]

No. Television + computer games have changed forever the way in which we access and process information.

Pre-literate societies relied on oral/aural transmission and processing. Required advanced language skills and auditory memory. How many people today can formulate a complex sentence (one with dependent clauses) in their head and deliver it correctly? These days by the time they reach the predicate most people have forgotten the subject.

Then came writing. Oral/aural skills declined - we can always stop, go back and re-read a sentence. But the social and cultural advantages of literacy outweighed this small drawback. Written information can be input at varying rates, repeated, pondered, weighed up.

Television destroys the recipient's ability to manage the information. The viewer loses control over the message, which is delivered in timed sequential bursts which condition the viewer into passivity and the expectation of specific short-duration packets of data. Attention span is reduced and the threshold of boredom lowered. Sustained analytical processing of complex messages becomes impossible.

Just my opinion, of course. Could write more about the insidious and malevolent influence of television but it's almost time for The Simpsons.

You're being a touch reactionary, conservative almost. I've done a bit of research about the topics of computer games and television watching habits and the news isn't all bad. Basically under 10 year olds are likely to be watching less TV and playing less computer games, and more likely to be socialising and doing physically demanding stuff than at any other time in the last 40 years. What you say about viewer habits is true to a point, but changes in traditional "class" structures in society in the last 20 years have moved western society away from organisational man, and engendered a creative class. This means that people in general are less likely to identify themselves by their job, are more attuned to doing a job that has rewards other than purely financial, and are moving to places of cultural stimulation, rather than where the company headquarters are.

Two or three generations of consumer have been programmed by electronic means, but there are self correcting mechanisms at work that haven't been delved into fully. I don't think that electronic media will be as important to my kids generation as their ability to compare notes/feelings/theories with their peers. This will involve electronic media, but not in McLuhan's "The message is the media" form. Human communication and interaction is becoming valued again. This forum is an example of that in action, but look at the scope! I spend more time on Kiwibiker than I do watching TV, and I get to tap into the collection consiousness of a goodly percentage of the NZ motorcycling population.

[James Deuce]

Is it really un-PC? It's so obvious though! The differences I mean. Men are always in need of a good thrashing though, after all wymin have had years of oppression under a patriarchal society of blokes etc etc.... :msn-wink:

Ooooo sorry a bit :Offtopic:

Don't forget that it is only a recent development in Western civilisation that women became subservient to men. Celtic society was largely Matriarchal until the church buggered it up.

[scumdog]

The Simpsons
Gone Fishing
Any Motorsports
!0/7 & Motorway Patrol (always good for a laugh)
Six Feet Under for Mrs Sd

Apart from that the TV does not get a lot of use.

[Ms Piggy]

Ah yeah whatever Cathy ;)
I love teasing you boys :killingme


Don't forget that it is only a recent development in Western civilisation that women became subservient to men. Celtic society was largely Matriarchal until the church buggered it up.
Ahhhhh that explains a lot then.


I still think most telly is crap though.

[boris]

i have a tv on rabbit ears so most of the time its not to clear,you can fiddel around with it to get the channel you need clear enough, not prime (dam it) snow storm all the time.The two channels i can pick up clearest at the same time are TAB and the Maori, (no joke it's true)My father tapes superbike for me off Sky.I do watch most motor racing thats on and the simpson each night.

[sAsLEX]

same here even though one has been around for well before my time reception is pretty poo. yet maori which only broadcasts for a few hours a day has the best reception of any channel here in devonport! a bent fork in the back of the tv picks it up fine, and yet whatever i try I cant get one too good!

[ManDownUnder]

i'd give up my 43" rear projector for......

I thought rear projection was a problem you get after those extra hot curries...

...and if it goes 43"... wow - you got a problem!

[marty]

same here even though one has been around for well before my time reception is pretty poo. yet maori which only broadcasts for a few hours a day has the best reception of any channel here in devonport! a bent fork in the back of the tv picks it up fine, and yet whatever i try I cant get one too good!
i guess that makes it easier for when parking the car with the bent fork in the ignition, you can then take it out and use it as the aerial - sort of multi-tool esque....

[Hitcher]

Sport, fuelled by a fascination for full contact team sports played on turf.

My definition of "sport" does not include "passtimes" (horse racing, darts, euchre, snooker), games where subjective assessment is required (except boxing) and parlour games (netball, beach volleyball).

[marty]

speaking of boxing - who else saw the K1 knockout final? didn't the big guy go down HARD

[bluninja]

Had the tele in the UK for 1 month now since my return.....it's easy enough to live without. Problem was the licensing authorities (we need a license for TVs over here...they're that dangerous :killingme ) couldn't understand why someone wouldn't have a TV and kept sending me threateing letters.

I watch mostly films, motorsport, football, rugby, wildlife stuff, sci fi.......shoot how did I get on without the TV?

[Angry Puppy]

The internal combustion engine and the cathode ray tube, which could have been the most liberating, have turned out to be the two most pernicious and socially destructive inventions of modern times.

I might make an exception for the internal combustion engine. If it's in a motorbike.

Amen to that, Brother. TV is so crap I resent the time it robs from my day, yet I still find myself drawn to it in the miss-guided hope that there might actually be something worth the valueble investment of my time.

When we have kids, I am seriously thinking of getting rid of the box. I have a lot of respect for those among us who dare to bring up kids without a TV in the house (Shock! Horror!). What must their friends think! :msn-wink:

FB

[Angry Puppy]

Had the tele in the UK for 1 month now since my return.....it's easy enough to live without. Problem was the licensing authorities (we need a license for TVs over here...they're that dangerous :killingme ) couldn't understand why someone wouldn't have a TV and kept sending me threateing letters.

I watch mostly films, motorsport, football, rugby, wildlife stuff, sci fi.......shoot how did I get on without the TV?

Also, if you buy a new TV the shop will send your details to the licensing authority so they can make sure you have a license! Wankers!

FB

[SPORK]

TV has wrecked my life. First off it drove my cat insane, now my brother will sit there motionless for about... say, 4 hours a day? And it is cartoons at that. Caught him watching barbie the other day, he needs some learning, that boy. At least I am furthering my knowledge by going on the internet for unholy amounts of time each day! This forum has taught me more that school (no, I'm not a dropout, I am in the Samart Klass) not only about bikes, but about life, and how to love, and it also taught me how to make a mean stew. And it gave me free surgery. And it taught me to listen with my heart.

I wish

[Motu]

For years all we had was an old PAL computer monitor (from our BBC computer) hooked up to a video player only,no record,then the sound went through the stereo.So we could only watch videos that others recorded for us or that we rented or bought,that way we had control over what was watched.We still have the player - old technology,so we can keep repairing it.

[T.I.E]

i work in tv2 transmission so i don't count

[Indiana_Jones]

I could do without TV channels, but I need the TV for the dvd's :D
Though I do like the history channel alot, but I could live with out it, learnt more from books then I have from TV.

-Indy

[Oscar]

I have noticed the tendency of people who say

"...I never watch TV..",

or

"...I could live without TV...",

are also the ones who say

"..you watching the MotoGP/S12/F1? I might pop around..."

[Ghost Lemur]

I have noticed the tendency of people who say

"...I never watch TV..",

or

"...I could live without TV...",

are also the ones who say

"..you watching the MotoGP/S12/F1? I might pop around..."

I agree with you except for the motoGP.

*hugs those who provide links to the races*

[Grumpy]

Couldn't do without it during rugby and motorsport season.

Can do without it when it gets turned over to Shortland St :sick:

[Brian d marge]

I agree with you except for the motoGP.

*hugs those who provide links to the races*

We have TV but stuffed if I understand anything thats going on ....its all japanese to me
BUT I have broadband with no cap ...so I watch Shoutcast TV ,,,lots of good old telly ..they even have a monty python channel 24/7

AND YES BIG THANK YOU for the MOTOGP ...THHANKs

Stephen

[mstriumph]

Don't forget that it is only a recent development in Western civilisation that women became subservient to men. Celtic society was largely Matriarchal until the church buggered it up.

----- true! and not many people know that :niceone:

[Charlie]

I have noticed the tendency of people who say

"...I never watch TV..",

or

"...I could live without TV...",

are also the ones who say

"..you watching the MotoGP/S12/F1? I might pop around..."
I have a tv and yes could absolutly live without one at home. But I love sport and like to watch a fair bit; so to say I could do without any tv at all would be a push. But because I dont have sky I either go to it live, go watch it at a pub or at a mates house - mine is hardly ever on.

[Lou Girardin]

TV?
Love it, but only used with a recorder. No ads and I watch what I want, when I want.

[Phurrball]

TV?
Love it, but only used with a recorder. No ads and I watch what I want, when I want.

Amen to that. No TV at home, thank fark for National Radio. Wouldn't mind a box to plug into the powerbook to record the odd programme from time to time though...

[Big Dave]

Yeah - I have a monitor above my desk and it's usually on when working. But I don't watch much.

Juice/J2 - 65%
Sky Sport - 30%
UKTV - 4%
Other Sky (discovery, history) - 1% maybe

Nothing else - ever. Dig the music and the Simpsons, but American TV generally shits me and i avoid it.