The secret to happiness, get rid of your television.

I removed all the televisions in my home about 3 months ago. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

Governments all over the world are overstepping their power and clamping down on personal freedom, wars are raging, stock markets crashing, unemployment rates going through the roof, yet I am happier than I have ever been in my life. Those things still bother me, but they no longer have much of an effect my productivity or general happiness.

I even found myself whistling Chuck Mangione in the shower this morning.

I still watch the occasional TV show on my computer and I have a projector, so I watch 1-2 movies a week. I don't miss the squawking box AT ALL.

Do it! Get rid of your television, you won't be disappointed!

I could'nt agree more. Dumping the propaganda box is a good idea, however, with baseball season fast approaching (i'm a big fan) the "box" will only be turned on for a game of my choosing and ALL commercials will be muted.

I rarely watch TV anymore except for the occasional episode of How Its Made.

I would agree entirely if it were not for the Digital Video Recorder. Removing the element of scheduling and time altogether makes television much more enjoyable, and it doesn't matter when or where they show the programs you want to see, you will get to see it..

I like those bumper stickers "Kill your TV". People may be suprised at how much you can do and enjoy if you cut way back on your TV addiction.
:thumbsup:

StarHalo said:

I would agree entirely if it were not for the Digital Video Recorder. Removing the element of scheduling and time altogether makes television much more enjoyable, and it doesn't matter when or where they show the programs you want to see, you will get to see it..

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I disagree, I had a Tivo. I found it only increased my time in front of the glow box.

TV can be a good thing only if you control it rather than it controlling you. By this I mean that you don't habitually watch x hours of TV per day or per week. My TV watching goes in spurts because my ability to do my hobbies goes in cycles. Sometimes I'm just not in a creative mood. Other times I can't physically do them. During those times I tend to watch more TV simply as a diversion. However, when I'm busy with other things of interest days might go by that I barely watch anything. In short, I see TV as another diversion and information source just like I do with the Internet, or newspapers, or books. Used sparingly it can be a great thing. On the other hand, if you watch as much TV as the average American (last I checked I think it was up to 6 or 7 hours per day) then you might as well be an invalid. I wouldn't want to do anything that much.

I personally think for many phones are a bigger time waster and pointless excuse to avoid life than television is. The era of the cellphone has given us 24/7 phone connectivity but for how many is this actually needed or desireable? Is talking about the clothing that random pedestrians are wearing, or some other equally pointless topic, really something we need to do? TV is just part of a larger problem of too many people not having a clue what to do if every minute of every day isn't filled with extraneous, pointless, multitasking. Lots of people these days look really busy, but upon closer examination they're just shuffling between many random distractions like TV, phone calls, instant messages, etc. Like TV, these other things can be useful tools if you control them, but unfortunately for many the opposite is true.

Maybe a good rule of thumb in our society of multiple distractions is to just set a limit on the total time you spend each day with all of them. I've known people who get and respond to 100 emails per day, many of which are simply fluff. Now I realize that you can't control what others send you. But you can control the time you spend by not reading or responding to unimportant emails (i.e. messages which friends often forward to you and 20 others because they think it's cute, funny, political, whatever). Same thing with phone calls, televisions, etc.

jtr1962 said:

TV can be a good thing only if you control it rather than it controlling you. By this I mean that you don't habitually watch x hours of TV per day or per week.

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Once again, I disagree. I've never been a huge fan of x+ hours. There is just something about removing the box altogether that really increases quality of life.

jtr1962 said:

I personally think for many phones are a bigger time waster and pointless excuse to avoid life than television is.

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I can agree with you on this one. I have no government tracking/eavesdropping device in my pocket. I've never had a cell phone and I never will, maybe that is contributing to my happiness as well.

LLCoolBeans said:

I removed all the televisions in my home about 3 months ago. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

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:thumbsup: Like you are using your projector I´m using my TV to watch (DVD) movies only (can´t/don´t want to afford a projector yet). I am not able to receive any TV broadcast since I removed every receiving device (satellite dish, antennas...). My TV is like a monitor now. I´m living without any TV broadcasting for more than three years now and I´m not missing it at all.

Eric

We enjoy our TV time. Not excessive, on an good evening to relax, maybe 3-4 hours. There are many nights it is off. I dunno why I pay for cable but it is combined with net access so it's a package. The programming is lame and most of our TV time is based on dropping a disc into the DVD player.

I don't have a tv since 5 years and didn't miss it for a second. Recently I was visiting a friend in Slovakia and for the first time in so many years I was watching tv for more than an hour, some Slovak show in which people tell jokes all the time. Didn't understand a word but everything was so cheerful and my host family had a good laugh, I really enjoyed it

I could probably stand it fine, except I'd miss Jeopardy, Steeler games, and Tar Heel B-ball. Just don't ask me to give up my radio, or CPF.

Geoff

No broadcast or cable here either. I think its been about 3 years.

I do watch two or three movies a week. I am currently half watching the miniseries "Roots" which I checked out free from the library. When I watch a movie I try to turn off all other distractions and dedicate myself to the movie. I watched "No country for old men" the other night which I really enjoyed. I think immersing yourself like that is the best way to enjoy a movie. May not be an option if you have kids though. So many people give a third (or less) of there attention to 3 (or more) things and once and don't get the full experience out of any of them.

How much is cable these days? Netflix is like $17/mo. I have dial-up but they offer an online service as well if you have high speed.

I spent the better part of last summer without broadcast TV. I lived in an RV in Northern Wisconsin while I worked at a drive-in theater there. One thing I was happy about when the summer was over was that I got to watch TV again. I felt so disconnected from general goings on, pop culture, and the news. I had very little internet access while I was up there as well.

Now, I wouldn't get rid of my TV if you paid me. I work hard all day, and when I get home, I want to relax and watch TV. It's the main way I get my news, and I just love watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno before I go to bed.

The secret to happiness is not necessarily getting rid of your TV. It's doing what makes you happy. Watching TV makes me happy. To each his own.

Flying Turtle said:

Just don't ask me to give up my radio, or CPF.

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+1, I don't like doing more than ~1 hour of TV a day, but one of these guys is always on in the background:

Over here we have to pay an annual fee for a TV licence. It is needed to viewing any publicly broadcast TV channels and I have never once met anybody that is happy about paying it - me included. Refuse to pay it and an enforcement officer will make an unannounced visit to you're door for a little inspection.

There is a friend of mine that does not pay it and instead chooses to watch movies and DVDs and catch up on the news etc online (yes he had an "inspection").

Now I would rather give up TV than the internet.

If someone is willing to sponsor me to give up TV for a year I might consider it!

LLCoolBeans said:

Governments all over the world are overstepping their power and clamping down on personal freedom, wars are raging, stock markets crashing, unemployment rates going through the roof, yet I am happier than I have ever been in my life. Those things still bother me, but they no longer have much of an effect my productivity or general happiness.

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This is so true in many ways. Lately I only watch my TV for movies or the occasional show that I really enjoy. As if the world doesn't have enough issues, media & politicians report or create non-existing problems resulting in the public thinking everything is in "crisis." Then offer the solution to the problem which always results in higher taxes, more regulation and less freedom.

I'm not trying to turn this into a political thread but I fully agree with you about turning off or removing the tv. So much of it is emotion targeted propaganda.

I think eliminating TV is particularly good while raising kids. I think todays kids spend so much time in front of the TV either watching shows or playing games. These kinds of activities also decrease doing things as a family. Parents don't seem to talk to their kids as much.
When I was a kid I played with incomplete lego sets forcing me to use my imagination to create things or I would draw pictures or play sports or simply go outside and play in the woods. I'll admit I watched TV as a kid but I had a good balance between TV entertainment and outside entertainment.

In general, I agree with the OP. It doesn't matter that much to me either way, but if I had little kids around the house, I think it would be especially important to cut them off from broadcast or cable TV, given its' often toxic (IMHO) influence on kids. Luckily, mine are grown now.

I imagine an efficient kid friendly setup to be a nice TV hooked up to a progressive DVD player and my own library of DVDs playing 480P.

For emergencies, I might get a real small (like 6" or less) broadcast TV but I would make it as unattractive for kids as possible (B&W only if available) to limit the influence of broadcast TV on them.

LLCoolBeans said:

I removed all the televisions in my home about 3 months ago. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

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Do it! Get rid of your television, you won't be disappointed!

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Was this a unilateral decision made on behalf of everyone in your household?

Or perhaps you live alone. If so, should families, head of the household, or the more dominant of a couple make the same decisions as a single individual?