I think that statement sums up our difference in view and maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't believe you HAVE to watch what's on just because it's on. You can just turn the TV set off. Nobody is forcing you to watch the 99.9% garbage that's broadcast. Watching TV on the internet is just as bad as watching TV on TV to me. You get commercials with the internet streams too. And there is nothing inherently wrong with commercials, they are part of the deal that you accept when you turn on the TV. If you don't like it, then you can turn it off. Really, I think if people learned to press the off switch, they wouldn't be going to such lengths as to get rid of the TV altogether.
The secret to happiness, get rid of your television.
- Thread starter LLCoolBeans
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I think that statement sums up our difference in view and maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't believe you HAVE to watch what's on just because it's on. You can just turn the TV set off. Nobody is forcing you to watch the 99.9% garbage that's broadcast. Watching TV on the internet is just as bad as watching TV on TV to me. You get commercials with the internet streams too. And there is nothing inherently wrong with commercials, they are part of the deal that you accept when you turn on the TV. If you don't like it, then you can turn it off. Really, I think if people learned to press the off switch, they wouldn't be going to such lengths as to get rid of the TV altogether.
LLCoolBeans
Flashlight Enthusiast
I understand the argument for just turning it off, but that doesn't work for me. It's far too easy to throw something on while I have a bite to eat, then stay there planted on the couch for the bulk of the rest of the evening.
Removing the equipment entirely, protects me from myself.
Removing the equipment entirely, protects me from myself.
Just a few days ago, my lovely 5 yrs daughter asked me why our TV did not have pictures when turn on like grandma home TV. 
That's mean the TV without antenna at least 6 yrs. :devil:
I would say it is smart move, if you want to spend your time with kids, not in front of TV.
That's mean the TV without antenna at least 6 yrs. :devil:
I would say it is smart move, if you want to spend your time with kids, not in front of TV.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
I agree 100%. Many times I start watching a program, decide it isn't worth my time to finish it, then either turn off the TV or look for something else to watch. As for commercials, I refuse to have products I'm not interested in hawked to me, so I either change channels when they're on, or do something else. Or better yet just watch commercial-free stations. In any case, rare is the time I turn on the TV, and then find myself transfixed for hours, wasting time I didn't intend to waste. In fact, usually what happens if I don't stop watching is I end up falling asleep. TV can sometimes be a great cure for insomnia.
I can only understand getting rid of the TV entirely if you're in an area where you can't get cable. If you're limited to network TV, then there really is just about nothing worth watching.
It's an interesting site, but it has little to do with whether the pursuit of happiness is realized by throwing away your TV. What it does have to do with is politics, and is seriously slanted. It's objective seems to be the presentation of news stories that have already been published, and then claiming the media has been hiding the stories from you.
To me, that's called propaganda. It serves primarily to enforce the conspiratorial philosophies promoted by the (we won't mention sides here) ones that want to define everyone including those that bother to follow the stories the same as those that don't bother. Just because some blindly ignore the news unless a story is pounded repeatedly into their heads, doesn't mean there's a conspiracy by every news source to withhold the news.
A suggestion. If you can't get enough of a news story, and you want to read read and read it, then Google it at Google News. At the bottom of each story you'll see a reference of how many news stories on the topic have been found; which is often in the thousands. Just click on that reference and read to your heart's content. Then when you next visit 'projectcensored', you can chuckle at their propagandists listing too.
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
..we all people our worlds by what we choose to deny and admit, don't we..?
TV can show you things you would probably otherwise NEVER see..how can you ignore that?
My tivo saves me from wasting eons of time, especially by skipping over commercials. though I admit there are some I enjoy, ONCE. like the hulu ad where they frankly admit their programming will turn your brain to mush the more easily to be scooped out with a melon baller and eaten by aliens..hello?
even if I just randomly turn the thing on and find something interesting, when the commercial comes on I hit the record button and turn off the tv-- and then I go off and do something else - then I come back later (with something to eat ) and watch the rest; skipping over the commercials..
TV can show you things you would probably otherwise NEVER see..how can you ignore that?
My tivo saves me from wasting eons of time, especially by skipping over commercials. though I admit there are some I enjoy, ONCE. like the hulu ad where they frankly admit their programming will turn your brain to mush the more easily to be scooped out with a melon baller and eaten by aliens..hello?
even if I just randomly turn the thing on and find something interesting, when the commercial comes on I hit the record button and turn off the tv-- and then I go off and do something else - then I come back later (with something to eat
) and watch the rest; skipping over the commercials..
LOL!!! I think I had to read that paragraph 8 times before I could begin to decipher the enigma within the riddle. I was trying to imagine one of the NSA GS-12 pay grades pouring over it after Echelon flagged it for review.
Jay R
Flashlight Enthusiast
Me, I'm happy to pay for it. Oh God, the joy of being able to watch a one hour drama non stop without adverts breaking the flow and tension of the storyline.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
For anyone who doesn't know. A TV license in the UK costs something like £140 a year and the money pays for the BBC funding. Result, the BBC has more money to splash out on quality than most others and you DON'T GET ANY ADVERTS !!!! This goes for BBC radio as well. The also, by law, have to be totally impartial so you don't have to sit through any self-seving political bias as well.
Best of all, Formula 1 racing is back on the BBC this year. No more flicking away to adverts only to come back and hear the commentators talk about the fantastic pass that you just missed.
I think the BBC is the only thing making TV watchable. If every channel I received had adds every 15 mins, I'd have thrown it out too.
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LLCoolBeans
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'd be more willing to pay for service if there was no commercial breaks, or even if there were no commercial breaks during the middle of a show.
There is no way in heck I'd ever pay to watch commercials.
PlayboyJoeShmoe
Flashaholic
I figure the people that make commercials HATE Tivo. But I don't care!
It's nice!
It's nice!
Lite_me
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yep! Take a program like a 2hr. American Idol. I can watch it in less than 90min by DVR. 95% or better of my TV viewing is time shifted. I watch what I want, when I want, commercial free.
I don't think it is an issue of commercials or no commercials. Commercial-free crap TV without is still the same crap TV. I get about 50-100 channels (never really counted) at home, nearly all of them broadcasting 24 hours. Yet, most days I don't end up watching anything because none of it is worth the time or attention. I don't think I would have any more luck if it were all commercial-free.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
It's not that lack of commercials make crap TV better. You're right, it's still crap with or without commercials. The problem is commercials making an otherwise decent program totally unwatchable. It's like reading a good book and being interrupted every few minutes by a bunch of shouting children. Commercials are the main reason I totally gave up on network TV. Granted, the mostly lousy programming helped also. But the ever longer and more frequent commercial breaks were the clincher. I just can't enjoy any program being interrupted that often. I don't consider VCRs or Tivos an answer to the problem, either. The networks were adamant against sending signals where such devices could automatically zap commercials. So to record a program you have to sit there through the commercial breaks anyway, or waste about a third more tape with stuff you don't even want (and then fast forward through commercials every time you watch it).
It's high time advertisers realized how the average person is so saturated by advertising that at this point they just block it out. In fact, I'd say it may well have the opposite effect. I know I purposely don't buy products which are heavily advertised. For one, the extra costs are included in the purchase price. And any decent product should sell itself on its own merits, without constant advertising. I say go back to the old way where after a TV show you just have a brief message saying this program sponsored by such and such company, makers of such and such product, perhaps with a web address if the person wants to find out more.
A whole other option is to make commercials that are actually interesting/fun to watch. I'm guilty of looking forward to, and watching Paris Hilton selling Carl Jr. burgers, the GoDaddy.com Superbowl commercials, and most of the Mac vs. PC ads.
PlayboyJoeShmoe
Flashaholic
Man, Larry Moss is a real Jack Bauer hater!
Took maybe 43 minutes to watch it on Tivo.
Nope. Ain't gettin' rid of the TV.
Took maybe 43 minutes to watch it on Tivo.
Nope. Ain't gettin' rid of the TV.
bitslammer
Enlightened
I'm a little late to this thread but I'm on the board of our local Infragard Chapter and I can say that the guy who wrote story #3 is 100% nuts.
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/3-infragard-the-fbi-deputizes-business/
We talk about attempted attacks and network intrusions against our companies which of course people don't want to have in the news. As a group of peers we're able to share very helpful information with each other AND the FBI about who's trying to hack their way into our companies.
There's no top secret (or even secret) info being given out. Only a respected environment of non disclosure where I might be able to help the company down the road protect their data and vice versa.
So on this one I have to call BS. This story is waaaayyy off base and smacks of a delusional conspiracy theorist. Oh and by the way this one was all over the news so I can't see how it was "censored."
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We gave up our TVs two years ago. Sold our big screen for $800 and got rid of a $75 a month cable bill. We did it to cut costs. We cut the internet to the cheapest possible connection. We dropped our phone line too.
Haven't missed any of it. No movies, no TV, just isolation. The older I get, the more I like that. The wife likes it too.... The cats don't care either way.........
Haven't missed any of it. No movies, no TV, just isolation. The older I get, the more I like that. The wife likes it too.... The cats don't care either way.........
NA8
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Messages
- 1,565
Maybe that would be best addressed in a new thread. Empath has hinted Project Censored has little to do with whether the pursuit of happiness is realized by throwing away your TV. My bad for bringing it up in the first place. I suggest we keep this thread on topic and open.
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bitslammer
Enlightened
Agreed. I didn't read that far ahead enough to Empath's post.
On topic... while there are TVs in the house I watch maybe 4 hours/month o\if that much.
I'm an Internet junkie. I just feel like there's always something I could be learning from another website and I get "lost" for hours on the net. Used to be heavy into online MMORPG games but grew tired of those and with motorcycle season around the corner I'll be spending more time behind the handle bars.
While I do agree there can be some legitimate entertainment from watching TV/moveis I'd rather be entertained while learning something new or exploring new knowledge. I'm much more drawn to interactive things like hiking, cooking, photography etc., where I can spend lots of time actively "doing" something. Just sitting watching a screen makes me fidgitiy.
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Big_Ed
Flashlight Enthusiast
There's plenty of things that can be learned by watching tv. Discovery channel, National Geographic channel, Science channel, Smithsonian Channel (not sure if this one is still around), PBS, TLC, and others have plenty of programs that aren't mindless. And even if some are, so what? If watched in moderation and not for hours and hours on end, there's nothing wrong with being entertained. People need a little escapism, especially these days.
