Could you survive without television?

[Smiling Buddha]

Serious question. How long would you cope without television? And do you ever wonder if maybe the television is having a subtle yet horrible effect on your mind?



These clowns are all actors. Well-paid actors. The are beamed into your house every morning and pretend they are your friend and that they care about you. In actual fact they are staring at a camera, reading from a script they didn't write, don't know you, and couldn't give a * about you or anybody you care about.

They are salesmen and saleswomen, but worse, they come to your lounge room - every day. And what do they call their 'breakfast television' shows?

Programming. For a reason.

 

[BotsMaster]

Well with the Internet yes I can.

Couldn't survive without the Internet though.

 

[The Passenger]

Pretty much do.

Only bought one cause I wanted to watch the cricket and the only non cricket TV that it's been on for has been for a bit of Phil Hughes funeral and Monday's Martin Place events. We didn't have one for about two months prior after my house mates ex took hers when they broke up. But even when we had one it was only turned on for AFL and league, and the occasional Q&A or SBS special.

TV is ******* junk.

But then who do we quantify watching TV shows through the internet? I would guess it's considering OK as you are (mostly) missing commercials that are the main reason for TV, you are watching what you want when you want so not letting yourself be beholden to a schedule, and I can't imagine to many people are heading online to watch the real tripe such as ACA, TT, Morning program, The Project and other "current affairs" programming.

 

[I Lost My Keays]

With internet I can't survive , when telstra was fixing stuff outside my house for a few hours and I couldn't cope

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Kochie and Mel don't know me or care about me!!??

LIAR!

 

[Smiling Buddha]

But then who do we quantify watching TV shows through the internet? I would guess it's considering OK as you are (mostly) missing commercials that are the main reason for TV

I used to think this too, until I realised that the programming is every bit as damaging as the commercials.

Take a month or two away from all programming, and then come back and watch your favourite tv show.

You will be amazed.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I used to think this too, until I realised that the programming is every bit as damaging as the commercials.

Take a month or two away from all programming, and then come back and watch your favourite tv show.

You will be amazed.

I've been away backpacking a few times. Didn't watch a second of TV for 10-12 weeks each time.

Came back. Caught up on my favorite shows. Was not amazed.

 

[little graham]

I used to think this too, until I realised that the programming is every bit as damaging as the commercials.

Take a month or two away from all programming, and then come back and watch your favourite tv show.

You will be amazed.

Was going to post the exact same thing the moment i read the thread title.

Seriously, try it. Enlightening for you, your family and anyone interested in what you're doing.

But don't stop there, pick up autobiographies and read them instead. Watch movies like Patch Adams, dallas buyers club, BSG, Rocky 1 and 2 ect. Real story telling, not "programming". Magazines and newspapers also are "programming"

You'll probably go off junk food after about 4-6 weeks of this.

 

[The Dice Man]

Monday during that siege is the first time I've turned it on since grand final day... Apart from hooking the computer up to watch movies from the Mac.

 

[Doss]

As it is I only watch television for sport, really. And with the prevalence of online sources, I could quite easily get them online if I really wanted to.

 

[Quivorir]

You'll probably go off junk food after about 4-6 weeks of this.

Yeah I see the link between the two.

 

[treefingers]

Yeah I see the link between the two.

constant advertising?

 

[NotAMagpieBogan]

That was such a stupid video.

 

[JuddsABlue]

Its a stupid question

Could we survive without television? Of course. TV is not a requirement for life (in b4 oh but are u sure ur so brainwashed ur brain might actually melt in to goo if you dont get to watch tv at nite)

Could we cope without television? Again, of course. Anybody whos switched from Foxtel to no Foxtel several times now will have learned that you dont miss more TV options when you dont have them. If TV was gone, I think most would be amazed at how quickly we moved on from it.

Would we like living without television? Maybe, maybe not. I enjoy the sport obviously, so not being able to watch sport would be frustrating, but again, I think its something we would adapt to quite quickly

 

[The Passenger]

I used to think this too, until I realised that the programming is every bit as damaging as the commercials.

Take a month or two away from all programming, and then come back and watch your favourite tv show.

You will be amazed.

Where do you draw the line on thing you enjoy? Do we cut out music and books? People always say you should read but there are definitely books that could draw parallels with programming.

I generally look after myself. I eat reasonably well, get my fruit and veg in, mostly cook my own food (am prone to the occasional McD's), exercise, get out and enjoy the outdoors when i can, have started meditating (highly recommended) etc,.

But there are things I do which I know aren't great for me but I enjoy them such as drinking and "programming". I don't see any of these as becoming damaging, and in fact can be good at times cause they activate some social senses. I could cut all these out but why deny myself that? And on what does the basis of my socialising become? About the exercise I'm doing, how I've massively increased the fruit and veg in my diet, a bushwalk that I did? No one gives a *. I'd have no friends pretty quickly, and rightly so. Right now it's pretty well rounded. "Watch the cricket? See last nights Q&A? Finally hit the booze with Jimmy last week... You listened to Black Keys lastest album yet? Went to a gig last week... We won footy by 100 last weekend... Seen that latest South Park episode about Lorde?"

In any case like someone above I've been backpacking and it's pretty much impossible to watch any shows on the road. One of the good things about coming back is just vegging out and catching up on a bit South Park or whatever the vibe is at the time.

 

[LukasTheGreat]

Only reason my tv ever turns on is for Sport.

 

[Roobs321]

News flash OP. It is the 2010s now, not the 1950s. 'Idiot Box' and mass television habits were so last millennium.

Several years ago I went without internet for 6 months. I didn't die.

 

[Silent Alarm]

"Jonesin!"

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

I need my music channels.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Haven't had a functioning TV for two years (I lived behind a hospital which cut out the reception) and can barely stand it these days. Even the ABC and SBS chronically s**t me, if it isn't their as-bad-as-Sunrise morning cack crews, it's their dullard programming (Black Comedy, Upper Middle Bogan, Josh Thomas... tragic and simply offensive in their levels of bad). I've barely missed it and in the years, have stopped reading magazines and started trying to reading a book a week (usually ends up a book every 2 and a half, though...).

That Sydney Siege s**t was the final nail for me with the ABC. It was sensationalist. It was nothing but emotion-fishing. It was all about The Tragedy Narrative, of which it totally became, and of which is now petering out (like an Tragedy Narratives).

When you have people like Leigh Sales on hundreds of thousands of dollars, piss kidneys like Kerry O'Brien stinking up the place long after expiry, how can you honestly pardon their existence? * em.

Karl Stefanovic too. That prick is nothing but a total sell-out masquerading as a comedian and man of the people, of which he is blatantly neither. He is paid by, and subsequently owned, by the man. He wears his suits, he plugs his Shimanos to Dysons, and he does all this while every so often buzzin off his nut on ecstasy (gotta love the gullible public when Channel 9 said he was on the morning show "drunk." No one is "drunk" and carrying on like that... it was jubilant, touchy feely, and euphoric... dude was pinging) to try and regain some kind of free-spirited cool and hedonism. He is nothing of the sort. All that rebellion, his lame #KarlVTonyAbbott charades, they are just as scripted. They're for young punks and pedestrian.tv to go "wow this dude is sooooooooo crazy!!!" It's embarrassing.

I couldn't live without movies and my favourite series', though, but viewing online is a lot easier anyway – free, convenient and loose viewing times, no Two and A Half Men before and after...

I'm dumfounded every time a young person tells me they watch TV, like have it constantly on, sit down at 7:30 every Wednesday for some show... it just seems a relic of the past.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

You really needed a YouTube clip to tell you that mainstream media are working off a script? Who's the "programmed" one here?

 

[Roobs321]

My parents (mostly my mum) have Channel 7 on every evening, regardless of what is on. When I visit them every couple months its like visiting another planet. Hang out during the daytime, but evacuate the lounge room at night.

 

[Silent Alarm]

And the less said about Foxtel the better.

We had it for a few years and we were all pretty shamed over handing money over for the junk. When you're 14 and obsessed with sport, it's great, but when you discover going out and drinking and all that boring escapism, you tend to neglect those interests. So the only 'valid' point it had was lost.

It's just full of ads, the programming is constantly repeated (I have no idea how many times they flog Bourdain but I reckon each season nine teams a year) and it's nothing but mostly brain-dead and moronic s**t like Adult Swim and the Kardashians.

Beyond me.

 

[Tulip]

don't know you, and couldn't give a **** about you or anybody you care about.

Jumping off the Westgate now

 

[Tulip]

And the less said about Foxtel the better.

We had it for a few years and we were all pretty shamed over handing money over for the junk. When you're 14 and obsessed with sport, it's great, but when you discover going out and drinking and all that boring escapism, you tend to neglect those interests. So the only 'valid' point it had was lost.

It's just full of ads, the programming is constantly repeated (I have no idea how many times they flog Bourdain but I reckon each season nine teams a year) and it's nothing but mostly brain-dead and moronic s**t like Adult Swim and the Kardashians.

Beyond me.

I go out most nights a week and have a drink (during the holidays, anyway), and I still watch sport?