Does anyone NOT have a TV?

[H1ghw4y61Revisited]

My little brother (12) is hoping to come and live with me in the new year. A friend of mine was joking about it today and said that will be the end of my having no TV in the house. Made me wonder if there are still people out there who chose not to have a TV in their house?

no TV, 2 DC and Atheist

we got the kids to 13,11 and 10 with just a screen and videos/dvd's. If I wanted to see some TV I would watch iplayer on laptop. In September we bought our first TV licence as you need it now for iplayer. I can now watch stuff live although still via internet as we have no ariel.

We have several. I think the trend on mumsnet is that if you do have a TV, it should be the shittest one ever and as small as possible and, if you can, be hidden in a cupboard somewhere.

I'm with you Bowie. But mine's only a 55''. But I only watch worthwhile and uplifting programming.

No TV here (3 DC if that's somehow relevant). We watch things online sometimes. I own some movies.
As he's 12 - what does he think?

We are very much a TV family though. I'll never forget taking my DCs to the house of a very posh friend of theirs. Family didn't own a TV and DS1 was aghast and asked "But what do you point your sofa at?!" and DS2: "So you have to actually TALK to your mum and dad?!"

SenecaFalls

Same here. I'm totally not planning to catch up on The Real Housewives of Atlanta after I've watched X Factor. Not at all.

We don't have one...or to be exact, we have one that is not set up to watch TV channels but we can Chromecast Netflix / YouTube. I think we could use an app to get certain channels, but we've never been bothered enough to make the effort.

Slight digression - but I think it's a little chavvy to have some massive tv as the "focal point" of the room. The one we have is hidden down in our basement family room

We have a more than one TV, dd13 never watches TV and hasn't since she grew out of cbeebies. It doesn't seem to matter among her friends that she has no idea about the soaps or X Factor etc. Only time it is a problem is in French lessons when she is asked about her favourite shows/ experience of a talent show etc so she makes up answers instead.

I don't really care how 'chavvy' it is (awful word to use by the way) - it's our living room. The thing we do most in our living room is watch TV. Why should we stick the telly in a cupboard?

If we have guests over we either have them in the kitchen (the place we spend the most time in) or in the other living room (there's also a TV in there but smaller).

We live in the North though, where people don't give a shit if your living room is based around the TV. Must be a middle-class/southern thing that you should be ashamed of it!

I'm watching our huge wall mounted telly (one of several in chez pots) in our bedroom gasp. They all have a. fire and all the comps, phones and tablets are linked together via a private server. I can send messages to any TV in the house or comically throw a picture of a funny cat to any TV my husband is watching train documentaries on. Yay for Northern WC scum!

We don't have a television. The sofas face one another.
We have children, and are atheist. Which religions don't like/approve of television, then?

We're in the north.

I just prefer watching stuff on YouTube mainly. Lots of movies are also free.

Wow Bowie- 60"? That wouldn't fit in my sitting room!

We have a TV but it only gets used for amazon or Netflix.

I don't have a telly licence anymore I got the hump.
Then the bloody ariel fell off.
Chuff that.

I'm also Northern so I point furniture at it.
It gets moved for the nativity at Christmas though.
Or we wouldn't get Chewbacca and Moses in.

Which religions don't like/approve of television, then?

Well, the Amish don't watch TV.

We don't have one. Kids are 9 and 12

The people I know who don't have tvs for religious reasons are all Christian, Brethren mostly. They would also be the same people who don't allow the women to cut their hair, wear trousers or handle money. I live in an area where that is not all that unusual really.

I do have a TV, but it doesn't connect properly to the ariel, so we do t actually watch it. When we want to watch TV, we watch catch-up services.

The DC tend to prefer YouTube stuff at the moment, anyway.

I know a couple of families who don't have a TV for religious reasons (Christian) but they still watch TV on a computer. I think their objection is that with a TV you can just "channel surf" and waste a lot of time (which could be spent on church/religious stuff) whereas if you go onto iPlayer you just watch a specific programme and then get on with your day. As someone who watched the entire series of The Apprentice on iPlayer today, I have to disagree with that

We live in the North though, where people don't give a shit if your living room is based around the TV. Must be a middle-class/southern thing that you should be ashamed of it!
I'm a middle class Southerner and I, and most people I know, have their furniture facing their television. But then maybe I just don't know the proper "middle class" rules

To answer your question though OP I don't imagine not having a television would be a problem, as long as he still has access to programmes/films on another device. But you would have to pay for a TV licence (if you don't already) if he wants access to iPlayer.

Two large flat screen ones in our house. One in the kitchen, to which DH is banished when it comes to Match of the Day, and the living room one which I like.

Also if you leave it on amazon screensaver pics you can pretend you have an amazing holiday album.

No TV and I don't watch anything on catch up either.

If I had £1 for every time someone said to me "I know you don't watch TV but did you see...." I'd be able to retire tomorrow