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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Does anyone NOT have a TV?

204 replies

H1ghw4y61Revisited · 29/10/2016 20:02

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?

OP posts:

SavageBeauty73 · 29/10/2016 23:37

I have TV. Sky etc. My kids only watch YouTube or Netflix.

BuntyFigglesworthSpiffington · 29/10/2016 23:37

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

So true.

shrieklesoda · 29/10/2016 23:39

I love our nice big TV. I don't even watch TV all that much, but when I do I want to watch it on a proper screen.

NotWeavingButDarning · 29/10/2016 23:40

We don't have one. DS (8) and DD (5) watch some things on the tablet, but I never bother. None of us miss it at all.

rememberthetime · 29/10/2016 23:44

I separated from my ex a month ago and decided to do without the tv. My daughter watches on her laptop - and has done for the last 2 years. I watch catchup or live tv on my laptop when I fancy it (yes, I do have a tv licence) but I don't miss the tv.

I am not interested in watching everything on some huge screen. if I want to see a movie I would rather go out.

I have had three offers of free tvs so far and I have turned them all down. My furniture is designed to face each other - not the TV.

gruffalo13 · 29/10/2016 23:47

We don't have a tv but we do watch stuff online. Kids you tube and movies sometimes.
No screens during school week though. Kids are used to it and go outside to play (detached house with garden in Australia)

gruffalo13 · 29/10/2016 23:49

Lol Elpham this is what people say to me too, then bore me with the synopsis of the latest dating/Reno/dancing show!

Original poster

H1ghw4y61Revisited · 30/10/2016 00:06

Spoke to my older bro who little bro is with right now, he reckons a TV would be a better idea to keep him from spending all his time in his room with iPad or laptop or whatever else. Seems like a good point Interesting to hear the other perspectives, and entertaining to see the "class" element of TV ownership

OP posts:

NicknameUsed · 30/10/2016 00:21

Wow! So much snobbery on here.

"Don't think that a tv is a necessary item in this digital age."

When there are three or four of you watching the same thing, sitting around a laptop screen/4 laptop screens isn't the same as watching a TV screen together. Also the sound and picture quality isn't as good.

We have more than one TV and we enjoy watching many different types of programmes. I would say that at least 95% of what we watch is not live - either recorded or on catch up TV.

OH and I particularly like crime drama, and DD and I like cookery shows. We also watch documentaries, wildlife programmes, music, comedy and topical live events like the Olympics.

I have no intention of getting rid of the TV, and I am happy to pay for a TV licence.

BuntyFigglesworthSpiffington · 30/10/2016 00:24

I definitely think it's a good idea to get a TV for his arrival. It doesn't have to cost loads, or be switched on all the time, or take over the sitting room.

And TV or not you sound like a lovely sister!

BabooshkaKate · 30/10/2016 00:26

We don't have a TV but we do have a projector for films and stuff. It's a mild faff to set up but it's amazing to light up awhole wall.

slenderisthenight · 30/10/2016 00:29

Yes! Not quite the point but well done for being so kind!

Not having a tv isn't a big deal anymore - people watch things in other ways.

DollyMcDolly · 30/10/2016 00:35

If you say you don't watch TV but you watch the laptop, it's still a screen so it's exactly the same as tv but smaller. I definitely think there is a snobbish attitude to it. I love my big curved Ultra HD TV. I love films. They look better. I don't go to the cinema. I watch it on my TV. It saves money in the long run

JoJoSM2 · 30/10/2016 00:54

I never has a tv until I moved in with my husband. It lives in a small, uninspiring room so that watching it is a very conscious choice. My sister has no tv in her house at all. Her DC watch about 1h/week of programmes on the laptop. I think it really encourages everyone to talk to one another, read more, play musical instruments and games, be creative etc.

CharleyDavidson · 30/10/2016 01:08

I don't know a single person who doesn't have a TV. I find it interesting to read on here that lots of people don't have them. We have have one in the living room, one in the dining room (for playing the wii on) and we have one in each of the three bedrooms.

Strangely though, DD1 has given up watching TV, DD2 prefers youtubing on her phone/laptop and I only watch about 5 different things through the year, and some of those on DVD which I watch on my laptop.

The TV in the living room is ALWAYS on though as it's the background noise to DH's life and if he's in the house it's the first thing he switches on! I spend my time mnetting because at least we're in the same room then and can talk in the advert breaks or when I'm not engrosed in a thread! .

Electrolens · 30/10/2016 01:10

I don't have a tv and haven't for years - but we watch a lot of programmes on laptop, iPad, iPhone. I can understand that for a family a tv in a living room is better option for people to watch things together. So depends what you want - you could give the 12yo access to iPad and pair of headphones and he'll be happy and still can watch in communal areas if you/he want, I'm assuming you don't necessarily all want to be watching programmes together anyway. But I had a telly in my bedroom from about 13 and it's benefitted me rather than done me harm. Can play boardgames, eat together, do other family activities and he can have some alone time with to programmes if he wants - if it's an iPad then put parental settings on it. You don't need a tv. (Though do need a licence if programmes watched live!)

Original poster

H1ghw4y61Revisited · 30/10/2016 01:20

I didn't mean to imply there was anything wrong with TVs or anything, sorry if people felt I was being a bit snobby or mean about them. If BabyB would like to have it and BigB thinks it's a good plan I'm happy enough. We had a TV as kids, I've just never been particularly into tv, though I'm sure everyone I know has at least one in their house so I assumed it was the norm. Probably a TV is going to be the least of my worries anyway, just remembered how bad I was at maths...now more concerned I'm going to have to go learn algebra to help him with homeworks 😂

OP posts:

LouisvilleLlama · 30/10/2016 01:29

I think if you watch TV on a laptop it's the same as having a TV but surely just less social? It's like someone asking if you have a clock to monitor the time and you answer no but I've got a watch ( or phone)!

I can't imagine people wanting to watch things being in a room and having sofas face each other but watching TV on laptops probably with earphones, or not being in the same room.

Cord cutters generally still have a monitor/TV they attach a firestick/ chromecast laptop if there's more than one person.

FlyingGaribaldi · 30/10/2016 01:31

We didn't have one for years, until a client of DH's sent us one because he found it so strange. Left to myself I wouldn't have one at all, as I rarely find anything I want to watch, but DH actually needs it for work purposes. Not religious in anyway, and have a child. I know quite a few other people who don't have them either - or who pay the licence fee and technically have one, but it lives upstairs in a cupboard and needs to be plugged in if needed. I don't think it's wildly unusual not to have one...?

SpunkyMummy · 30/10/2016 01:52

We don't have a TV.

But I grew up without one (we did get one when I was 12, but it was never really used...).

And DH's family didn't have one either, I think.

scaryclown · 30/10/2016 01:07

I don't have a TV, its like giving the devil a window into your home.

TrumpsFluffyHair · 30/10/2016 02:40

'its like giving the devil a window into your home'

scaryclown · 30/10/2016 03:48

scaryclown · 30/10/2016 03:50

Its true. I even clean my phone with holy water and zoflora

ohdearme1958 · 30/10/2016 04:08

Highway, I still think about a young woman I was at college with who left because her mum had died and she didn't want her siblings to go into care. She was in the police and at college a couple of days a week. Anyway, she left, and her and her boyfriend got married and set up home with her siblings. Forty years later I still think of her even though I now live at the opposite end of the world to where I grew up.

Good luck

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