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AIBU?

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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:
TrumpsFluffyHair · 30/10/2016 17:21

My armchair is pointed towards the drinks trolley. That's worse isn't it?

Laska5772 · 30/10/2016 17:23

Mine would only get a muddy stick and satsuma manhowdy (or would if they were still at home)

DSD did once threaten to call childline because didnt have a telly !!

manhowdy · 30/10/2016 19:01

Laska5772 Grin

witsender · 30/10/2016 19:04

Why so Manhowdy? How are the two issues related?

helpimitchy · 30/10/2016 19:10

A lump of coal?

No, of course not. We buy them classic literature 😜

witsender · 30/10/2016 19:11

The only relation I can see would be the lack of adverts meaning less pester power for toys. Wink

instantly · 30/10/2016 19:18

Nope, mine is getting an iPad...

manhowdy · 30/10/2016 19:31

Ignore me all, was being silly. Each to their own - I can understand no TV though I wouldn't do it myself.

I think broadband (fibre if poss Wink) and a laptop is a good compromise, especially with a 12 year old in the house.

witsender · 30/10/2016 19:56

I couldn't do without broadband, I remember the days of dial up. Grin

Mindtrope · 30/10/2016 20:04

I have one family member who watches 6 hours of TV a day. So we would struggle without a TV.
We couldn't live in our lovely home without broadband.

Guiltismymaster · 30/10/2016 20:13

My father in law has no TV or internet. He has lived on his own for the last 35 years and is a very happy man.

Original poster
H1ghw4y61Revisited · 30/10/2016 20:14

I have a giant data allowance on my phone plan, so haven't had wifi in my flat, but am buying my first house and have now spent the day looking up broadband providers. Will see what BabyB wants laptop or tablet wise, but a laptop might make more sense for homework, and will look into TV's. Exciting technological times for me 😂😊

OP posts:
Mindtrope · 30/10/2016 20:19

Makes me think about the technology in our house.
Slightly embarrassed to admit

4 PCs
4 laptops
2 TVs
5 tablets
5 mobile phones

HellsBellsnBucketsofBlood · 30/10/2016 20:34

We didn't have a tv for over a decade. Was never a problem.

We now have one due to family insistence, which only gets used by us to watch the odd DVD. And isn't even in the living room. Previously we used a projector for the dvds, so there's been no real change to our lives (save fewer wires to plug in).

I've always found that people simply can't comprehend an absence of a to though. Colleagues repeatedly acted like they were going to die of shock when told there was no tv in my house (then clearly couldn't compute/retain the info as we'd have he same conversation a week later).

But I've found the same for the absence of car ownership too...

Nofunkingworriesmate · 30/10/2016 20:53

No poldark !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SpunkyMummy · 30/10/2016 20:54

This thread....!!
Not having a tv = snobs? Thanks, I guess... so much reverse snobbery Confused

scaryclown · 30/10/2016 21:16

What you need is a wireless, a ticking clock and a good book.

scaryclown · 30/10/2016 21:17

Sorry, TheGood Book.Grin

NicknameUsed · 30/10/2016 21:57

Spunky I don't care if people don't want to own a TV, but a lot of the comments on here have been qualified by saying that people who own TVs are chavs and don't talk to each other.

We have 3 TVs in the house. At the moment OH is reading, I am on MN and DD is doing her homework. No-one is watching TV. It's the insinuation from some posters that people who have a TV in their house is unable to do anything else to relax, and it does come across as snobby.

I would be far more interested to know if there are any posters who don't watch anything at all on a screen.

Undersmile · 30/10/2016 22:16

Nickname- I posted upthread, that we don't have a television. I didn't clarify that we have no tv licence, net flicks, amazon streaming etc etc, nor tablets/ipads either, sorry. We don't watch anything - I don't use youtube or any similar site.

I work on a screen all day, every day, I don't find it a huge treat to use a screen all evening Grin.

I do like films, but I think we watch a film on average once every 6 months. I do listen to the radio every day, and I do use the internet (MN, news sites, a few other things).

I grew up without much television- my parents restricted our viewing to around an hour a week when we were young, probably that didn't change until I went to university, where I still didn't really watch much. DH and I got rid of our television before the children were born, because it was just never used, and took up an inordinate amount of space (CRT in those days) in our v small home.

I worry a bit about my children, as they're getting older now (eldest goes to secondary school next year) and I worry a bit about them standing out, but from what I read on MN, young people don't watch as much television as previous generations, so perhaps monitored internet access would be the way forward.

We find we don't have much time, as both work full-on FT jobs, and the children have very busy lives too. We honestly do not feel we miss out.

I can watch things vicariously via MN, on the Telly Addicts threads, so I can keep informed about 'hot' programmes if I want to. Grin

ivykaty44 · 30/10/2016 22:16

If you come to our house tonight we watched catch up gogglebox on demand and then when that had finished dd tried to have a conversation but it didn't go far. Then we sat looking at our electronic devices till one by one we all went to bed by nine.

There is more than one type of screen, one screen just replaces another....

SpunkyMummy · 30/10/2016 22:23

nickname

Interesting :) I do like a certain tv series (but I'm soooo far behind...)

But I prefer to actually do something with DH. Going out, going for a walk, hiking, talking, visiting family, doing something with friends (like playing poker) etc...

BowieFan · 30/10/2016 22:35

I must be a complete underclass person, our TV and surround sound is the highlight of my house!

I proudly display our surround sound which can actually blow your hair and rattle glasses if the film you're watching is loud enough and there's plenty of bass.

Mindtrope · 30/10/2016 22:44

I watch less than 2 hours a week of TV. OH and kids never watch it. Although the do have other devices to watch video stuff. My Tv is in a corner of the room and takes up little space, although it is a huge lounge.

NicknameUsed · 30/10/2016 22:48

"Going out, going for a walk, hiking, talking, visiting family, doing something with friends (like playing poker) etc..."

We can't do many of those in the evenings.
a) It's too dark now
b) Family live too far away
c) We don't have many friends and don't tend to see them on weekday evenings anyway. I see my friends during the day when the children are at school.
d) OH hates playing games of any sort

We do walk, but on a weekend during the day. OH works from home and I work part time and there is only so much we can say to each other before we run out of ideas. DD is a teenager and doesn't always want to spend the evenings chatting with her parents. She gets too much homework now anyway.