We don't have a TV in our living room anymore. AIBU?

[mrsm43s]

So many people think its weird!

We have plenty of tvs in the house! Our bedroom, upstairs spare room, plus everyone has a tablet or a phone or a laptop or some other way of watching TV if they want to.

We don't have a tv downstairs.

AIBU to think that the days of everyone round the telebox to watch mindless crap are over?

TV itself is fine, but its OK to not make it the centre of your life and family!

We all sit down together and watch movies as a family. It's one of our favourite things to do. We also watch all kinds of other stuff including documentaries. I think everyone watching thing on tablets is really antisocial.

Only me and DS live here. He has sky and tv in his room and only watches sport. I have laptop. Nothing in living room neither of us ever sit in it.

While we do watch on our own on laptops or tablets some of the time, I would really hate to not have the option of all
sitting down together to watch a film, sporting event or whatever. We don't spend all evening every evening in front of it, but really enjoy all piling on the sofa together to watch a favourite show.

I have a TV in the living room and one in my bedroom. We don't have TV on all the time although the kids watch a fair bit. I can't imagine kids not liking TV! We have NOW and Netflix but not connected for real time TV (is that the correct description?). I don't have a TV license so no BBC etc. Programmes are chosen rather than random viewing.

I don't see TV as rubbish or something to be sneered at. There are some fantastic series in recent years. Binge watching a Netflix series in bed when DC aren't around is a weekend luxury.

I mainly watch Netflix or films. I have a movie day at least once a month with DC on the sofa with popcorn and hotdogs. I love films and can't afford the cinema often.

YANBU. I grew up without TVs and hate the things. Unfortunately moving in with DP meant compromise so we now have a big ugly one in the living room.

It's interesting to read that there are other people around who don't have tvs. Makes me feel (almost) normal . When I moved here I invited my neighbour in. He ignored the wall of books, the water colours and oil paintings,and said "but where's your tele?!"
With my laptop and my ipad + marking what I want to watch when the Radio Times plops through my letterbox every Wednesday, my tv watching gets well covered. And our BBC radio is ACE, I reckon.In fact I think I just might request Sailing By as my music to be dispatched by. Now that's a thought!

My gran had a TV room and a living room with no TV

I wish we could get rid of ours, as I limit my daughter's media use she replaces it with tv. My dp is a sports fanatic, all sports so he is always down stairs watching Tele which drives me nuts. I would love to not have a tv in the house at all as there is nothing much to watch anymore other than reality crap and mind numbing dribble we are being force fed. It is as if the big boys in media are trying to dumb this nation down.

“My gran had a TV room and a living room with no TV”

Yep. When my children were small we did this too. I wanted watching tv to be a positive choice, rather than something that happened in the background.

Cats we watch on a PC...it's large enough. Certainly as large as the old one I grew up with in the 70s and 80s.

KeyboardJellyFish Have you tried covering it with a tablecloth?

YANBU.
I don’t have a TV at all. Sometimes watch movies on neflix on my mobile.
Call me old fashioned but I prefer to be forced into getting up being active and finding other things to do instead...

I don't have a TV. DS has got a screen in his room so he can play PS4, but we don't have any telly service, because I never watch it. DD prefers to read (not wankboasting, she's just a bookworm), and neither of them are bothered.

If there's a programme they really want to watch, they can do it when they are with their Dad who has Netflix etc. We honestly don't miss having TV at all. I still pay my licence fee though, because I'm a radio 4/5/6 addict & on the very odd occasion I want to watch something on iplayer, I'd feel guilty if I didn't contribute to it.

Call me old fashioned but I prefer to be forced into getting up being active and finding other things to do instead...

Are you active all the time though?! Don't you enjoy reading or listening to the radio?

I haven't thought about this before, I know people have different tastes - but I can't imagine not watching TV/films.

Just as much as I love radio, theatre, books, I love a good TV drama.... Sopranos, the West Wing, Madmen. Or the Bridge, or Borgen.
Each to their own I guess but I can't help but feel posters haven't watched the right stuff!

There's some great kids stuff too. Lego franchise films. Studio Ghibli. And cbeebies is not to be sniffed at.

Like many American houses, my house has two living rooms, a formal room of the sort that my grandmother would have called the parlor (with no TV) and a family room where we have a large television. We are empty-nesters, and we do enjoy watching TV together and also sometimes have movie night with friends over.

We do also have a television in the bedroom, however, because there is also quite a bit of content that each of us watches that the other one doesn't care for. For example, the smaller TV in the bedroom is plugged into a region free DVD player and accesses several streaming services so that I can watch obscure British programming that DH (affectionately, I assume) refers to as English shit. He, on the other hand, likes to watch golf.

Neither of us watches much on our tablets, except while traveling.

No, not at all. Have your TV where you like!

@SenecaFalls I have the same two reception room arrangement here in the UK, though I don't have any extra TVs in the bedrooms - just the one in the living room, which we mainly watch at weekends.

I'm curious to know what your obscure British programmes of choice are . Are you a UK expat or simply a liker of British television?

DH (affectionately, I assume) refers to as English shit.

ScreamingValenta I'm American; just a liker of British television. I've especially been interested in British history from an early age and studied it at university.

When I say obscure, that would be from an American perspective. My tastes are pretty broad, ranging from historical documentaries and dramas, to mysteries, and right on down to sitcoms.

Oh, and I love Escape to the Country which is now available on Netflix and Britbox. DH likes that, too, so we always watch it together.

The Great British Sitcom . US sitcoms are very popular in the UK, so I suppose it's a testament to laughter transcending geography.

@SenecaFalls hello fellow American! My husband is a Brit, and we always found it funny that I watched more British shows than he did! He’s far more fond of American tv.

'Britbox' is a great name . I don't think there is any UK/US equivalent that's so succinct - they just tag 'USA' onto services with an American content.

Hi Kismett. There do seem to be more and more of us on MN. It's certainly better than most US-based forums that I have encountered. And it's especially good for recommendations for British television programs that I might have otherwise missed.

On the TV in the living room issue, I will say that it is nice to have a sitting room in which there is no TV, especially for reading and spending time in conversation with friends and family.

Call me old fashioned but I prefer to be forced into getting up being active and finding other things to do instead having a telly doesn't stop you from doing other things

there is nothing much to watch anymore other than reality crap and mind numbing dribble we are being force fed there's loads of quality television available

Why so much talk of being "forced" to do things? Watch telly or don't watch it, it doesn't make you superior either way.