People that Say they don't watch TV

[Aquarius1234]

OMG so annoying. Esp those that lie.
You do watch TV so stop making out you spend all evening not looking at a screen!
Or those that say they never watch movies or go cinema. You then find out they go twice a year.
Watching sport or netflix counts as watching tv regardless if you watch it on your laptop or not.

No. You would be the annoying one if you said"i don't watch tv really (bonus points for bit of self importance and mention of reading instead)" and then 5 min later joined in on a chat about 3 different series you are actually watching😉

Just a reminder to everyone with netflix. Section with series is called TV shows. 😁
Now...
Can I watch TV show via streatimng that calls it TV show and still not watch TV?

Not having a tv in itself is not an issue unless you use it to imply that you are a superior person/parent because of it. The only family I know who don't have a TV and are very vocal about it just watch Netflix on laptops and the kids watch youtube on an ipad. I don't mind what they get up to in their own home but the little "superior" comments are a little irritating. They are the same about food - only organic, no sugar, "raw milk" etc (then you spthe kids have a pack of custard creams hidden in their room). If that's what they want to spend their (plentiful) money on, fair enough, but their Co start remarks about how much better it is for the kids in front of the rest of us who cant afford that diet is really annoying. Luckily they are DH's friends so I don't see them that often.

There's a funny Instagram reel person (no idea how to phrase that!) who takes the mick out of these people calling them 'sad beige toys for sad beige children'.

The organic brigade

Yes they have one poster said that if someone asks her if she watches a certain series she replies that she’d rather read a book.

also find it weird how there sometimes seems to be a smugness about it, like the parents who only let their kids play with wooden toys, it’s a bit precious

Yeah completely. There’s a competitive smug about how little you let your kids watch screens but the logic comes apart because inevitably there is some screen exposure. It’s largely a stealth brag about how intellectually superior you are and what a conscious and present parent.

I know several families like this: they will tell you in faux innocence that they don’t own a TV but then talk in detail about the Netflix shows they watch.

I have no problem with taking a conscious approach to screen time and I actually hate mindless TV viewing with a passion and will do anything to avoid it.

But it is inconsistent and somewhat dishonest to claim you “don’t watch TV” when you actually spend several hours a week consuming audiovisual content on a box of some kind. Whether you watch broadcast TV or stream/watch DVDs is irrelevant and there’s no other explanation for it really than bragging.

Sorry op but i don't watch tv much.
I do:

• play computer games very occasionally with DS
• use social media on my phone

But i don't watch tv much at all.

Oh and there's no smugness here, we have a big telly in the lounge & DH and the kids watch a normal amount

Saying "I don't really watch TV" is fine - it's true. You do watch it but not much.

It's when people say "I don't watch TV" (meaning live TV on an actually television) and then go on to watch hours of shows on Netflix via a laptop that they start to sound ridiculous and a bit pompous.

Then you're not the kind of person she's referring to 🙈

I don’t watch much TV and very rarely watch it live, haven’t for years. I watch the odd thing on iplayer or Netflix now and then but honestly could live without television. When DC go to bed I prefer to sit in silence on my phone or reading a book.

I wonder if there is a reading equivalent 😁

"I don't read. I don't have time to waste unfortunately (nose up)"
"Oh I read that in one of the short series I have"
"No, it's not reading a book unless it's classical 500 page novel. 100page stories don't count"

I have a relative with no TV in the sitting room but floor to ceiling bookshelves, but they do have laptops and tablets and relative has a TV in his study/bedroom.

Oh I know people who say they don’t read because they don’t have the time. I think if you really want to read you’ll make the time!

@XenoBitch -My dad just constantly channel surfs until he finds something to watch. He will not shift away from the TV at all.

Are you my sister? 😀

I'm sure there is

It doesn't count unless it's a classic novel - or a broadsheet newspaper - reading a celeb autobiography or a tabloid is definitely not reading

Kim, that really wasn't point there 🙈 probably my fault.

It's claiming you don't reead while you read books, but you claim you don't read books because what you read you don't consider a book.
(It's still a book)

My Ex was just like this. He was a complete snob about watching TV but watched tons on his laptop, even moved his huge Apple desktop into his living room to watch films.

Aaw. I remember the blissful time when I first came here and had no idea what broadsheet newspaper are so read everything and any snobbery went over my head😂

But why the distinction between scheduled broadcast TV and a streamed series? It’s an arbitrary distinction.

If you consume media on any kind of screen you are consuming media on a screen. The vast majority of people do this at least sometimes, whether it’s Love Island or high-minded Adam Curtis documentaries.

If you want people to know you are a highbrow consumer of media just come out and say it, or say you prefer the flexibility of catch-up or non live TV.

Saying you “don’t watch TV” is like saying you don’t read when I’m fact you only read a particular kind of writing.

I didn't have the foggiest what OP was on about, but then I saw this was the first reply. So... You do watch TV?

Mayve she has a point 😅

I am one of the people who annoy you, OP, but I suspect you are one of the people who annoy me!

My kids are a nightmare at going to bed, and once they are finally asleep, I have a long shower then go to bed too. So, I often don't set foot in the living room in the week, never mind switch on the TV.

Despite knowing this, I get constant questions at work, about whether I have watched X, Y, or Z series yet. The answer is always no, but still, I get asked daily.

I sometimes watch a film at the weekend, or maybe an hour of TV in the week. But when I say I don't watch TV, it is to get people to shut up asking me about things I am never going to watch.

Let me just check something.

Last night I watched an old episode of IT Crowd on Netflix while waiting for DH and then we both watched an episode of Slow Horses on Apple TV+. I watched them on the TV.
This wasn’t live TV but stuff I have chosen to watch via streaming services.
As I watched it on the TV it counts as watching TV.

but

If I watched both those things on a smaller screen via the same services sat in the same chair but on my tablet or laptop then I wasn’t watching TV, even though the activity and media consumed was the same.

You watch TV. It’s disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

I have met a few people like you. Who pretend their kids don’t watch TV but who watch every film and show going on DVD/streaming. It’s amusing.

@PriamFarrl

The answer to your question is in the common vernacular you are watching TV, yes.

”Watching TV” as a phrase encapsulates consuming audiovisual content on some kind of screen. This is the essence of the activity. The method of delivery of this content and the size and specifications of the device you choose to watch it on are irrelevant.

You could argue that watching a series on an old analogue black and white TV set is different from watching a series in colour on an Apple TV box, but it’s a specious logic.

The action/behaviour is the same.