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.

I think some people are so desperate to share how little TV they watch that they aren’t reading the OP ;-)

Surely rarely watching TV means you seldom stream stuff, not never stream stuff. I don’t have a TV licence as I never watch live TV. I’m certainly not interested in watch sport on TV. I have Netflix as I will stream a film most months, and perhaps a series once or twice a year. I have Amazon prime, because it comes free with the prime delivery option. I reckon my TV, which is a 55” OLED thing bought the year before my husband died, is turned on for probably 3 hours a month. I’ll watch the odd thing on YouTube on my iPad. So I’d quite happily say I don’t watch TV much. And I don’t think I do :) But I’m not really sure what the OPs point is…can they not comprehend that other people live different lifes to their own?

YANBU. I don't have a TV set, but I watch on my laptop so I would never claim that I don't watch TV.

I’d say watching TV is watching any content created to watch in people’s homes (typically on a television but could be on other devices). This would include all programming for terrestrial, live broadcast, streaming and yes,
DVDs.

I didn’t see the issue with the OP until a few posters who do tell people they don’t watch it when they clearly really do. And of course the ones that did display some moral superiority (envious of TV watchers but not having time because they are reading).

This thread reminds me of a relative who 'doesn't do Facebook' but regularly uses their partners account to check up on the latest goings on in the village (they do this together).

I don’t watch much TV. Never have. If the proper TV is on it’s a sign the kids are awake. I might watch the occasional short YouTube video.

None of which is a sign that I don’t have my nose in a screen - I’m a massive D&D fan so evenings are either spent playing or preparing (which involves a lot of setting up digital maps and stuff). But I struggle with TV. The choice of what to watch is overwhelming to the point where I turn it on, stare at the options and then turn it off - and I struggle on holding my attention on a video for long intervals. The American switch to 44 mins to an hour being a typical episode time has been just awful for me. (Yes I have always been like this. Yes some kind of neurodivergence is almost certainly involved).

I don’t say it to sound superior. It’s actually a pain in the ass - the switch to running training by video is something I really struggle with - there’s a lot of “oh shit I stopped listening at some point again - rewind”.

I don't watch TV....I own a TV and have Netflix and YouTube for the kids to watch it but I don't AT ALL. When they're at their dads it doesn't get switched on. I don't own a laptop or tablet only my phone and I don't use it to watch anything....I prefer to read, scroll mumsnet and reddit and I read the news rather than watch it. I hate going to the cinema as I haven't got the patience to sit through an entire film they bore me half to death. So no...I don't watch tv...ever. its not hard to grasp surely?

It’s people who not people that, people are not objects.

So no...I don't watch tv...ever. its not hard to grasp surely?

Do you know what else isn't hard to grasp... The fact the OPs post clearly doesn't relate to people like you who don't watch TV ever.

The reading comprehension on this thread is beyond ridiculous.

@NoNewsIsGoodNews where we live you can't access live TV without a sky dish or ariel. We have neither. They watch Netflix prime or YouTube so we don't need a licence.

This is it for me. I take the phrase “watching tv” to mean watching a programme that in the olden days would have only been accessed on a television set but can now be accessed on Netflix, other streaming services etc. So if someone says “I don’t watch tv” I’d assume it meant they didn’t watch any type of programme, regardless of the means they access it. Clearly to others, they’re using a much narrower definition of what “watching tv” means.

This thread is beautifully bonkers though 😂

@Bubblebubblebah

My take on this is it’s a hangover from the days in the late 50s and early 60s when TV was new and it was always seen as “mass” entertainment. Particularly after the birth of commercial channels like ITV, which were much more lowbrow and funded by advertising.

Middle class people who cared a lot about status (like my parents) equated it with being working class and uneducated and pretended they would always prefer to read. I grew up with a lot of this stuff so I can recognise it a mile off.

Obviously it’s difficult today to maintain to illusion that you never watch TV. But a lot of status conscious people feel that choosing to stream stuff sets them apart from the unwashed hordes who just gormlessly “consume” audiovisual content.

That's how I'd define it - I'd also include watching DVDs.

I haven't been to a McDonalds since the 1990s. However, if it was the only available choice I would look at the menu and ask for what I wanted.

I agree with this.

What's funny is that people my age and below (30s), or at least those in my immediate circle, are more intentional about what we watch because of streaming services. But we wouldn't say that we 'don't watch TV' because that would be untrue.

It seems that a lot of the people who say they don’t watch tv are doing so because people will ask them if they watched a certain program.
I think this is some people having an aversion to small talk rather than anything else.

I'd say I don't watch much TV.

I watch call the midwife on a Sunday. Nothing else. Once that finishes, I don't really have anything else I watch religiously, so no reality TV, soaps and such, don't watch sports.

I occasionally watch a Netflix series, if I've heard people talking about it/recommending it. I rarely actually finish them though 🤣 I have seen all of the crown up to the new series but have yet to watch the new series yet. I'm in no rush I'll get round to it.

We only have one TV in the house and it's dominated by 8 year old DS. I'll read a book in the corner whilst he's watching Lego ninjango or marvel films over and over again.

I do go to the cinema though, I enjoy seeing big marvel films on the silver screen.

So I'd say I'm in the "don't watch much TV bracket".

But I’m not really sure what the OPs point is…can they not comprehend that other people live different lifes to their own?

The OPs point is not that she can’t comprehend that other people live lives different to her own, it’s that they live extraordinary similar lives but lie their arses off about that within them that they fear mark them out as being intellectually lacking, or socially or morally inferior. Hence the stream of posters claiming to not watch TV despite adding a qualifier excluding the several series, films, soaps etc that they watch as “TV”. Hence the pretending that “TV” is only Channels 1-5 watched live, or else channel surfing, or a TV show watched on a laptop is not TV. Hence the wailing of the many “but I don’t watch TV, why do you care” posters at whom it is not aimed but they still must protest in case anyone should judge them for clandestine TV watching. Hence the comments about “no time”, and “trash”, and claims about badgering colleagues forcing lies and the many, many comments about reading. Why reading? If you ask someone if they use a steam mop they would never answer “I’d rather be reading”, although it might be true. Ditto if you asked them if they enjoyed learning a foreign language, or building model aeroplanes. It’s because reading is erroneously situated as the clever, worthwhile, middle class, virtuous and intellectual direct equivalent to the low brow anti-intellectual, mass produced for the masses, trash that people who watch shit TV think TV is. Even if the TV is Bowling for Columbine or Blackfish or a Mark Jenkins short and the reading is pornographic fanfic based on a TV show.

Me too @MoscowMules . But I definitely watch TV 🤣, less than ten hours a week I'd say.

I watch Countryfile, CTM, Happy Valley (although I only discovered it last week), Ben Fogle in Scotland is lovely, Repair Shop. Very little on streaming services.

I don't understand why someone wouldn't just say 'I don't watch that' tbh. I've never watched the soaps/reality TV, doesn't interest me at all.

My Dh watches it more than me , he'll put it on when i would rather listen to music or the radio
I have shows I adore , my fav soap is Eastenders, but only because I've watched from the start, but I honestly wouldn't watch the old rubbish my Dh likes ( luckily he isn't into sport that much )
I like to see the news and Happy Valley I've go into lately , but during the day on my own indoors it's turned off.
I couldn't not have one though

You have missed the point of the OP entirely.

I watch tv but I get the impression a lot of people who watch on demand via, say, laptops genuinely don’t count it as tv. Which is definitely silly.

I have a friend who does this. But she replies to almost everything I write on Facebook even to tell me she has no idea what I'm talking about.

I don't understand why this has wound you up so much, OP - do you feel that people who say they don't watch TV are somehow judging you?

As for me, I always say, "I don't watch live TV", and immediately follow up with, "But I do have Netflix."

It's factually correct. I don't watch the BBC (or BBC iPlayer since they closed that loophole years ago) or anything live. I think I watch 4OD (their catchup service) once every couple of years. I find there's enough on Netflix to watch.

Same, work colleagues often ask me "did you see x,y or z" last night, and I just say "no I didn't sorry" like it's not that hard 🤣