To refuse a smart TV despite my kids' pleas.

[BeSunnyRaven]

We just moved house and got a new TV. I settled for a Cello one with a built in DVD player and no smart bullshite.

I don't want all this telemetry or the attention span ruining elements of being able to watch whenever you want when you want. Nor do I want to connect it to my internet and I'm certainly not paying to watch something, especially not to an american company

DD13 and DS11 desperately want one. I've said that if they want to watch something on netflix or the like, they can use the pirate bay to download it, burn it onto a dvd and load that into the TV.

Apparently that's 'not cool' and 'annoying' or whatever.

AIBU?

Oh Christ yeah, the last thing anyone would want is an AMERICAN programme… You can always tell which poor souls have been indoctrinated by those pesky yanks so you’re absolutely right to protect your children from this.

Or just actually just stop being weird and buy a normal TV for your kids. Imagine being a teen with an old school TV DVD and no Netflix in 2026. Mum straight up trying to live like it’s still 2005. You remind me of the Bowling for Soup 1985 song.

Lol at being terrified of streaming services knowing that you watched Shrek 1 2 and 3 on Thursday, but signing up chat sites on the Internet.

Careful op, those Americans might be watching.

Are you in any doubt whatsoever that you might be behaving in a 'reasonable' manner?

If not, and you are convinced you are in fact reasonable, this is not the forum for you and you should not have posted.

Obviously, you do you.

Not sure the point of asking AIBU when youre already convinced your not. You’re going to carry on regardless of what anyone says. Just don’t be surprised in a few years time when the kids spend all their time at other peoples houses.

We have a smart TV but we don't subscribe to any paid streaming services. We have a TV licence, as we always did. We use the free streaming and 'on demand' services only. Occasionally we watch YouTube on it, if it's something where the bigger screen will be a significant benefit, such as a train drivers' eye view cab ride, but otherwise it's more hassle than it's worth to use it for the internet. We have a DVD/Blu Ray player plugged into it that we also use.

Main PITA with it is if it has a 'software update' it sometimes fucks about with its other settings and peripherals such as the sound bar.

Not having a TV at all would make them less weird to their friends. Nobody pirates anymore - I had to explain the pirating advert to my teenage niece when watching one of my DVDs over Christmas. My own DC are used to it. We have DVDs but also streaming services on our TV.
I think basic ‘dumb’ phones are great - I had one for a few years. I still would if the camera was better!!
But your set up is just so random and does make you seem a bit unwell. If you don’t want them to watch it, just don’t have one!
Or even if just having DVDs is you only want them to watch approved things not junk TV or whatever

Definitely a wind-up pist. 🙄

You do realise that you don't have to pay any subscriptions if you get a smart TV you could use iplay and ITV apps and just not pay for any of the subscription services. Really I'm not sure you understand how one works.

Is this post for real or is it a joke?If real then I truly feel sorry for the children having a parent like this.

You could have just bought any TV and just not used the apps. Cello TVs are perfectly good though and often sold for caravans, the dvd players in them are often not that robust though.

Your logic of 'the billionaires won't miss my subscription money' is bizarre and essentially a justification for illegal behaviour. Do you also have similar ideas for other things in life- the billionaire shop owners won't notice if steal a few things? There's a difference between downloading a one off movie online and doing it always. Plus the quality of such downloads is always crap. Not sure why you are being unnecessarily mean to your kids?

Like this. A post designed to take the piss. We should all adopt it.

OP, there are 2 elements to this.
You are the parent, so it's perfectly reasonable for you to decide not to have a Smart TV.
However, you are the parent, so it's frankly wrong to encourage your kids to burn stuff off pirate sites as that is theft. Think about the example you are setting.

I love this - it's bringing back sweet memories of my grandparents before they died a few years ago, in their nineties. Does it also come preinstalled with a Google? And how can you be reading your emails, when that's not your computer? And how can you tell it's me when I ring you...?