Throw away the television?

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I haven’t physically thrown it away, but I have virtually thrown it away. It is only one once or twice a week for a short while.

When I realized that I had up to 2 hours per evening for prime-time TV and could not give God 20-30 minutes daily for prayer, that’s when it went down.

I do not want to meet my Maker having given him only the leftover time I had.
 
I finally saw the light and got rid of my Tv…

and bought a MUCH BIGGER ONE! YEEAAH!!! :dancing:
 
When we got our first TV, when I was a kid (in the '50s), we had several people that thought it was awful. They would go on about how much stuff was so bad on it, & they wouldn’t have one in their house. Went through quite a song & dance about specific shows that were just terrible, and/or starred terrible people in them. My grandmother always said the same thing: “People really need to do what we did–buy a television with a channel changer and an off button”.

Anyhow, a few months later, 2 couples showed up at the door–one family, one friends, both anti-TV people. They announced that they had come to our house to watch Billy Graham’s crusade. Grandmother said, “Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly let you do that. I know how you feel about television”–and shut the door in their faces. (I think you had to 😉 know her to realize how their jaws dropped…)
 
I think of Plato’s analogy of the people in the cave looking at the shadows on the wall… looking at the moving pictures on the screen

Don’t think I need to say any more do I?

One of these days I’m going to throw my TV out the window as well.

One of these days…
 
I can’t stand broadcast television programming and cable is just as bad. It just seemed to me like I was spending too much time watching something that was not really entertaining, solely because it was easy to do.

I’m also not a big fan of EWTN. I know that’s not a popular opinion here, but I just have a hard time taking any kind of religous activities seriously when they are on TV. I’d much rather sit down with a rosary, the Bible, or another spiritual book written by one of the many men and women of the Church that come before me.

That said, I still enjoy watching Football games, some movies, and occasionally playing some non-offensive video games, so I don’t think that I’ll ever get rid of my TV completely.
 
I don’t have a TV right now. I don’t really miss it, but it takes some getting used to at first. It’s amazing how much time they eat up when you have them.

As for the content that is on TV, it depends on what you are watching. Just about anything on the networks is garbage (either morally, intellectually or just boring (Joan of Arcadia) or all three). But if you watch Food Network or HGTV or Speed channel (my 3 faves), you’re really just watching PBS with better production values (and less anti-religious neoliberal nonsense). The TV has a dial, if you don’t like what’s on, change the channel, or turn the stupid thing off.

I’m doing pretty good without a TV right now and I don’t think I’m going to miss it much at all once I get back into college this month (no time for play come Aug 22). I’m going to miss F1 coverage, World Rally Championship coverage and some hockey, and not having HGTV means no more reDesign with Kenneth Brown, and History Channel is pretty good sometimes, and not having FoodTV is going to make it harder to motivate myself to cook better meals… ummm… what was I getting at again?

Oh yeah, I don’t miss TV really. I have a lot more time now. I never watched the garbage on TV even when I had TV (and yes, there is non-garbage programming if you dump the networks and avoid the sensationalist media) so I don’t think TV is necessarily a bad influence. You just have to be aware of what your kids are watching and make some real ground rules (oh yeah, and teach them discernment so they won’t be bubbleheaded morons that do whatever they see on TV… another reason why kids since the 60s are so heavily influenced by TV is because they are (or were raised by) baby boomers).
 
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Zooey:
When we got our first TV, when I was a kid (in the '50s), we had several people that thought it was awful. They would go on about how much stuff was so bad on it, & they wouldn’t have one in their house. Went through quite a song & dance about specific shows that were just terrible, and/or starred terrible people in them. My grandmother always said the same thing: “People really need to do what we did–buy a television with a channel changer and an off button”.

Anyhow, a few months later, 2 couples showed up at the door–one family, one friends, both anti-TV people. They announced that they had come to our house to watch Billy Graham’s crusade. Grandmother said, “Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly let you do that. I know how you feel about television”–and shut the door in their faces. (I think you had to 😉 know her to realize how their jaws dropped…)
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This story is just too cute…Thanks for sharing.
Oh…I forgot to mention in my original post that we have a 50in. TV, as well as the one in my quilting/computer/reading room…I LOVE our big TV! Since I have vision problems, I enjoy being able to read the captions easily, and everything looks so much better…Makes watching more fun.
**I don’t care if you get rid of your TV’s…Just don’t try to tell me that I am somehow “bad” because I enjoy mine. Get a life, guys…TV is a fact of life in today’s world. That on/off button is there for a reason…If you don’t like what you see, turn the thing off. **
**There is much good in TV…Just this morning I…along with one of my four grandsons (the four year old) watched the shuttle land…He was thrilled. Later on, he watched a “good” cartoon so I could take a quick bath…No, I did not feel a bit guilty…He was being entertained, and I got my bath…which I REALLY needed. **
**Nearly everything we have can be made into a “bad” thing. No matter what it is…It is up to each of us to use the gifts of God and man in an intelligent and fruitful way…And, to tell the truth…Sometimes I just need to sit down and be mindlessly entertained…Taken away from my every day worries…TV fulfills that need pretty well, don’t you think? **
 
Our TV can receive hundreds of channels, however I just watch The History Channel, CNN and Turner Classic Movies.
 
Our TV is mainly just on for my daughter for her Sesame strees and Barny programes LOL…other than that we either watch the news or I watch my little shows Charmed or Discovery Health.

I have the parental control locks on so I don’t have to be exposed to **** I don’t wanna see while flicking through channels.
 
We watch TV at specific times and purposes, i.e, (EWTN, Christmas specials, Fox News, etc.)
 
I voted “We are considering throwing away our television.” This isn’t quite accurate, though.

When this one no longer works, I doubt I’ll get another one. Simply, I’m disgusted with TV.

Watching tennis, the commentators are yacking away. What? Do they pay these guys by the word? Mostly, now, when I watch a match it’s with “mute” on.

Then, there’s football. If they have any more graphics and displays, it’ll be difficult to see the players. As for the announcers, please…

Or, then there are movies with subtitles. And, they flash displays about upcoming programs that block the text.

I’m just getting started, but I’ll stop…😃
 
My husband and I can’t have kids so I don’t have that consideration. We’re in L.A. and are Dodger fans so we watch baseball during the season. Other than that, we tend to watch non-fiction programming (History Channel, EWTN, PBS, Travel Channel, Discovery). I do like some old re-runs tho - I love the old “Perry Mason” in black and white. 🙂
 
I hardly watch TV, it wastes too much time! I only watch it every now and then. I’m certainly not going to throw it away.

Of course, I’m not a child. Parents must be careful not to let their children watch too much TV (or play to much computer). I work in the computer/multimedia industry and just because the computer game or TV show is “educational” doesn’t necessarily mean its helping. Watching TV and even clicking around on the computer are very passive activities for the brain. Not good!
 
We haven’t had one since we got married, which is now getting on to three years. I didn’t have one at college either. I’m thinking of getting a tv and dvd player, and no cable, so we can occasionally watch movies. No desire to watch tv. We plan to keep it in the closet, and set it up every couple of weeks. No space.

I (horrible snobbish confession) really hate commercials, and their blatant manipulation. Even if a tv is just on in the background at a friend’s house, I’ll get irritated at the blasted commercials.
 
As others have mentioned, when the television is on, people "seem to go into a trance -like state ". Actually, they **are ** in a trance like state…their brains often switch to alpha wave state, switching to right brain activity where one is many times more susceptible to suggestion. Recent tests by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that, while viewers were
watching TV, right-brain activity outnumbered left-brain activity by a ratio of two to one. Put more simply, the viewers were in an altered state…in trance more often than not. They were getting their Beta-endorphin “fix.”

Personally, I find that television has an irritating effect on me…I can’t explain why because it can be a program that is well worth watching. Perhaps it is because I have done without a television for about 15 years (every time i consider buying one there is something else that I would rather spend the money on). Or maybe it is because being naturally bullheaded, resisting any manipulation however well intentioned (pity my parents :whistle: ), the constant attempt at manipulation (commercials) irritates me. Or maybe it’s that I resist being put in an altered state (I have been told by a proffessional hypnotist that I am a very poor candidate for hypnosis)
 
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csr:
Television is thought by many to have been a key component in the descent toward denial of original sin, denial of true religion, and general debasement. Some have proposed mechanisms by which the debasement occurs, such as unperceived ideological transshipment. Others, of course, insist that they can find good things to watch. Some people like EWTN. Others have movies they watch, and feel they can be selective, using “the box” to the good. After Vatican II some religious wanted television in monasteries, as a way of being open to the world. Other religious insisted that it brings the spirit of the World (*). How has the battle played out in our homes? I find that when I pass a television set, or am in hearing range for 30 seconds, it is almost invariably the case that something filthy appears. Last night I was talking to someone who had the television on, and within thirty seconds, something was aired that was exactly akin to pornography: I won’t repeat the dialog. This is constant: a constant drumbeat of filth and ugliness. Even when not utterly foul, it is imbued with the spirit of the world, and devoid of any recognition of God, true religion, and true worship.
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We are more aware of the time our television is on, but I think there is a possibility of going a bit extreme on this subject. I have spoken with people, for example, who are basicaly hermits–without any knowledge of world or national affairs. As a Catholic and and as a government employee, I take world affairs pretty seriously. Along the lines of something I was asked to write a couple of years ago for my alma mater, we are called to engage the culture, to show what the world is missing. Dialogue can’t be achieved without some communication, and communication is facilitated by information. TV is great for news, nature shows, and some entertainment, but I do agree we have to be cautious in letting some of this junk into our homes. I guess where we have compromised, if that’s the right word, is that we don’t have anything but our local (or regional) channels–none of the HBO or Cinemax, etc, which I have decided I don’t want entering our house. I also boycott companies that cross over that line of decency…like Carl’s Jr’s Paris Hilton’s add, which seemed to disappear after we began complaining.

PS. I also think there is some value in knowing how bad our culture is sinking…a cultural bellwether of sorts. Having said that, however, if it gets much worse, we could be persuaded to cut back more.
 
Who needs Tee-Vee?!?

My wife and I keep a television to watch DVDs on, and the occasional sports game, but we never watch anything else. We keep it tucked out of the way, too – something I regard as quite important. If the TV is the centerpiece of the room, then it makes seems mentally acceptable to use it. But putting the TV on the sidelines, so to speak, limits its influence.

I am just way too visual to deal with modern television. It would tempt me to sin, and be a general waste of time.

Why are you watching television, when you could be living your life?

Note: Not watching TV doesn’t make us out of touch. We listen to radio news, read newspapers, and otherwise partake of HIGH-QUALITY media. But with TV, as Marshall McLuchan noted, the medium is the message. You let the world happen in front of you, and check your values at the door. Not always, but way too often.

: Prodigal :
 
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Prodigal_Son:
Who needs Tee-Vee?!?

My wife and I keep a television to watch DVDs on, and the occasional sports game, but we never watch anything else. We keep it tucked out of the way, too – something I regard as quite important. If the TV is the centerpiece of the room, then it makes seems mentally acceptable to use it. But putting the TV on the sidelines, so to speak, limits its influence.

I am just way too visual to deal with modern television. It would tempt me to sin, and be a general waste of time.

Why are you watching television, when you could be living your life?

Note: Not watching TV doesn’t make us out of touch. We listen to radio news, read newspapers, and otherwise partake of HIGH-QUALITY media. But with TV, as Marshall McLuchan noted, the medium is the message. You let the world happen in front of you, and check your values at the door. Not always, but way too often.

: Prodigal :
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I like your point about the centerpiece of the room. We also have a situation which allows us to make the tv disappear (or nearly so). Your news observation is also a good point, except that newspapers are going to disappear in the future from what I hear in the publishing industry. Many newspapers are just fighting to stay alive right now, and it doesn’t look good for them. Radio makes a pretty good alternative, although as they say, “a picture says a thousand words”. I’ll put it this away…some of the folks who ban television strike me as out of touch on many issues, but I will agree that a few of these (no TV) folks could also be better in touch than me! Thanks for the good observations.
 
I would love to throw it away, I seldom watch it, but I think my husband would divorce me if I really did. He’s a real couch potato.
 
I sold my high definition TV to a friend of mine almost a year and a half ago and haven’t bought a new one. Being without TV for almost a year and a half, I can honestly say that it really has been a postive thing!

I miss being able to watch sports, and when I get another TV it’s going to be primarily for that reason (as well as to watch DVDs).

Right now, I have a portable DVD player that my fiancee and I use to watch movies and TV series (if you haven’t tried it, DVD is the perfect format for watching TV!). We can sit close together, prop the DVD player on one of our laps and watch away…

Most TV is a complete waste of time, and the hypnotic effect of channel surfing is a real detriment to communication and to time that could be spent doing things that keep the mind active and focused…

I’m living proof that there is life after television!! 👍

JPA
 
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