TELEVISION POLL

[Faust]

I don't watch tv

[Idem]

I went years without watching tv during my 20s. I can't say that it made me any smarter. I can't say that it made me any stupider either, although I would if I were to judge it using as my sole datapoint the pleasure I'd get from advertising the fact I didn't watch tv.

Dumb folk do tend to watch a lot of tv, but is it correlation or causation? I mean, some people just don't enjoy thinking. If you can't force them to do so, then the glowing box isn't the problem as they'd just find something else to be absorbed by like stamp collecting or whatever.

Every medium makes us think differently.  Whatever thought process is endemic in the public, the popular medium is majorly responsible.  Television is as much of a change in medium as writing was from word-of-mouth, as it is about as different from writing as word-of-mouth is.

Makes people stupid?  Maybe, maybe not.  But it radically changes the way people think of their world.

[Jenne]

I grew up with the TV on ALL the time.  A lot of the ways my brothers and I can relate to each other is through the shows we watched so often as kids.  But we also did other things and had a lot of imaginative play, read books voraciously, etc., and I never felt that TV made me dumber for it.

Now, I watch news shows that are NOT the main primtime bullshit, unless my husband's giving an interview or whatever, or there's a local issue I need to hear about for the kids' school, etc.  I watch some HBO/SHO shows, and I watch movies.  I rarely watch primetime shows, unless it's like Law & Order or something, and then it's only while I'm doing other things.  We do have the background noise thing going on, but usually, my husband's on his laptop researching, reading news, chatting on gmail chat, and I'm surfing the web, doing work, or stuck on here while the tv's on.   Not the healthiest, probably, but I sometimes use it as a time to defervesce.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

That being said the smug sense of unwarranted self importance some people get from saying "I don't watch tv" has become so irritating that its almost embarrassing to say anything similar.

Really? How is not watching TV something people can be smug about?

[LMNO]

That being said the smug sense of unwarranted self importance some people get from saying "I don't watch tv" has become so irritating that its almost embarrassing to say anything similar.

Really? How is not watching TV something people can be smug about?

It's not. 

[Cramulus]

That being said the smug sense of unwarranted self importance some people get from saying "I don't watch tv" has become so irritating that its almost embarrassing to say anything similar.

Really? How is not watching TV something people can be smug about?

in the same way that not being part of the "mainstream" (whatever that means these days) gives you street cred.

[Captain Utopia]

Monkeys can will be smug about anything.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

You've made his point good sir. I tip my ridiculous stovepipe hat to you.
     \



But seriously, I just can't picture someone acting smug about not watching TV.

"Oh man! Did you see the Daily Show last night?"
"Psh, I don't watch TV. I can't afford cable."

[Cain]

I'm not smug

[AFK]

That being said the smug sense of unwarranted self importance some people get from saying "I don't watch tv" has become so irritating that its almost embarrassing to say anything similar.

Really? How is not watching TV something people can be smug about?

It's not. 

Especially if they log multiple hours on-line.  (not related to work of course)  Screen time is screen time. 
It would be like a vegetarian screaming at a meat-eater while wearing a leather jacket. 

[LMNO]

"Oh man! Did you see the Daily Show last night?"
"Psh, I don't watch TV. I do more socially engaging things, like jerk off to online WOW porn."

Fixed.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I sometimes watch television... for me is a random piece of entertainment like the Internet and books. If I'm in the mood to watch TV or read or play on the net,  then that's what I do. Arguing about watching vs not watching seems as dumb as arguing that you never drink Starbucks coffee... or that you always buy local or whatever other bullshit "Black sheep" meme happens to be popular.

If you don't like to do something don't do it... there's no need to stand on a digital street corner and proclaim that you don't do it.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

That being said the smug sense of unwarranted self importance some people get from saying "I don't watch tv" has become so irritating that its almost embarrassing to say anything similar.

Really? How is not watching TV something people can be smug about?

It's not.  

Especially if they log multiple hours on-line.  (not related to work of course)  Screen time is screen time.  
It would be like a vegetarian screaming at a meat-eater while wearing a leather jacket.  

I don't think not watching TV is anything to brag about, but I wouldn't equate it with being on a computer either. Computers are kind of a two way street, TV is one way and it's not even like you can use your imagination like with radio. It doesn't encourage thinking or problem solving and it seems to be a detriment to that sort of thing when you go overboard. Granted, there's a fuckton of useless vapid time-wasting crap you can do on a computer, but there's a lot of things you can do to improve yourself as a person or improve the lives of other people like making WOW porn for snobby non-TV watchers to jerk off to.

edited because I forgot the punchline goes at the end

[AFK]

That being said the smug sense of unwarranted self importance some people get from saying "I don't watch tv" has become so irritating that its almost embarrassing to say anything similar.

Really? How is not watching TV something people can be smug about?

It's not.  

Especially if they log multiple hours on-line.  (not related to work of course)  Screen time is screen time.  
It would be like a vegetarian screaming at a meat-eater while wearing a leather jacket.  

I don't think not watching TV is anything to brag about, but I wouldn't equate it with being on a computer either. Granted, there's a fuckton of useless vapid time-wasting crap you can do on a computer, but there's a lot of things you can do to improve yourself as a person or improve the lives of other people (like making WOW porn for snobby non-TV watchers to jerk off to). Computers are kind of a two way street, TV is one way and it's not even like you can use your imagination like with radio. It doesn't encourage thinking or problem solving and it seems to be a detriment to that sort of thing when you go overboard.

Good point.  So maybe it isn't a 1-to-1 ratio, it depends on who is using it.  Though, TV too can offer things that are at least somewhat educational.  Both the History Channel and the Science Channel have some pretty good programing on space and astrophysics. 

In the end, a lot of people like some escapism now and again.  Perhaps the problem isn't really the medium of escapism, it is more of the frequency and depth of the escapism that is an issue.  Too much leads to less thinking and machinating in reality, regardless of how it is delivered. 

[LMNO]

The computer is becoming more passive, btw.  Youtube, Hulu, RSS feeds and the like are not interactive, unless you want to get into flame wars in the comments section. 

Even 'social networking' sites are little more than the territorial bird calls of the internet, an endless loop of, "Are you there? I'm here."