This is not really a fair prompt in this day and age because even if we all got rid of our TVs, we would still have plenty of other screens to watch something on.
That said, I am not at all married to the TV.
I do really enjoy watching period TV shows with Sonia (such as The Crown), but other than that, I don’t ever end up using the TV.
And if we got rid of the TV, she and I could still stream our shows on the laptop.
(Speaking of which, I don’t care at all about not having cable TV; every period TV show I want to watch with Sonia is available streaming. Ha.)
I grew up watching very little TV, so maybe that has something to do with why I’m not very tempted to watch it now. Or maybe it’s just not something I would have been very into no matter which family I grew up in.
That said, if you asked me to give up screens like my desktop, laptop, or phone, then we’d have a problem. I use those way, way more than I use the TV!
We got rid of traditional tv 5 years ago. It was a hard decision but once we did it, it was find. We just stream shows here and there. Saves lots of money and we aren’t missing anything! Our problem is that we have to pause for buffering often. So that is annoying. We have the fastest speed too, ugh. It’s funny though, when we go somewhere with traditional tv, our kids just loves the commercials!
We haven’t had a t.v. since 2004! We don’t miss it at all. There are so many alternative ways to get news.
We don’t have one. And honestly, don’t want cable at all. The few times we’ve tried to find something for our kids on cable TV–like on roadtrips in motels or something–it was all so awful we gave up.
I don’t watch anything at all. My husband occasionally watches a YouTube video on his laptop about a certain topic that interests him. And when I let my kids watch something, it’s something on YouTube or Prime on their desktop computer.
Oh, you will never find good TV shows in motels! I can’t believe only junk is available in motels/hotels.
Sure. No biggie. I don’t love video. I grew up mostly without TV and am one of those kids who doesn’t know the Brady Bunch theme song or Gilligan’s Island or any of that. Don’t need it. I’d rather read.
My husband, on the other hand, loves video. So, we have a few shows we watch together because I do care that he does enjoy it (mostly docureality — my current favorites are The Repair Shop and Expedition Overland). The kids also love TV, but I don’t love my kids’ behavior when they’ve spent time on screens, so they have some pretty sturdy limits.
We have broadcast channels via antenna (four stations with a total of 11 different broadcasts) and Prime and Netflix via Roku.
The only thing I use my TV for is to stream movies and a few old shows. I dropped cable a few years back. When our kids were young, cable didn’t reach our area, and the antennas we all had then just couldn’t pick up enough signal to get TV over the airwaves. My kids grew up watching snowy Sesame Street early in the morning and that was it for the day, as the signal degraded for the rest of the day. We went a long time without television, so I know I can go without it.
I didn’t grow up watching much TV. In fact, we didn’t have one until I was about 10-11 as my dad began working in an appliance store. Our first TV (I’m aging myself here) was a Sylvania Halo-light, with an antenna. But my kids were raised on Sesame Street, etc. We cut the cord to cable providers a couple years ago (don’t miss the commercials) and only stream through Roku. Our favorite channels are Curiosity Stream, Smithsonian, and History Vault, although we do have Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Ha! I don’t even know how to turn on our TV. {{ kind of embarrassing to admit 🙂 }}
It gets used by other people here mostly to watch sports and news programs. My husband and I watched Downton Abbey together when that was on and I got The Crown DVDs from the library for the first couple of seasons. Could you recommend other period shows in a blog post someday?
Katie: If you go to https://www.willowandthatch.com/ and sign up for their emails, you will get periodic emails telling of the latest costume and period dramas, their plots, and where to find them (PBS, HULU, and so on). I find them to be very comprehensive.
wow! that website looks fantastic. Thanks for your reply. 🙂
I’ll keep mine. 😉 My kids get one show a day and it’s usually a Veggie Tales DVD or a PBS Kids DVD from the library. I like that 25-45 minute break in the day. My husband and I enjoy watching documentaries on some evenings and occasionally have one show we follow and I’m not a big fan of watching things on small screens. (Side note: I also hate e-books… Give me the paper copy!!) We have only had an antennae for the entire time we’ve been married.