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by duopixel
5513 days ago
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When I was six years old my parents decided to move the family to another country, and they left the TV behind (never to buy one again). I've never owned a TV, though I've shared my household with people who would have one in the common area. To this day, TV just absorbs me, I just can't stop watching. I become the caricature of an absent minded drooling zombie. When people speak to me while watching TV I don't respond. When I go to a bar that has any channel on, I zone out of social life. Though I developed what some people might call "good habits" (I picked up cooking and reading as a kid). But I also think TV is culture in it's own merit, in the sense that it's a shared experience. I've seen a lot of people talk about TV shows with great passion, and I'm totally lost on that experience. In the end TV is just a medium, and you choose what to watch. It is true that the quality of most TV shows is appalling (and yet I can't stop looking), but I've found that if I turn it on specifically to watch a show, instead tuning out, I can have a healthy relationship with it. |
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Same here. Having grown up without much TV, I find it absolutely hypnotic when it's on, which is why keeping it off is critical to my productivity.
My not owning a TV isn't some form of elitism; I don't keep a TV in the house for the same reason a recovering alcoholic doesn't keep liquor in the house - I can't trust myself with it 24/7.
My question is - how do you maintain this discipline in the age of internet video on demand? As PG put it in his essay on distraction, I often feel like sometime in the last few years someone snuck in and put a TV on my desk.
I work from home much of the time, and that requires a fast, always-on internet connection. I've been reasonably successful at keeping my bad habits in check to date, but the temptation alone is a regular distraction.
I'd be very interested to hear how others deal with this.