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by lariati 1590 days ago
I am 50 and have never owned a television myself.

I have never had a Netflix account.

At this point, I have been offered pretty nice TVs for free more than once.

If you really get use to living without a TV though it feels like it has negative value to have one IMO. Even more now with Netflix and long binge watch series with disappointing endings.

Of course, I don't get to participate in the conversations about how much show X ending sucked after wasting a week of my life on it.

5 comments

Forgive me if I put no stock in your opinions on tv quality when you don't watch any.
Before I had a smartphone and a TV, I was much more physically active and got a lot more done on hobby projects. The 'quality' of TV programming is inarguable; if that's a net positive is debatable. The quality of carfentanyl is amazing, from what I hear...
Curious how you fill your time without TV. Also, do you consider others to be wasting their time for making a different choice?
not the OP, but I ride my bike (indoors or outdoors, mostly indoors now because riding outdoors around here is dangerous, even for me), lift weights, read Reddit (my front page is super curated; mostly niche subs, none of the huge ones), go to breweries/bars/restaurants, find things to do in the city, code, and write on my blog.

i do think that TV is fine in moderation like everything else, but, like social media and video games, overconsumption is socially normalized. putting off work and keeping yourself healthy for shows or endless scrolling isn’t okay IMO.

Owning a "TV" is really irrelevant. I know plenty of people that only own a iPhone. Yet they watch hours of Netflix, AppleTV, YouTube on it.

If you don't watch anything on whatever you're using to post your messages to HN then fine but if you do then you're still "watching TV" for all intents and purposes.

He he, the only reason I have a TV in the first place (plus two in storage) is because my dad keeps replacing his (because of some tiny new feature) and I find it a waste to throw out a perfectly good panel.
Have you ever watched a YouTube video?