What is the point of no TV but watching movies?

[LisaR]

In the past month, I think I have met in person or read about at least a dozen families that do not have TV reception but rent from Netflix, Blockbuster or buy movies. While two people did say it was because the price of cable was too expensive, the rest seem to do it because they find TV shows to be unacceptable. But some of their movie choices make me go .

DD (14) has a friend that has never had TV because her parents feel the programming is so inappropriate but this same girl is counting down the days until the Twilight DVD comes out. She also saw the movie in the theater. How is that acceptable but TV isn't?

I have a relative with little ones that won't allow TV but they rent every kid TV show that there is. Why not just let them watch it on TV? How is it better if you rent it versus watching it on TV?

I don't care if someone doesn't want to have cable/satellite in their house but the thing that gets me is that some of these people are trying to come across as so much better or above everyone else because they don't expose their kids to TV shows. But when I listen to some of the things they rent, I am confused. Has anyone else noticed this trend in avoiding TV shows but turning around and renting them?

 

[bumbershoot]

Best idea would be to simply ask them their reasons. You can often glean useful info by doing that.


But the thing that definitely comes to mind is *advertising*. I stinkin' hate the ads. DS isn't *too* bad about it anymore, but he does tend to get "the wants" about things he sees in ads. He also asks about debt, and if we should call consolidators, because Sprout/NickJr likes to put those ads in their late morning early afternoon programming. While it's great to be able to talk about money this early, I don't totally appreciate how it's coming up in conversation, ya know?

 

[bballmom56]

I don't get it either. I work for a family that is very educated and very wealthy. They never had tv reception as their kids were growing up because they felt it was garbage. It's true that there is a lot of stuff that is not worth the time, but there is also a lot of excellent programming such as the history channel, national geographic, discovery channel and even the weather channel. I get so tired of her asking me every day what the weather will be like - she could check the radar on the weather channel and find out for herself!

I remember several years ago she lamented to me that her DD's best friend didn't invite DD over to the friend's house to watch the Olympics. Duh, why can't you get tv and watch it at home???

This is only one of their many quirks.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I don't get it either.

DH's cousin and his wife are in this category. They don't "need" a TV. I think at one point they said it was so they could read more, then it was the advertising thing, then it was their son.

Funny thing is, he is ALWAYS on Facebook and Twitter, and is constantly on his iPhone. SHE is always talking about this or that movie.

 

[Kathi OD]

First, let me say we do have TV reception AND we pay Comcast a pretty penny for the privilege.

But, I can kinda see why people don't have TV reception and then rent movies. It's much easier to limit TV time when only movies are being watched. Not too many children are going to watch the same movie over and over and over yet again on the same day. With different programming available, on 200 channels, there's always something new to watch; even if you aren't really interested.

 

[LisaR]

I don't get it either.

DH's cousin and his wife are in this category. They don't "need" a TV. I think at one point they said it was so they could read more, then it was the advertising thing, then it was their son.

Funny thing is, he is ALWAYS on Facebook and Twitter, and is constantly on his iPhone. SHE is always talking about this or that movie.

This is the other thing. Two people we know with teens have said it is simply because of the garbage on TV. Yet they rent things that are garbage and both kids spend hours upon hours on the computer and use Facebook and Twitter. Now I assume these parents monitor what they do on the computer but if you can monitor that, it seems like you could monitor TV.

I really don't care if they have TV, honestly. I just hate when a few have tried to make themselves out to be better people because they don't watch TV but think nothing of renting junk movies or hanging out on Facebook.

 

[terri01p]

 

[Diznygrl]

.

 

[diznygirl]

I know a couple that does this. Knowing them, it's because they want to show they are superior in their choices/sacrifices for what they feel is "right" for their family. But mainly it's because they are cheap.

 

[Silent1CB]

I don't watch TV because I don't like much of what is on these days. So I rent movies. But in reality, I do lots of other things besides sitting in front of a TV.

DH watches lots of TV & rents lots of movies.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I'm one of those people who will never, EVER pay for TV. I do have a digital antenna to get free TV (and get about 20 channels - half of which are Spanish language), but we also have a Netflix account and use it to stream content. We really only use our antenna to watch special events (like a PP mentioned, during the Olympics).

For us, about 25% of our problem is with the advertising, and the other 75% is simply that I would rather watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it. I don't want to have to worry about being home for a certain time or certain day, and I don't want to spend an evening flicking through channels to find something "acceptable" to watch. Yes, I could get a DVR, but I simply will not spend that amount of money for something that I don't really need or want.

Instead, we watch TV shows and documentaries through Netflix streaming, for $8 a month. We usually pick a series to watch, and then watch the entire thing from start to end over the course of a few weeks/months. I also LOVE documentaries (both historical or nature, as well as political) and there are so many on Netflix, including TONS of Discovery Channel and History Channel ones. And I can choose what I want to watch when I want to watch it! And yes, I watch a lot of junk on Netflix as well, but at least it's junk that I handpick to watch.

 

[LilyWDW]

DD (14) has a friend that has never had TV because her parents feel the programming is so inappropriate but this same girl is counting down the days until the Twilight DVD comes out. She also saw the movie in the theater. How is that acceptable but TV isn't?

My boyfriend's joking reply to this would be "because they are vegetarian vampires and suck the juice out of carrots!"

Yea, he thinks he is SO funny!

Back to topic, I don't see the evils of TV personally. I don't watch much besides Food Network, History Channel, and Syfy but I know many an intelligent person who has watched TV their whole lives. They all turned out just fine.

 

[bananda]

there's a family at my sisters' school who dont like tv. they think it will expose their (teenage) children to all kinds of evils. but they do allow the kids to use the internet. there's far worse stuff online than on tv.

i get the only allowing movies thing, because then the parents have more control over what their children watch. i imagine its easier to monitor what movies they see than what tv shows they watch.

 

[Tink888]

It could be the advertising or it could be that they feel they can exercise more control.

Right now we have t.v. and get Netflix also. I've thought about getting rid of cable. The main reason is because between Netflix and the internet I can basically view everything I want to from those sources. Another reason is that there is a lot of junk t.v. and often times, it's the same repetitive stuff over and over again, so why spend the money when I could be using it for something else.

 

[browneyes106]

Some people just don't care for TV that much. Years ago there was a couple that lived near my family that had a TV in their home but they had to watch music documentaries and art instruction videos. They were both artists so they would spend most of their time working on stuff in the studio apartment behind their house. I also know some people that don't care to watch serialized TV shows mainly because they don't have the patience for those shows. A few of these people are really into sports and they spend hundreds of dollars each year on sports packages from DirecTV. When they aren't watching sports they are watching movies on TV or DVD. The other people that I know that don't care for serialized shows only watch movies and documentaries.

I also know people who are into TV shows but they never go to the movies , rent or watch movies on TV. My boyfriend has a friend who spends a lot of money on TV shows on DVD and he barely has any movies on DVD. He has about 30 different TV shows on DVD.

It comes down to different tastes and habits. I like watching documentaries, certain sports, movies and some serialized shows. I have DirecTV and netflix account. I use my netflix account to watch movies and documenatries that are rarely played on TV.

When it comes to parents controlling what their kids watch or exposed to I have seen parents use different methods. I know some parents that are more ok with their kids watching TV rather than their kids being online. Some parents monitor their kids' online activities and sometimes have their passwords for social networking sites. Some TV shows and movies that appeal to teens are tame to other teen shows and movies. I know many parents have complained about the sexual content on some shows here in the U.S. but the UK show Skins shows more content and MTV is considering making an American version of that show.

 

[Disneyadore]

In many cases I know it is a religious thing.We had neighbors once that demanded we kept our curtains closed so there kids could not get a glimp of our tv and the sins that were displayed there.

 

[FireDancer]

With a Roku player and a Media Center that can run the Boxee software you can set up a system that gets a lot of content online without having to pay for cable or satellite. A lot of television has turned into programming that does nothing more then fill the gaps between commercials. Online you can get content that either has a single pre-roll ad or no adds (if you know where to go ) and for no more cost then the broadband bill you are paying anyway.

I doubt it has anything to do with shielding anyone from content because that all of that content can be found online. If the Internet is also restricted then I can see it being a content issue.

The only reason I still pay for DirecTv is for the sports I watch. It requires being a bit tech savvy if you want it to work right and there are a lot of workarounds needed so it isn't quite as plug and play as standard tv but that makes it more fun.

 

[phragmipedium]

We got rid of it about a year ago for six months or so. We weren't planning on getting rid of it, but I thought the price we were paying for digital cable was ridiculous. We signed up online with Dish and had confirmations of all of our pricing, which was supposed to be $25 less than the digital cable cost. I even had DH call them to make sure it was right since I'm such a skeptic. Everything was all set, and then the day they came out to set up the dish I got home after it was finished and noticed the contract looked a little different than what I expected. DH called back and somehow now the price was even more than the digital cable had been! They refused to honor the price we signed up for and had confirmation for, so they let us break the contract with no fee and sent us prepaid boxes to ship it all back in. We just decided we'd upgrade from one Netflix account to two and see how we did without television for awhile.

It was fine. I didn't really have any moral issues with television to begin with, though I know I watched too much of it. Not having it didn't significantly change our lives in any way; we still watched most of what we wanted through Netflix, internet streaming or at the athletic club. We finally did get it back when I realized we could still get regular, non-digital cable through the local company for the same price we had signed up for Dish with. The few things we watched online we could have still gotten but we probably would have needed to upgrade our internet service, especially in order to both be able to watch something at the same time, so we just went back with cable instead. I find I watch a ton less of it, and rarely have it on for no good reason like I used to. In fact, it bothers me if it's on in the background while I'm doing something else now. But I don't think it's evil and really don't care one way or the other whether people have it or not.

 

[EllaM]

My brother and sister both don't have cable/satellite. My bro got the DISH hardware but never bothered setting it up. Reason?

They got me a SlingboxHD. Now they can just watch whatever they want on my cable or record it for the DVR.

Not having cable saves them a bill and keeps their kids from watching it constantly. Around here, we do tend to have it on a lot, but ours is a silent household otherwise.

Still even though I have access to hundreds of channels including OnDemand and HD, I find I only watch a few shows regularly. Mostly I'm watching news and sports. I can't stand regular primetime line-ups anymore. Half the time I'll forget my show is on and watch it later on the DVR or online when I can fast forward through commercials.

Even the Olympics were viewable online more than on TV. We'd turn on the Olympics at night but just out of habit. If we were busy or forgot, we'd just watch it later on the web.

Only thing you absolutely need cable for is football and baseball (unless you want to pay additional subscription fees for it online).

 

[smidgy]

If you don't want TV to save money, I get it.

but I agree with the OP. as far as people who say they don't want it because of the garbage on it, then rent movies with the same "garbage".

I have friends who tease me endlessly about my "addiction" to soap operas' (Hey, just cause I have watched them for 25 years doesn't make it an addiciton!).. but they are hooked on Lifetime movies!

to me, my soaps are "candy for the mind". I know they're stupid. so what? ( I am also well read.) it's an escape.

not like those people who spend time on facebook, or message boards!

I go back to the old adage...moderation is the key. for anything. i found myself spending so much time reading newspapers that I was neglecting reading books. I found myslef reading too many novels, and neglecting good nonfiction books. I found myslef reading too many non-fiction books, I was neglecting my friends. (I just found myself misspelling the word "myself" too much, so I must be spending too much time on message boards!).. darn fingers.
so many distractions. so little time...