Do you own a television?

[reader99]

It occurs to me that I apparently don't consider The X-Files fiction. Oh dear...

Love the spaceship!

[Gregg]

It occurs to me that I apparently don't consider The X-Files fiction. Oh dear...

FOFL! The truth is out there Jane.

[DonkaDoo]

Yes. I own a televison. I really like TV.

[jp1]

I actually didn't have a tv for about 10 years after I graduated college in 1990. During college I found ample entertainment opportunities doing other things. (read: I went to a lot of parties and bars and drank a lot of beer...) Once I finished school and started my adult life I didn't have money to buy one at first. As the weeks and months rolled by there was always something else to spend the money on and after several months I realized that I didn't really care that I didn't have one. So I just never got one.

I eventually bought a small one and a vcr so I could rent movies. Now I live with an SO who LOVES tv, so we absolutely have one, a big one, with cable and tivo and netflix and blueray machine, etc. If I am ever single again I'd probably do without, since when I'm home alone (including the 3 months when I was still living in NJ and SO had already moved out here to California) I never ever turn it on.

[Tradd]

No TV. I've been TV free for a little over 8 years. I do use my laptop to watch the occasional movie (I have a few DVDs and sometimes get them from the library) and I will watch a very occasional show online, mostly PBS stuff.

The place I'm staying temporarily while my building is undergoing foundation repairs has a TV. The lady who owns the place was beginning to show me how to work the remote and DVD player, but I told her not to worry about it, as I don't have one. The jaws of both her and her DH just dropped. They also couldn't believe it when told that of my 17 tubs (18 gallons) of stuff I moved, I had more books than clothes. ;-) It's most fun watching people's reactions.

[madgeylou]

i bought my first tv in 2002, to watch my bootleg copy of "fellowship of the ring" that i bought on ebay from singapore! it's 27", flat screen but not flat panel. cost around $500 at the time.

over the last 10 years, sometimes i've had cable on that tv, and sometimes i haven't. usually i get it for a few months, binge on terrible telly, and then cancel it again. when i went through a big breakup about 5 years ago, i was really glad to have premium cable and a DVR! but i haven't had it since.

i'm getting rid of the old tv now, because my fiancee and i just got ourselves a new tv for christmas -- a 40" flat panel -- and it is AWESOME. we can play games from his iphone on it (through the apple tv) and we can stream netflix and download stuff from itunes and basically just watch whatever we want whenever we want for minimal cost.

the future is awesome.

it is a little dangerous, though. we have it set up to do an automatic slideshow of vacation photos from the last few years, and i can sit and look at that slideshow for a really inordinate amount of time!

[nordette]

Don't own a TV.

Friends of ours gave us their gigantic TV before they moved away about 8 years ago, and then when we moved a year afterward - we gave it away.

Although the option of watching TV via Hulu and other streaming sites are available, I have a hard time committing to it. Once in a while when I want to look up things or be inspired I will watch youtube clips (like clips of people's frugal ideas, or how people save money, or the interior of small homes - SLN themes). Also have a hard time watching movies since we don't really visit movie houses either. I think because I know I have an addictive personality, I just don't want to get sucked into watching shows.

I do read a lot and catch up on the latest TV shows via gawker.com (just so I'm not totally lost at gatherings and other social occasions). What is funny is that because I read about this, I'm often not sure how to pronounce things. For example, I didn't know how to pronounce Palin or Obama (when he first showed in public consciousness), or the Kardha-something sisters, I knew for a long time about American Idol being a vote based show, but couldn't for the life of me tell anyone what it was about...except I knew who was the popular favorite at a given time.I live in some bizarre parallel universe where I know to a large degree the stuff that people are paying attention to, but very little idea on who these people are, or why they're really worthy of attention, or how to pronounce their names, and such. And I'm not living in the woods somewhere, I live in the middle of a bustling city!

[martha]

Have been tv-less since the early 90's, and am much happier not being exposed to the incessant advertising. I used to be way too susceptible to feelings of inadequacy about what I already had when constantly brainwashed to buy newer, shinier stuff. I like it lots better this way.

My news comes from NPR, a daily newspaper, and the internet. Am an avid reader, and spend way too much time online, but now when I'm at someone's home and the tv is blaring in the background, it seriously gets on my nerves.

[folkypoet]

We own a TV (got it for free!), but it's not hooked up to receive any stations. Occasionally, we use it to watch movies (though we've only done this maybe twice in the last three months). We do, however, watch shows on the computer. Right now, we're watching an episode or two of The West Wing each night (new hubby had never seen it before!). Love the fact that there are no commercials.