.

Nope, rarely anymore. I get my information from other, more reliable sources.

In fact I stopped watching almost all TV about 6 months ago, and feel I am far better off because of it.

i dont even watch the daily show anymore because it has too much political bullshit for my tastes. i found following the news and politics to have a negative influence on my life. it cause's me too much dis-ease and i start to think the world is a terrible place and humans are terrible creatures. thats not how i want to see the world.

to me watching the cable news channels is voluntary subjecting yourself to a form of mind control. its original design is to inform but its modern purpose is to control the masses by creating the reality that benefits the powerful best.

its also market creating device. if there's not enough sick people for your new drug just make enough people think their sick kind of thing.

I stopped watching tv many years ago,pretty much when i bought my first computer.Back then,the only thing i would really watch is the news and tv shows.
I do still watch mainstream media Tv shows but not the news anymore.The news is just depressing and full of lies.

My tv broke down some weeks ago. So now i have more space to do future experiments : )

Till that time the cat will protect the area from evil multimedia invaders from hell.

I haven't watched tv for years but I definitely enjoy reading different kinds of newspapers to realize
how much they tend to distort "reality".

I dont watch tv for many years already, no news, no series, nothing. To me, watching TV is like eating perceptual junk food, in 3 levels. First of all because information is usually very biased, or the images implicitly pass a certain ideal (or notion of whats 'normal) that one will unconsciously and slowly internalize. Secondly because of all the advertisements that plague TV and that you have no choice but to watch at least some of them, and advertisement in general the way its done (brainwashing for consumption) is a disgrace to mankind. Thirdly because, if we take Mcluhan's idea that the medium is the message, I think TV's message is: "here, we give you a pre-made set of (mostly crap) images, you can have a pseudo-choice by turning from one channel to the other but you have no real choice over the content, so keep consuming passively sitting in your couch".

Though I check the news on few different news pages on the internet. I check on different opposing-opinion pages to get a bit more thorough idea of the news, and in a big part I check the news because Im learning two new languages so I take the opportunity to always read news in these languages im learning.

Each one to his own though, im just speaking for myself.

endlessness: I don't understand how any of your three points relate to downloaded TV series ? Or don't you watch series/movies on TV but do on a computer ?

Oh dont get me wrong I would imagine there are good tv series out there indeed and I do not judge someone who's watching them. I never found anything that caught my attention, but neither really felt like trying to get hooked to some series. So no I dont watch tv series on computer either, I preffer to use my time in other things, but again, each one to his own.

I was more talking about a criticism to tv in general, wasnt supposed to mean that all and every single thing shown on tv is necessarily bad.

Nah, all good. "I never found anything that caught my attention, but neither really felt like trying to get hooked to some series" is an understandable explanation.

I too have quit watching television. It truly is a device that numbs the brain and I did not realize it until it was gone. When I am someplace where one is on I find it very repulsive. I do have a subscription to Netflix but am about to cancel it as well. I am 46 years old and as long as I can remember the majority of my information has come from one of those boxes. Granted there are more choices than when I was a child but it is all the same food in a different wrapper.

I have had substance abuse problems most of my life and television was no different. It was a very hard habit to break. Just like a drug only it had gotten more mindless than any substance out there. It has also invaded the internet. Now look at web news and its inundated with commercials and shit. Why should anyone care about Dancing with the Stars? Honestly I would rather spend an hour in a dentists chair than watch crap like that.

Now, looking back, I can't believe the hours of life I wasted staring into that screen, at least with my computer I am constantly learning something new, meeting people from around the world, have access to music and knowledge that was never available to me before. Instead of being addicted to entertainment I am addicted to information and education!

Aetherbound

Hi,

Zubidlo doesn't own TV. There is this toll they call 'TV licence' here and zubidlo is just not going to pay that (160euro a year). There is nothing to miss anyway. All zubidlo needs to watch can be stolen from internet. Yeah I know...

Zubidlo likes intelligent TV. For example dramas 'The Wire', 'The Corner' or documentaries like 'Cosmos' is must see in zubidlo's opinion

Regards.

Occasionally PBS will have something worthwhile on it, but other than that the only time I'll watch the TV is when I'm stoned off my ass, but I'd much rather go for a walk or talk with other people when I'm like that anyway.

news channels aside if you choose your programing well and mute the commercials or in my case i have a dvr so i just fast forward past them television can be very enjoyable.

its not all "jersey shore" mind numbing crap unless thats what you choose to watch. in my conversations at work i hear people condemn tv all the time as its beneath them and a fools paradise, but tv is only as good or bad as what you choose to watch. it doesnt have to be so mind numbing nor should it be on 8 hours a day. its still your choice.

for me i mostly watch science and nature programs as well as PBS. there are many wonderful and informative programs and documentary style shows. much of my understanding of the universe was sparked from a program and then followed up with reading or time spent researching on the internet.

news channels = total bullshit but the device itself isnt a bad thing unless you make it that way.

yeah, I got rid of my TV years ago also, I do still stream some movies and documentaries online and I'll watch some alternative media sources online like RT. I'm a bit of a youtubeaholic though, and addicted to researching things that interest me online.

I simply can no longer stand to sit (oxy-moron, yes, yes, moving on) and watch TV, or play video games.

What ever I saw as entertaining in todays media prior to having my perspective on the world altered, is now no longer present.

I hate watching tv. The only thing i'll watch, when i'm with someone who even has a tv, is those intense nature specials with bizarre creatures never seen before. It can be fun with bunch of friends after putting it on mute, rolling many joints, and blasting shpongle the whole time.

My television intake has dropped quite a bit. Obviously the advertising is out of control, "buy this, save that, eat this, loose that," its terrible how the majority buy into that crap with out even second guessing themselves.

And reality shows are also soaking up a lot of air time. Shows like Jersey Shore and Im 16 and Pregnant are distracting people (especially the youth) from reaching their true potential. What poison...

I realize that there is entertainment value in it to some people. I guess i just feel pitty for them. But who am i to tell them what they can and can't do for entertainment. I have tried to voice my opinion to some friends and family on the issue. But it just went in one ear and out the other.

"one of these days"

I hardly watch TV because there's usually not much on it. But i try to follow the news from different sources. It's important to know (at least roughly) what's going on in the world.
Also from a spiritual and entheogenic point of view.

A good example is that i stopped eating commercial chocolate after seeing a program on slavery on cocoa plantations.

I see the majority of the gaming industry in western culture as detrimental to the imagination. It puts you on a set path through the previously determined story, and doesn't allow the user to actually role play, in depth along with it. Here is your character, if you do something the character wouldn't, you are to be penalized. Obviously there are some exceptions to this, but they are very few in number.

I see most TV's series as the same thing; "Here, let us do the imagining for you." Most seem to exist for the sole purpose of enticing you with pretty, flashy colors, or a, "new" take on an old product (Like ALL vehicles in the automotive industry today) so that you forget about the reality around you for half an hour or so.

What can I say? People enjoy others showing them different perspectives on the same thing, instead of doing it themselves.