November 10, 2002
Why I hate TV. Anti TV Rant
- Because it's such a waste of time. In the time people spend watching TV you could learn an instrument, a foreign language, etc...Just think about it - with 2 hrs a day, you could be pretty good in a foreign language or an instrument in 2 yrs.
- Because it's supposed to be relaxing but it makes you tense. It's like putting perfume in the toilet - it doesn't get rid of the smell - just covers it up temporarily with another smell which usually isn't very nice either. People are always saying things like: "I just want to have some time to relax in front of the TV, it's so nice to just switch off". If filling your head with (usually) mindless rubbish is relaxing and consitutes switching off, then what is it that needs to be switched off - what's going on in their head that they want to block it out so much?
- Because it manipulates your mind. It's full of adverts which people get paid a lot of money for just to make you do things you don't really want to do. See here
- Because it kills childrens' brains and sensitivity. See here for some excellent stuff on the case against TV.
- Because it's addictive.
- Because most of it is bollocks particularly in Italy. See here
- Because most people have it on just to fill a void in their lives
- Because people put it on without considering whether their neighbours want to hear it too. I have developed a special machine (an mp3 on my laptop), which I call "the Rossanitizer" after my neighbour (who BTW is really nice), which plays white noise quite loudly so I don't have to listen to that crap every evening. It's a bit like passive smoking I suppose.
- Because it gives you false expectations of life. For example most people never see inside the lives of other couples because it's kind of private so they form a picture based on movies etc... of what life in a couple should be like. Then they get disappointed when it's not like that and bust up. Sounds a bit cranky but I know so many couples who bust up because they have overly-idealistic expectaions of what it should be like. It might be like that for a bit but every real couple I know goes through tough times and the intense love part inevetably wears off after a year or so.
As for interactive TV, the situation is far worse. Have a read of this and this:
Posted by giles at November 10, 2002 01:52 PMi think that you are cazy in the way you think that TV is killing people brains.
Posted by: I will not give on April 8, 2003 04:11 AMI think you are so right about tv it is a cesspool
of utter crap!!!! I know there are some good educational things and christian programing on tv
but most of it is sucking the creative life out of people and i hate it!I am 29 years old and even when i was a teenager i hated tv,i would go in my room and listen to music learn to play my guitar read books and whatever creative thing i could think of.Now thanks to not whatching tv i can play 4 musical insruments, speak two languages and have traveld to many very cool places and seen many very cool things.So to all you couch potatos getting fat and wasteing your brain,turn off the tube and have some real fun instead of whatching everybody else have fun instead!
Here's a positive take on the fact that a lot of people watch TV. It numbs them so they don't cause trouble - like "Soma" the escapism drug in Aldous Huxley's brave new world. So while the couch potatoes are watching TV, if you can escape the addictive tranquilizer they constantly push at you, you can do cool things without being disturbed... Maybe that's why we haven't had a really bad world war since TV became mainstream. Maybe it's wearing off though....??
Posted by: Giles on May 1, 2003 11:39 AMToo right: I hate the TV because it dominates the house. Everyone organises their furniture around it. Its like a shrine: every time we pray to television... I hate it and I can't get it out of my life.
Passive smoking is a very good analogy.
Posted by: Kristen Dorman on May 18, 2003 01:54 PMI think that this is the best website ever.
I totally agree that tv is not being used for good. I think that it has potential for good, in fact I think a tv is neutral, when off, however, the crap that is as we speak pouring into living rooms across the world is a tradgedy. Not to mention a waste of time.
Interesting website. I was beginning to feel that I was alone. The TV makes me tense, I do not like the majority of programming. Once in a while, I enjoy documentaries on the history channel or discovery...something of that nature. But mostly, I would rather read, write or do other activities. My wife, on the other hand, likes to sit in front of the TV every night watching garbage. It drives me crazy! Reality TV, sitcoms, nothing but mind numbing junk. I have not been watching and it bothers her that I'm not "spending time" with her. She sees it as offensive when I go to another room to read or do something else. Forget about going out in the evening, there are too many "good" shows for her to watch. I have told her that the TV bothers me and she thinks I am being foolish. Oh well, hopefully I will be able to keep our son from becomming a TV addict.
Posted by: MS in CA on July 17, 2003 06:54 AMTo MS in CA - maybe you could see it like this - it keeps your wife occupied while you can do fun things. It's like having a wife switch - TV on - wife off. I guess that's not what you married her for though.
Posted by: A in I on July 17, 2003 02:13 PM[TOO SIMPLISTIC]
An interesting subject. However I do smell a nasty arrogance - as if not watching the TV is some virtuous way to open your mind - I think that there is grounds to say that watching mindless nonsense on television is unhealthy but people shouldn't be so quick to draw assumptions and look down on those who are 'slaves to the TV.'
It could be argued that television provides a welcome escape from what is often a dull and unfullfilling reality for many. For people like 'wes' reading books, playing the guitar and listening to music could be seen as an alternative form of escape with similar consequences. I especially like the way 'wes' claims that TV is crap but then goes on to say that some TV is good - I could argue that the Christian TV programmes which 'wes' finds 'good' are in fact dangerous tools of indoctrination similar to media advertising and that they are also 'cesspools of utter crap.'
We shouldn't underestimate the power of TV and although it has it's negative aspects we are naive if we think that TV is soley and innately bad.
As you have all said that TV is bad, I could equally claim that listening to music is 'such a waste of time' and that reading certain books may make people 'tense' and give a false sense of reality - I think it is a little too naive and simplictic to simply reel off a list of assumptions and, often unfounded, prepositions. Although I partially agree with some of the claims made I do find some of the comments made on this site irritating.
Posted by: on November 15, 2003 10:54 PMI have a dream. I hate tv and I hate it better than ever. Approximately I watched tv for 2,5 hours a day last year. This is a sum of 800 hours which could had been enough for a learning language, a novel, or visiting granny more frequently before her passed away. Instead of these which makes a man a man (skills, care about the family) I watched a whole lot of crap about washing machines being eaten by the scale, young kids eating with the faceless faggot Ronald Mcdonald, reality show stars fucking under stained blanket, and news, those were trying to convince me that life is a shit and getting even more shittier. Evil power what the tv holds. The only way to evade the evil spirit is to pull the plug out of the wall, take the telly and throw it out from the window. I have done the first yet, it is unplugged, and it is marvellous.
Posted by: elchico on January 5, 2004 09:17 PMI couldn't agree with you more. I still remember being little and only having 3 channels on the tv that only came in once in awhile and not caring. I remember reading books and doing random arts & crafts projects. It's a shame that most people don't grow up like that. Too many people are ready to accept the materialized synthetic version of life because they themselves don't have one, and it's pathetic. It's one thing to watch a nature program on tv and at least learn something, but it's another thing altogether to watch the trashy pseudo soap operas of people that are supposed to represent the youth of America and that really represent a fucked up ideal of a life that doesn't exist. I know so many people that eat up that garbage and have an emotional attachment to it that sickens me. The world would be a better place if everyone that owened a satellite dish or cable box picked it up and smashed it.
Posted by: shinefire on January 22, 2004 05:08 AMWhat a great web site! I, too, thought I was alone.
IMO, the TV is a huge waste of time.
One of these days I'll probably be so old and feeble that I'll be confined to a recliner or maybe even a bed. When that sad day comes, a TV will surely be part of my days.
But I sure as heck don't look forward to that!
And there's no way in heck that I'll volunteer for that fate ahead of time!
We live in the country where cable is not available. What a blessing!
I fill my spare time reading, goofing with the wife or whenever possible, working on little welding projects: http://users.arn.net/~usnick/welding.html
Posted by: usnick on January 28, 2004 10:23 PMAt one time TV was used to communicate thoughts and ideas, information shared throughout the world. Now TV is a captive audience filled with sales, violence, and pointless dramas.
An occasional movie or newscast is a reasonable amount of “TV time”, but when it interferes with the social habits of family and friends, it is time to go. As mentioned in previous posts, so much can be accomplished when one simply turns off the TV and instead plugs into life. This so called “shrine of America” has been convoluted to the point it no longer provides any useful information. It is now a consumer-marketing tool.
It is good to find members of society that have the same view points concerning the useless of modern TV programming.
Study without thinking, and you are blind; think without studying, and you are in danger.
Posted by: Yazmir Keith on March 18, 2004 01:43 AMI understand that the television has been part of our contemporary American life and culture. Currently, the television does provide both negative and positive aspects. You know that you are responsible for the programming you watch. I agree that watching TV for long periods can be detrimental for your body, mind, and spirit. However, if you choose the right programs to watch you can benefit from the information. There are many people who cannot conduct activities of daily living and the TV teaches them positive, motivating, and stimulating DATA. So make the right decisions and you can be successful.
Posted by: Angel Cedano on April 7, 2004 05:27 AMI believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.
Tv could do a lot more than it's doing, I think people who read a book, listen to an album have got more going on upstairs.
1) more variation.
2) using their imagination instead of being spoonfed.
3) less regulated i.e. tv follows a well worn format banging out programmes and targeting audiences.
4) Reduces any potential conversation to whats on offer.
I could go on.
Mick.
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