Does TV Clutter Your Life?

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Started 1 year ago by ArtGal
Latest reply from irishbell
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ArtGal
Member

Two weeks ago we were asked to fill in a week-long survey of our tv watching habits for the Nielsen Ratings. One of their requirements was that if you watched anything or had the tv on for more than 5 minutes you must write it in your tv diary. I didn't think that I watched much tv until I wrote it down...Oh My Gosh!!! Granted, I am usually doing other things while the tv is on, but I now realize that tv is just one more thing that I need to de-clutter from my days.

This week I worked on not having the tv on and only watching things that I truly enjoyed...it has been very calming, I am getting more done (without the distraction,) and I am not as irritable for some reason. Hubby is having the same experience.

So is tv a form of clutter and what is your take on this?

Posted 1 year ago #
Vivace
Member

Well, I don't have cable or an antenna so to watch TV, I have to intentionally choose a DVD or hook up the computer, etc. I used to use TV as a background noise all the time when I lived in a complex with free cable, and it ends up being so much more distracting than I thought it was.

Posted 1 year ago #
Zora
Member

I was a Nielsen "family" a few years ago. The first year I had very few hours. The second year I had nothing. NOTHING. I had just watched a few DVDs. That's the point at which I decided to shut off the cable. Nielsen never contacted me again :)

However, I suspect that I spend just as much time keeping up with my email, blogs, Farmville farm, Facebook, and Wikipedia watchlist as you spend watching TV -- and I play Yohoho Puzzle Pirates as well! (Grandmaster at Treasure Haul, boast boast.)

Posted 1 year ago #
ceduke
Member

Nope, don't have a TV, so it does not!

Posted 1 year ago #
Jeri Dansky
Member

I'm another one without a TV - that's the choice that's right for me, at this time. But I've blogged about the whole TV issue just recently: http://jdorganizer.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-much-tv-time-is-right-for-you.html

Posted 1 year ago #
365lessthings
Member

I have a TV but most of the time I wouldn't care if I didn't. The men in my family watch it a whole lot more than I do. I don't mind a good science or nature show though. It wouldn't surprise me if peoples moods improve with less television but the computer can have just as bad of not a worse effect sometimes.

Posted 1 year ago #
Claycat
Member

We don't have TV service; we only use our TV for DVDs. However, the computer has become more addictive than the TV ever was for me! Fortunately, some of the addiction is good like selling online and coming to this forum! :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Laetitia in Australia
Member

We bought a TV at the beginning of the year when we moved. I had suggested to my husband that I might pay more attention to the time if I knew I wanted to watch something at a particular time. DH decided that it would be nice to watch a DVD on a bigger screen than my laptop and not have to worry about the screen saver cutting in or finding the external speaker cables.

So off to the shop we went and came back with TV, DVD player and PVR. Said PVR has just decided (at less than 5 months old, although it was the display model) to stop working so we took it back to the shop so they could send it to the authorised repairer 1000km away!

I'm hoping that the things I had recorded won't get wiped off the hard drive in it as there were several things I think I'd like to keep and a number of programs that I haven't watched [getting a full-time job cuts the TV time :-)]. But in the meantime, I have to do as I originally intended - pay attention to the time so I can see the news. :-)

Posted 1 year ago #
Periwinkle
Member

We have a TV but I don't watch a great deal. The thing about living in the UK is there's nothing like Hulu here - most stuff you can only watch on an actual TV (there are things like BBC iplayer, but it's a pain, and I hate sitting in an office chair to watch TV, plus they're talking about needing a TV licence for it anyway). I only watch recorded programmes - that means I stick to series I like and I can skip parts (which I often do). DVDs are great but we've had half a dozen bad experiences with post rental companies and the DVD shop in my village doesn't have much and there's no point in buying DVDs you're only going to watch ocne.

Posted 1 year ago #
Kamakazi
Member

Nope.

I recently bought a nice big TV (47 inches, LCD, spiffy) and pretty much all it gets used for is Netflix and Video Games. I think the last time I sat down at my TV to actually watch TV was when Discovery channel was debuting Life.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mrs.Mack
Member

We have a TV, but we don't watch TV. I'm way too easily addicted. I can't NOT watch the TV if it's on.

My husband is a serious gamer, so it mostly gets used for that. Occasionally we'll watch DVDs on it too. But otherwise it stays off. Because, yes, it's clutter to me. It prevents me from living the life I want to lead.

Next I need to figure out a way to cut back on computer time... :P

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

I got rid of my TV about 5 years ago, because when it was on, it was an effort to shut it off again (I had the strange feeling I would miss out on something). I don't miss it. The only thing I missed was that vegetative state you get from channel surfing through meaningless shows, and I have replaced that with aimlessly surfing the internet. It is a lot easier for me to stop doing that though, because I won't "miss" anything, it will still be there later. Also, sometimes I watch a few shows that are provided on TV stations' internet pages, and I love that because it still feels to me like internet, so I'm not lured into watching more ;o) I watch DVDs on my computer, too.

My boyfriend has a tivo and I have never (!) seen him watch anything that is on TV right now, he only watches recorded shows and movies where he can skip the ads. I have gotten so used to that, and to my internet TV habits, that I'm weirdly irritated, impatient and restless when I have to watch something including ads on "normal" TV at other people's homes.

Posted 1 year ago #
Demerna
Member

We got rid of our TV two years ago after only watching it once that year, it just took up space. We watch DVDs on our computers and everything else online. Between Hulu, Yidio, and a few other sites we can find any show we want to watch online.

Posted 1 year ago #
ArtGal
Member

I predict you will soon see 2 tvs pop up on the "A Thing a Day Uncluttering" forum :)
(...that still leaves me with 2 for DVD's though ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
habithacker
Member

Dang! You're all awesome. You've inspired me to keep a log of TV. My television watching was always only movies on DVD until about a year ago when I started combining meal prep/parrot playtime with news shows. Now I've been thinking how my attention is fractured at such times and the oil spill news is bringing me down.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rosa
Member

I like broadcast TV because I get up and do things from my to-do list during commercials. I just can't sit still and pay attention long enough to watch TV for an hour without those breaks.

But I totally use the TV to get me through decluttering tasks - like filing, I try to set aside one evening a month and file through a movie on DVD.

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

I watch a ton of TV. Way too much except that like some others, I am almost always doing something else while it's on - like working on the laptop, working on a jewelry or art project, clearing up records, reading, dealing with mail.

Rarely watch broadcast programming, and almost never broadcast news. Or any news, frankly. I get the headlines online.

Regular viewing is any dance show. We also watch "Castle," and used to watch "Numbers" but it's been cancelled. On the weekends, it's hours of HGTV and the Food Network, with an occasional foray into TLC, Discovery, or History. We also watch a couple of movies a week, either from our DVD collection, pay per view, or a regular movie channel like Turner Classics or IFC.

The funny thing is, we went for years using the TV as a movie display - didn't even have cable. Then "Dancing with the Stars" started, and after that DH got us a satellite subscription with DVR. As a demi-professional dancer, all the new dance programming is required viewing for me, or so I tell myself. :-)

Posted 1 year ago #
jsights
Member

Absolutely. For 7 years I had no TV signal at all. Then 2 years ago I got cable and TiVo. I watched SO MANY shows, it was ridiculous. I got addicted to these shows and spent tons of time watching TV. The worst was when SciFi showed 4 episodes of Lost every Monday, to catch people up before season 5.

Then in November 2008 I participated in National Novel Writing Month, and lost track of all "my" TV shows, including Lost. I've never made it further than halfway through season 3.

I went without cable entirely for 6 months, and just got it back, but it's for my boyfriend, not me. He watches TV all the time, but in the 2 weeks since we've had cable again, I've only watched 1 full episode of anything (The Tudors). I've watched 20-30 min here and there of whatever he has on while I'm taking a break from editing my novel, but that's it. I don't miss it, and if it wasn't for the bf, I wouldn't have it at all.

It is definitely a distraction and definitely clutter trying to keep up with all the TV shows I was addicted to for a, thankfull, relatively short period.

Jen

Posted 1 year ago #
djk
Member

we don't have a real tv, and I don't miss it. We do have a mini-dvd player that has a couple of channels, and is multi-regional so we do watch movies about once a month.
on this little player my husband watches one 90-minute show called Tatort on Sunday nights. And that is it--gets turned off and put away afterwards. Works for us.

Posted 1 year ago #
themusiclivez
Member

If my husband wasn't so into sports I wouldn't even have cable. I would want a TV because I love watching TV shows and movies but I wouldn't pay for cable.

Unfortunately, though, it would be a lost argument in my house. I couldn't take away what my husband loves so much!

Posted 1 year ago #

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