Turn off your TV

[KurtNYC]

About 2 months ago I found myself in an ongoing state of.. not sure what to call it but"euphoria" might be a good umbrella term. I was sleeping well, concentrating well, my spirituality increased and I had all kinds of energy. About 5 days into this, I started questioning what was triggering this. One of my relatives, who is a licensed psychotherapist asked if I was terminally ill (?!) -- apparently acceptance/peace/euphoria can be part of the dying process. No, I'm not dying...

In fact my energy is great. The best it has been in 16 years. I thought about it more. The last time I felt like this was in 1992. I moved that year and was without a TV for about 4 months. So it hit me!

It was TV. The opiate of the masses. It's not like a don't watch any TV now, as in 1992, if I really want to see something, like the NBA finals or Jon Stewart and Colbert or the Dog Whisperer, I'll watch that. I mean TV like the broadcast and cable news and morning shows. The 24/7 CNN-MSNBC-FOX plus the Today Show, CBS/NBC/ABC Evening News, Rosie, Oreilly, Hannity, Springer, Dr. Phil, Judge Judy, Entertainment Tonight.

That TV.
Turn IT off.

Can it really be that easy? Maybe. They put across a stream of lies punctuated with Geico commercials and you can sit there and mentally argue with all of it or you can just turn it off. I think many feel like they would be "uninformed" if they didn't tune in daily and sort through the lies and spin. And I can only speak for my experience but I find it way easier to get the information I want, about what's going on, in an active manner and without lizards and cavemen every 3 minutes. Why start the quest for the truth with a big dose of slick and pervasive lies? I see a lot of threads on here that talk about how the poster watches oreilly or coulture or rosie or hannity or whoever and they said something that was an outrageous lie on their show. And I just can't respond to those threads because those media figures are not part of my life. They were barely on my radar while I was watching TV and now they are completely gone. Why shouldn't I be happy as heck?

And again I can only say that this has worked for me. If you enjoy getting your blood up about what those people say, fine. But if you don't enjoy it all that much, if it kind of pisses you off then what I'm suggesting is to try life without tv news for a while.

[Breeze54]

1. Yes, I'll just hide from reality.

:sarcasm:

Not that any cable TV is going to give you all the facts.

BTW? My TV is off and I don't buy cable or satellite

And I'm STILL PISSEDD OFF!!!!!!!!!!! :grr:

[KurtNYC]

but it isn't reality

the business model of commercial television is to sell an audience to advertisers.

it isn't about informing you at all -- you are turning yourself into the product which Rupert Murdoch sells to the advertisers.

[Breeze54]

10. I'm not turning myself into anything!!!!!!!!!!!

The news does, on occasion, have actual news!!!!!!!!!!

That's all I ever watch, it seems and I mostly only watch PBS.

And not sure but perhaps you missed the part where I wrote that I'm
NOT watching TV nor do I support the Rupert Murdoch's of the world!!

[KurtNYC]

15. Sorry about the "you" thing

I really meant that in the general sense. Most peole don't really understand the business that the MSM is in. They don't get paid to inform people -- they get paid to brainwash them.

And again I didn't mean that statement as a personal shot at you. I mean me and you and everyone -- when we watch TV, the MSM is selling access to our eyeballs and our minds and our spending and political habits.

[Breeze54]

31. It's ok. I should've realized you meant the 'collective' you.

I think we agree about the MSM. ;)

[mmonk]

2. We need to turn it off for others. It can't stand.

Impeach.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. I haven't watched TV in years, never really got into it.

So I'm hooked on DU.

[LiberalHeart]

4. It worked for me.

I got rid of the cable TV channels that fed me all the so-called news. This was about a month ago. I realized that I couldn't look away from those channels, but they provided no pleasure and little enlightenment. I've been happier without access to them, and have fallen into a more normal sleep schedule (no longer staying up all night). As a nice bonus, I'm also saving quite a bit of money.

[Selatius]

5. Thomas Jefferson didn't have tv, but he had this to say, which is likely still relevant

"I read no newspaper now but Ritchie's, and in that chiefly the advertisements, for they contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper."

-- Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), Letter to Nathaniel Macon, January 12, 1819

[KurtNYC]

8. I love Jefferson

and the motto of one the largest ad agency is: "The Truth, Well Told"

[DemGa]

6. No cable or satellite tv for me

I don't like the thought of getting the exact same information and images as everyone else. I still watch some though.

[dweller]

7. I have 3 programs and 1/2 hour of local news

that i will watch daily (news only) and the 3 programs: Numbers, Meduium, and Boston Legal. Otherwise, it's music/radio AAR. Even the radio has too much adverts, but i generally tune it out. Oh, i do try to catch a Austin City Limits occasionally, but i'll group that under music.

Too much to do with my time then zone on the cathode ray.

life is short, now if i can just get off the internets...
dp

edit:cut the cable in 2004? maybe 2003? anyway, have a small, stealth antenna that does fine for both tv/fm.

[wovenpaint]

9. A "recommend" vote from me

I turned if off in 2004-don't miss it and feel much calmer....well, actually I do turn it on once a week now for "Boston Legal" on Tuesday nights. :D
The commercials are absolute drivel....

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. I wish, oh how I wish.

Mr GoG cannot seem to live without constant noise; but I can feel my sanity slowly slipping away as a result of it. :(

[Jamastiene]

48. My aunt has tinnitus from years of working in the textiles

mills. She feels the need to have the television blaring the entire time she is awake. No matter what she is doing, she has to have it on. That is part of the reason I stay up late at night when I can. The solitude and peace of no television or other obnoxious noise in the background gives such peace. If you ever get a chance when he's asleep maybe, you can enjoy a little quiet time like that. I don't know your situation, but I can relate to living with someone who HAS to keep the box going at all times.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

52. My mom has tinnitus, too.

She can't get to sleep unless the TV is on. She uses the built in timer setting so it will turn itself off after an hour or so.

Part of the reason I'm up so late on DU is because it's my time to have peace and quiet after everybody's gone to bed. :-)

[greendog]

12. Best post of the week!

k&r

I recently quit listening to talk radio. Don't miss it at all.

[tavalon]

13. Preaching to the choir here

We have a television that is only connected to a DVD player. We don't even have rabbit ears. Been that way since I was 24 years old which means that come August, it will be 20 years.

[RufusTFirefly]

28. The first Gulf War was the last straw for me

My television is literally in the closet and I only pull it out for very special occasions, maybe three or four times a year.
Despite my disconnection from "reality", I find that I am far better informed than most of my friends. I remain a news junkie in spite of it all. It's just that my definition of news varies significantly from that of the American networks. I'll admit to few blind spots on mission-critical stories, such as the latest endangered blonde white girl, the escapades of Paris Hilton, breakthroughs in weight loss remedies, and the ongoing marital infidelities of certain celebrities. Occasionally friends will bring up an utterly trivial story that has been sucking up all the MSM's bandwidth and be surprised that I haven't a clue what they're talking about.

[tavalon]

35. How do you expect to continue surviving

if you don't know who the latest blonde in jeopardy? Hmmmmm? :evilgrin:

[RufusTFirefly]

37. Lemme tell ya. Without those blondes, I lead a drab, wretched life, but I get by. n/t

[Warpy]

14. I unplugged from all propaganda in November, 2004

Now if the box is on, it's got movies, DVDs, Mythbusters, and some of the more hilarious interior desecrations shows on it.

What surprised me is how little I missed the constant drumbeat of misinformation, disinformation, and lying through omission.

I get my news online, thanks, and I don't need a helping of right wing, corporate propaganda with it.

[KurtNYC]

Good for you. I think the more people that turn that stuff off and not repeat it

on the internet, the faster TV will slide into irrelevance as a news/information medium. And it is sliding, it just has a long way to go.

[Warpy]

33. It's sliding pretty quickly if the articles out there over the last week

about "Where have all the viewers gone?" are any indication. They've been lying so long that they're now lying to themselves about why people are turning them off and walking away.

If they fire all the yapping heads and right wing writers NOW and take a cue from Olberman or even Stewart when it comes to reporting real news honestly, they might be able to salvage something. However, while the corporate boardroom controls content, they will continue to slip into total irrelevance.

(Yes, Stewart is a comedian who reports real news for a laugh, but he's still reporting more of it than the networks do.)

[JAYJDF]

16. Great post! I too do not have television in my house.

Turned it off a couple years ago.
Evenings are more pleasant reading or watching a DVD.
Got so damn tired of the mindless commercials.
Face it, the news is about as bad as the weather guessers.

What would this nation turn to if it unplugged?

[Swamp Rat]

17. k&r

[NRaleighLiberal]

18. Well said, Amen to that, Hallelujah! My wife and I have held this view for years.

Think about it - a constant barrage of ads (none of which have any inclination to tell the truth) preying on a mostly naieve audience (it is hard for me to fathom how an ad could really convert someone from Coke to Pepsi - and consider "head on, apply directly to the forehead... etc etc etc). It prevents people from really thinking and absorbing. And I won't go into how I feel about the true opiates of the masses, such as American Idol.

However, different strokes for different folks - TV is just, largely, not for us. Would rather be in the garden, or a Kayak, or in the woods, or birdwatching on my deck.

[KurtNYC]

21. thanks. it is one of those kind of counter-intuitive things, like the way exercise

gives you MORE energy. Less TV, more knowledge. More life.

I heard something I really liked recently, not sure who said this, could have been Deepak Chopra: The secret of life, if there is one, is to say "yes" -- say yes to Life.

to which I can only add: "..because Life is about passion, and because Life is way too short to watch much TV."

[tech3149]

19. It's one step in a process

For me, I started weening myself from TV back in 2001 and by 2003 rarely would turn it on for more than a few hours a week. It was more than just avoiding the mindless distractions, It was the lack of substantial information from any of the passive media. Not being trained in the functions of the brain and processing information may not carry much weight, but my impression is that processing information and understanding it more thoroughly requires an active process(reading). The process of reading requires effort to absorbe and interpret the information. It gives you the freedom to reprocess the information and think about the implications and long-term outcome. My transformation hasn't provided that sense of well-being and calm that you've experienced, but that's not what I'm working toward. I'm not worried about my own comfort, I want to raise my awareness and connection to the world around me.

I'm glad you found a better sense of well-being by dumping the idiot box, but I don't think we can all hope for that. Some of us don't want to be distracted from the important things and are willing to pay the price for finding the greater truth. One of the most painful things to deal with are those that don't understand how their perception of the world is controlled and manipulated by the corporate media. As the old saying goes "There are none so blind as those that will not see".

[KurtNYC]

23. I agree and I think that too many people treat TV as the scoreboard

It is relentless in it's assault on what SHOULD BE important and widely known. So, for pragmatic terms TV IS the scoreboard. But if we could get more people to see how flawed the score that it presents is then we would be on the path to limiting its influence. Slick propaganda is much more effective than overt, and TV is slick for most people. The framing, the way they ask questions and the "facts not in evidence" which are assumed in many of the polls and questions that TV news present are powerful in shaping reality. But the more the agenda of the MSM is seen, the more limited its influence and reach will become.

[Labors of Hercules]

20. The Best way to be media literate...

Is to select the right media.
And network television is quite simply the worst media source available, save perhaps the free repubic.

That's why I haven't had cable for 3 years and get all my news from this here machine right in front of me...

:toast:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

22. I Like Watching TV. In Fact, I Just Turned It On.

Though I hate how much cable charges, I still ain't gonna give it up. We don't watch a ton of tv but I still have never found any harm in it; american idol included.

[fooj]

24. Reading Gore's Assault on Reason...

He says the very same thing!

[NYCGirl]

32. Al Gore owns a TV network, you know. He says to change TV, not turn it off. NT

[Jed Dilligan]

25. I don't watch TV and my energy level is crap

so it doesn't always work, I guess!

[Truth2Tell]

26. Don't forget the kids!

We are a no TeeVee household and have a four-year-old daughter. She only ever watches TV occasionally at grandparents, etc. Instead she reads, explores the world and uses her imagination. She is SOOOO far ahead of the other kids in her pre-school on so many levels. She actually knows how to interact with PEOPLE! She loves to read (at 4). And she has none of the violent and confrontational tendencies of so many of her classmates. These traits are all IMHO of course. But I credit "no TV" with a large part of who she has become.

[brer cat]

27. Never have watched much TV.

My parents were educators, and didn't buy a TV until we had all graduated from high school. I've had one a few times for a brief period but never got into it. I would much rather read, and now get my news online.

[eridani]

29. Works for me too

I never watch TV in real time--just recordings and clips that are posted online.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[glitch]

34. Excellent advice, thanks for posting K & R nt

[Dora]

36. Good for you.

It will take 2-3 years for your friends to accept that you don't watch TV.

If you're lucky they'll even stop kicking off conversation with comments like, "Hey, did you see that commercial last night?"

It's been five years for us. One niece was so appalled at our failure to watch television that she asked us, "Well, if you don't watch television, then what DO you watch?"

Poor kid. I worried she might call the thought police.

[Mind_your_head]

38. yeah, but when you show them that THEY can paint, or sew or fix an engine

or build a raised garden bed....or, or .....all those wonderful things that there are in life to DO! TeeVee quickly loses its allure.

[Initech]

39. Here we go again...

:eyes:

This topic comes up all the fucking time. If no TV works for you, great. I don't know 99% of the crap that's on it. I do have a few shows that I absolutely love to watch, and I needs my sports fix. Hell, outside of sports I don't know 99% of the crap that's on TV anyways. And I try to avoid advertising whenever possible.

[Mabus]

43. No kidding

I have the television on constantly. I grew up in a large family and I don't work well when things are too quiet. When I was a kid, if the house was quiet, something was wrong. Besides, I work out of the house and most days I don't talk to anyone but my husband and some days he's out visiting with clients. I would feel totally cut off from the world without my television on.

I switch between CNN and MSNBC most days but when it's some sensationalistic bullshit story dominating the news cycle then I start flipping around. I usually end up watching an old movie or a documentary. Sometimes I'll put on music. I just don't work well in complete silence.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

40. Long since done.

Of course, I still watch DVD movies and I can download any interesting TV episodes I want (Boston Legal comes to mind) but I've been outside the TV demographic for three years now. No Very Special Episodes, no Breaking News flashes, no daytime celebrity cat fights.

I don't miss it at all.

[lostnotforgotten]

41. TV Free For 5 Years

eom

[Gelliebeans]

42. I decided to cancel Sirius since

I am not driving anymore and used that money I saved to buy TIVO and HBO instead. Now I watch TV while zipping through the commercials and HBO movies (commercial free). I like recording certain shows from the classic movie channel on at 3 am while I sleep then I can watch when it is good for me. I always TIVO Olbermann, Colbert and Stewart. Funny how quickly you can become addicted to controlling the box that I hate going to my Mom's and not being able to pause live TV for a snack or bathroom break. ;)

Now if I can get my ass off this computer to go watch, I'll be doing good. :rofl:

[Breeze54]

44. "vicarious" ~~ This should be right up your alley!

'vicarious'

http://toolshed.down.net/lyrics/10kdayslyrics.php

Eye on the TV
'cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor
It happens to be

Like:
"Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
"Shot by his own son"
"She used the poison in his tea
kissed goodbye"
That's my kind of story
It's no fun 'til someone dies

Don't look me at like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother, holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky cryin,
"Why, oh why?"

Cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all need it too - don't lie.

Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit it?
We won't give pause until the blood is flowin'
Neither the brave nor bold
Will write us the story so
We won't give pause until the blood is flowin'

I need to watch things die
From a good safe distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same so
Why can't we just admit it?

Blood like rain fallin' down


Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore and voyeur
Stare at the

Sing to the death rattle

La, la, la, la, la, la, la-lie (x4)

Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men.
But pull your head on out
and give a listen
Shouldn't have to say it all again

The universe is hostile
So impersonal
Devour to survive
So it is, so it's always been ...

We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire

Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I.

[krispos42]

45. But... but... I'm learning about natural male enhancement!

Which will go quite well with my impending fortune in real estate with no money down!

[earth mom]

46. We don't have cable & even if we did I refuse to ever watch cable news again.

Not only that, but hubby and I rarely watch the regular t.v. news anymore either. We get our news online and that suits us fine. However, as good as the argument to give up t.v. is, I don't see us giving it up because Dh loves sports, and we both are hooked on reality shows and PBS. We also usually have several DVDs on hand that we get mostly from the library.

That said, I sometimes miss cable channels like HGTV, Animal Planet, etc., but I don't miss the monthly bill, or all those commercials, or the lying bastards on the news shows. IMO, everyone should boycott those jerks! :grr:

[Jamastiene]

47. At first, it feels very surreal and uncomfortable, but then in

a short while, you begin to find other things to do. You may read, play music, do some gardening, pick up other hobbies, get involved in a community project, get involved in a small private project, rearrange the furniture and find it looks and fits better with the new arrangement, or even just sit and think for a solid two minutes. That two minutes can be more energizing than years spent watching the box.

Granted, many people experience some form of panic when they begin to ween off the box, but once you begin to only use it on occasion, you begin to live. Watching the box lets your brain atrophy in ways that you cannot imagine. Until you try it, you'll never know how that can be true.

[Lilith Velkor]

49. Fuckin A

k n' r

[Rydz777]

50. TV gives us a two dimensional world, edited for our enjoyment.

We have to absorb all the trauma, all the vulgarity, all the stupidity that other people have chosen for us. Re-entering the three dimensional world of reality is liberating. Thanks for this very good post.

[fortyfeetunder]

51. TV bores the heck out of me anyway.

When I moved on my own, I had no TV. Didn't miss it.
Now with numerous TVs in the house (spouse's idea), I still can't get into it...unless there is a movie I want to see or an exercise video....