Is it possible To give up TV?

[dave50]

I find most TV programs these days boring or banal and coming home from work and sitting in front of the box every night is becoming somewhat tedious. Has anyone succeeded in actually given up watching TV and if so what have they done in its place? Has anyone any suggestions that doesn't involve spending a fortune? Even to have to ask this question shows how TV has taken over our lives.

[Im a BusyBee]

we've started doing jigsaws again, always got one on the go - buy them from the charity shops so not too expensive. Not only cos the tv is rubbish but also as my husband has recently given up smoking and needs something to keep him occupied.

[andy-hughes]

shortstraw - that is entirely my point. watching television does not need to be equated with brain-decay.

i watch no soaps or reality shows - occasional X-Factor now and again is my limit, but there is plenty of excellent television to be viewed and very much enjoyed.

I love chocolate, but i don't sit and munch it for five hours a night seven days a week!

Selection is the way to go - and avoidance of the moral high ground.

[Kayless]

90% of TV is unwatchable drivel, fortunately modern TV provides the tools to sort the wheat from the chaff. I have Sky+ I pre record all the programs I like and series link them, I hardly ever watch TV as it is broadcast. I have a planner with up to 40 hours of things that I like at any one time and I watch them. Like Andy, I adore TV but without Sky+ I'd watch very little. I don;t think I'd like to give up entirely though.

[daffy654]

I just find 99% of TV programmes really boring. I do like 'The Walking Dead' and 'House', I can't stand reality shows of any kind or any of the soaps.

[glenbar]

I find its mostly company for me unless of course on the odd occasion there is something worth watching. Mind you I am now wondering whether its worth paying for the right to watch so little of interest

[Buenchico]

I hardly ever watch TV.

What to do instead?
Well I seem to spend a great deal of time listening to Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra, usually while answering questions on here!

[chrissa1]

I totally agree with andy-hughes and glenbar. I live alone and find it company. I enjoy the soaps, documentaries etc but to say I sit all night watching tv, I would say i didn't. I'm always doing crosswords, reading, or am on my laptop during the evening. I'd be lost without my tv.

[boxtops]

We are ver selective - we don't like reality shows or X-Factor or any of that talent stuff. We like sport, documentaries, news - and I do like Antiques Roadshow and stuff like that. I never understand a household where it goes on at breakfast and stays on all day - my parents always taught me that the telly goes off if visitors arrive. We listen to Radio 4 most of the time - it's on at the moment while i'm on AB. You can multitask with radio!

[bazwillrun]

"I did watch David Attenborough on ice last night"

didnt know he skated

Reading
Music
Films on DVD
Play my guitars
Friends come over (a few cans from the supermarket , dirt cheap compared to pub) and we do the above except reading

basically anything to not pay to keep the BBC in the style its accustomed to

if i see tv at someones house I am stunned at the garbage that is still passed off as entertainment, and dont start me off on Saturday nights offerings, all the so called talent shows etc......rant over

[tiggerblue10]

I wish I could give up but I can't. Sad as it sounds I do like watching the soaps. I need to get a life!

[MsEVP]

Hey, don`t worry, Tigger, there`s nothing wrong with a life of soaps and at least you are honest enough to admit it. I`ve got friends who deny watching them, but they always seem to know what`s going on in them. You go ahead and enjoy them.

[owdhamer]

No

[Andyvon]

I have Dave. We still have cable TV for my wife as she likes sports, crime programmes etc. She also had an accident years ago so she can watch a programme and not know she saw the same one the day before or three times that week!

The TV channels now just seem to be a succession of advert and trailer breaks infilled with bursts of programme. It's the same adverts and trailers all the time too! I haven't sat and watched TV for a number of years now. Instead, I have a whole selection of DVDs that I buy from Amazon and I watch those when my wife is in bad. I have all the David Attenborough documentaries and box sets such as 'Open All Hours', 'World at War' 'Sherlock Holmes', 'Rising Damp' etc. I have just received the box set of all ten series of 'Are You Being Served' which I started watching last night and I laughed all the way through the two episodes I saw. I've also got the full set of Columbo (86 films) - and there's not an advert in any of them!

British TV used to be recognised as the best in the world, and the standard for others to emulate. I heard recently that a survey put British TV at 27th in the world for quality. I can believe it.

[tiggerblue10]

I will do MsEVP :o)

I suppose I watch them as a release from my own boring life.

[nailit]

There is an organization dedicated to getting people to switch of the idiot box
http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_front.asp
I dont own a tv and havnt done for 3 years.