Any other non-TV watching Vegwebbers out there?
Posted by purpledancer on Sep 09, 2008 · Member since Mar 2008 · 202 posts
We cut the cord several years ago. I have a television & we rent movies from time to time. Just can’t watch TV – no cable or an antenna or anything. I know more vegetarians than people without TV. So how bout it, anyone else out there?
I, Di am a TV addict! I get cable in my condo fees. If I didn't, I would get it. I leave the TV on all day for my parrot who also loves watching it. I am thinking of moving his cage to a different location where he won't be able to see it. If I do that, I will have to get him a little TV of his own.
When people kiss, he sometimes says ahhhhh. When people puke, he says... ohhhhh. He makes the noise of running shoes on basketball courts. He dances when a song comes on that he likes, He used to laugh like Arsenio Hall. The most funny is when someone gets murdered, he laugh diabolically. I didn't not teach him any of these things as I don't say ahhhh when people kiss or laugh when people get murdered. He is fond of the Die Hard movies and likes Cry Freedom because his name is said so often in it. I named him after Steve Biko.
Yes, so I guess I can add to the first statement.. I, Di and Biko are TV heads. Although I get up in commercials and do things.
On a great note, this month, 'So You Think You Can Dance Canada' is starting! Wednesday is the season finale of Canadian Idol and Theo, one of the final two is absolutely amazing.
We figure that's a good thing with the baby on the way in April 'cause TV is not good for kids (especially under the age of 3).
I might need this info someday (not for me personally). Why is TV bad for kids under 3? Knowing myself, I'd try to corrupt them with Life in the Undergrowth and Microcosmos.
This is of course a controversial topic. Pages 4-6 of this paper give a summary of research (up until 2004). This particular paper suggests the real problem is for children under the age of two (as opposed to three). Also, this paper is just in regards to language development as opposed to other kinds of development (social, emotional, physical....all of which could be affected by TV viewing).
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/TV.pdf
My reasons, personally, for not allowing TV for my kids are many. Firstly, for a very young child, there is nothing that a TV program (even a high-quality age-appropriate educational program) can teach that my husband, our family and friends, other children, or I can't teach more effectively through various kinds of interaction with my child.
Marketing aimed at children is insidious and unethical. It is simply unfair to aim years of marketing research and highly paid advertising companies at a small child and their unsuspecting parents. Even "high quality" children's PBS shows now have advertising between programming for McDonald's, yogurt, and other things. We turn our young children into consumerists from a very young age. Of course advertising comes from other sources as well, but cutting out TV cuts down on exposure drastically. This book is a great read on marketing and young children:
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Buy-Commercialized-Consumer-Culture/dp/068487055X
And of course sitting in front of the TV is time not spent exploring the world, exercising, talking, reading, playing, daydreaming....
Now I will say, as my child ages, there will be things I'd like for them to see on DVD, with me. I am a science geek. I love programs like Life in the Undergrowth and would like my child to get enjoyment out of them too. There are things in programs such as these that realistically my child may never get the opportunity to experience first hand. Do I think they will best enjoy these programs and learn the most from them before the age of three? No! When my child is old enough, I'd love to take them to the library and read about invertebrates first. We'll go hiking and look at some insects and other invertebrates around where we live doing what they do (of course, these activities can take place before age three too). Maybe a trip to a local natural history museum would be fun. Then we can watch the program, a little bit at a time. The child should have time to think about what they have watched and ask questions, and also be able to seek out other materials for more information.
So you see, I don't think that all educational TV is bad for kids, I just don't think that this viewing should take place in a bubble, and it also should be targeted to a stage of development where the child will get the most benefit and enjoyment out of it. What I'm not going to do is pop a Life in the Undergrowth DVD in when my child is 2 years old and go talk on the phone for an hour. When the program is over, I won't take the DVD out and never talk about it again. In my house, I hope any TV watching will be an interactive experience.
The only thing I watch on TV is sports, and not all sports all the time. I watch some collage football during the season and have to watch the English fooball apart from that nothing at all.
I think the TV over here is shit, the only real shows I have watched since I emigrated have been Frasier and King of Queens, my wife
(who is not a job stealing immigrant like me) likes to watch BBC America but I don't really. My wife would watch TV all day and night given the chance!
If one day someone took my TV away I don't think I would be too upset, though in the winter I do like to watch DVD's, movies and old British comedy DVD's I buy online or my family get for me.
Also, check out the American Academy of Pediatrics Policy, if interested:
http://depts.washington.edu/tvhealth/materials/Why%20Reduce%20Screen%20Time%20/aap%20policy%20statement%20on%20children%20and%20television%20watching.pdf
How do I post hyperlinks without the entire web address being visible? Like, if I just wanted to say "AAP policy statement" as the text, but still link to that web address?
I don't think anyone is trying to be all "la di dah, I don't watch tv", I watch Intervention online(thanks to ac telling me about it!!), and if its on somewhere, I wil watch, but thats it. I have no clue what is going on anymore on any regular shows, and honestly like it that way. Half the time, I don't know whats going on in the news either, except for political stuff that I look up. My attention span is too short to sit and watch a whole tv show. So I definitely don't want to be grouped into the category that traded one thing for another.
Oh no, I wasn't saying that about anyone here, lubi. But you know the holier-than-thou type. ::)
I hear ya girl! my reason isn't a great one, just a very short attention span!!!
This thread makes me very excited for the new season of Lost.
And sad that it's a while away. :'(
It's interesting about the attention span thing. I used to be a TV junkie. It was on all of the time. I must have watched eight hours of TV a day. When I moved and didn't have reception anymore it was before shows were posted online. Now, I have an insanely short attention span for TV. Even with my DVD movies, I may turn it off a few times and it may take me all weekend to watch a whole movie. My parents have dish. When I'm at their house, there's nothing really on - or the same show is repeated all day. There are a couple of shows that I would like to see, but most of them are on DVD within the year of their first airing or I watch online when it's something that's a big social experience, like Lost or Battlestar Gallactica.
Screw TV.
In past years I would have tried were it possible. :)
and now you just dream about scones ;)
the other day I watched 2 episodes of frazier, then 2 of will and grace, and then desperate housewives all in a row. I love lifetime. what can i say, lyle likes to lay in bed. before i hardly ever watched, but it is easy for me to get sucked in. :-[ he gets fussy if im on the computer....so, tv it is!
once he's more active i hope i can give it up!
just to clarify....I am totally interacting with lyle as the tv is on...his back it to it, and i have the volume on really low. I totally agree that kids should not watch tv before 3 years old. Noah made it to about 2.5, but his dad is a tv junkie, so thats not bad ::) i fought it as long as i could. :D
lyle seriously slept most of the day for the first month and a half, and needed to be on me, so I was basically trapped in bed not able to move. I had to keep my mind occupied or I would obsess over my life.....
mm, this thread reminded me of how much I used to love The Wonder Years when I was younger. And Get Smart. Good Shows, Good Times :)>>>
mm, this thread reminded me of how much I used to love The Wonder Years when I was younger.
Kevin.
Seriously.
We are TV soulmates.
Like Kevin and Winnie.
http://methink.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/wonder-years.jpg
Whhat would you do
If I sang outta tune
Would you stand up and walk out on meeee
Lend me your earrr and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing outta keyyy
*swoon* for Wonder Years.
mm, this thread reminded me of how much I used to love The Wonder Years when I was younger.
Kevin.
Seriously.
We are TV soulmates.
Like Kevin and Winnie.
http://methink.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/wonder-years.jpg
Whhat would you do
If I sang outta tune
Would you stand up and walk out on meeee
Lend me your earrr and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing outta keyyy
*swoon* for Wonder Years.
aww I had such the crush on Winnie. I remember one of the last episodes (the last one?) when whinnie and kevin stayed the night in some barn and made out and they were like I'll love you forever and I cried and it was soo good. I think Whinnie was a lifeguard or something and kevin went up to visit her. After that they recapped what happened to each family member - how the father died not too long after and so forth. That's certainly one of the shows that shaped my life. And all the locals are looking at me for typing so fast but whatever I'm not going to be ashamed for being able to type so fast and make such loud clicking noises.
Haha. omg I need to watch that finale again. Have a good cry. Winnie Cooper broke Kevin's heart, damn her.
And Fred Savage is also in Princess Bride! So, bonus points there.
Trivia: Danica McKellar, the woman who played Winnie, now write books about teaching math to middle schoolers. ;)b
Haha. omg I need to watch that finale again. Have a good cry. Winnie Cooper broke Kevin's heart, damn her.
And Fred Savage is also in Princess Bride! So, bonus points there.
Trivia: Danica McKellar, the woman who played Winnie, now write books about teaching math to middle schoolers. ;)b
I can't believe she did that to Kevin! I bet she regrets it now. I like to talk about TV shows as if they really happened. I need to get the DVDs for real . So Kevin asked her to be with him and she said no? Whatever. They were meant to be together!
I do not own a television.
Let's all have a good cry, folks. :'(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oykOSd8ElK8
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