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MrsKey
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 7:47am | IP Logged
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This is a question for anyone who has banished TV (or at least commercial TV) from their homes.
Did you do it all at once? Did you wean off? Do you do just videos/DVDs or do you have certain stations programmed and others not?
I'm well and truly disgusted with television programming and the commercials. Not just the sexually provocative and explicit ads either. All of the advertising aimed at children designed to prompt them to nag their parents into unwanted/unneeded spending and creating a new generation of consumer monsters.
But I'm not sure if we should just go unplugged all at once, wean off, do a one month experiment to see how it will go (the ideas are endless).
So I thought I would ask how others who have done it have gone about getting the TV out.
I don't really want to stir up debate about whether or not we should have/watch TV. Just if you did it, how you did it.
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Carole
Wife to Tom since '94 and mom to Bree since '96
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Mary G
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 7:55am | IP Logged
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We did it all at once ... altho OCCASIONALLY we'll watch the FINAL FOUR or SuperBowl.... we gave up cable 10 years ago and pretty much commerical tv then too.
We do watch videos/dvds, but I'm even trying to wean them from that a bit... I find we have so much stuff around here to do -- puzzles, games, legos, k'nex, dolls, GREAT read alouds, etc -- there's really no excuse for watching the telly.
That said, we do have Family movie nights on Fridays/Saturdays and Sunday afternoon ... we get movies from the library (or family favs we already own);those are fun and I also get TONS of knitting done  !
When we told the kids we were losing cable, we also explained how expensive it had gotten; by putting the $50 or whatever it was back into the budget, we were able to buy the kids a few books they'd been wanting!
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MaryG
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MrsKey
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 8:04am | IP Logged
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Thanks Mary!
We have actually found that we enjoy having a "sit com" night where we get old TV shows from NetFlix on DVD and watch them as family entertainment. We eat finger foods and sit around and have a good laugh (or three).
But whenever I watch regular programming I'm always worried about what is coming up next (even the news has some pretty dicey stories).
So I think we'll probably start with going "unplugged" (disconnecting cable) for the month of September and see what the three of us think after that.
In a way it feels "weird" to be doing something that is so against the grain and part of me thinks, "Whatever will we do without TV?" And then I realize that 3/4 of the time that the silly thing is on it is just background noise anyway.
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Carole
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Erin
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Well we went no screen at all for the first nine years when we got married. After about seven years we used to hire a tv/video to watch once a year  Then one year dh wanted to watch cricket and the shop no longer hired. He went and bought a tv but for years we only had video and a fuzzy tv reception. Now we have EWTN (and I keep forgetting to put it on  ) and a proper aerial (courtesy of the previous owner)and a collection of DVD/video's. Well I do have to be strict about the videos, but the dc can go for days without watching anything. as for the TV all those years installed good habits and we only put it on one night a week for a couple of shows. We do enjoy watching a video as a family, and dh and I will sometimes watch something together after the dc are in bed.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 8:17am | IP Logged
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We went cold turkey about ten years ago and have been very, very pleased with the results.
I love that my kids have no idea what the latest "must have" toy is, and know nothing of Lindsay L. and Paris H's latest escapades.
We do DVD's from Netflix and enjoy them in the evenings, plus we have our personal collection of DVDs. It's good to have those for the occasional rainy day or if Mom just really needs to get something done!
My advice is not to do a one month trial. Make it much longer, as I am sure there will be an adjustment period. At least there was for us. It takes time to develop new habits and you want to give it a real chance of succeeding.
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 10:00am | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
We went cold turkey about ten years ago and have been very, very pleased with the results.
I love that my kids have no idea what the latest "must have" toy is, and know nothing of Lindsay L. and Paris H's latest escapades.
We do DVD's from Netflix and enjoy them in the evenings, plus we have our personal collection of DVDs. It's good to have those for the occasional rainy day or if Mom just really needs to get something done!
My advice is not to do a one month trial. Make it much longer, as I am sure there will be an adjustment period. At least there was for us. It takes time to develop new habits and you want to give it a real chance of succeeding. |
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Yep, exacly what she said. Lent is a little over a month, but I found that when we gave up all TV for Lent there was more whining about "When is Lent going to be over???" Cutting the cable was easy. Because the kids sometimes see a show at a friend's house they still ask for cable from time to time, but it's rare.
The other day, I had a neighbor kid try to convince me that the way to go is to let Santa bring the Direct TV dish and playstation with acceptable games like at his house. 
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DominaCaeli
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 11:06am | IP Logged
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We got rid of commercial television a couple of years ago. We were increasingly concerned with the type of programming and commercials available, and we just didn't want to pay the cable bill anymore, so off it went, cold turkey.
Since it was just the two of us adults in the home at the time, I can't speak for how your daughter might react, but it was, I admit, a real change for us--and we didn't even watch that much TV comparatively. It's very easy to just get used to it, and it takes some time to get used to having it off too. So I would give yourself more than a month without it before reassessing. Perhaps turn it off in September and wait until the New Year? With the hustle and bustle of Advent and Christmas, it will be easy, I think, to forget about it. After a couple months had gone by without it, I no longer missed the shows I had watched and my husband got used to following his sports teams online.
We do still have a television, and we get a couple very fuzzy channels through our antenna, so my husband will watch a baseball game or something like that maybe once a month. He is disgusted by the commercials, though, so that doesn't last long, as much as he does enjoy sports. Whenever we next move, the TV's will not be coming with us. We often rent DVD's from the library, but we could easily watch those on our computer. There are lots of great things to watch on YouTube. And EWTN is available is available through an online feed as well. Honestly, though I just can't imagine now how I ever had TIME to watch TV--we are just so busy doing other things!
Good luck, Carole!
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MrsKey
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I have to find out if we can get the high speed internet service without also having cable because DSL is not available in our area and DH has to have high speed connections for work related purposes.
Thanks everyone! Your input is helpful.
I don't think, though, that I can get dh to commit to more than one month to start (I have to start small since he is really humouring me in this against his wishes).
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Carole
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KellyJ
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MrsKey wrote:
I have to find out if we can get the high speed internet service without also having cable because DSL is not available in our area and DH has to have high speed connections for work related purposes.
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Carole, you should be able to do this. We do it through Comcast. The cable internet as a stand alone product is more than that portion would be if you bought a package, but it is still less than buying it along with cable TV.
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organiclilac
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We gave up TV for Lent a few years ago, and it hasn't come back. I probably watched more than dh, because he works a couple of nights during the week, so I would sit home and watch TV. (I was a Law and Order addict!) Ds was never interested, probably because he was never aware of the existence of children's programming. We still watch the Olympics and occasionally the news (usually when there might be a tornado headed our way.) And we still watch movies and TV series on DVD. When we go to my in-laws, we watch a lot of Discovery channel, and it is tempting to get cable so that we can watch Shark Week and all the other fun stuff on the good channels. But, I know we'd spend way too much time in front of the TV, even if it was "good" TV.
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lapazfarm
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MrsKey wrote:
I have to find out if we can get the high speed internet service without also having cable because DSL is not available in our area and DH has to have high speed connections for work related purposes.
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We did this a few years ago when we lived in a spot with cable access, but it wasn't any cheaper. When we told the installer we only wanted internet and not Tv he looked at us like we were crazy."But it is the same price with or without the TV" he said. He just couldn't believe we were choosing to go without!LOL!
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5athome
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All at once and increased our Netflix subscription at the same time. We just came back from a summer trip with lots of hotels and lots of cable and it just reinforced our feelings that we are not missing out by not having tv. Our oldest children agreed after seeing what was on although I must admit to missing HGTV.
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CathinCoffeland
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we have a tv under a table and curtained off. it has bent rabbit ears than can pick up pbs.
we do not watch anything on it with the kids, ocasional pbs at night when they are asleep.
we were big tv junkies before dc whrn we had free cable in student housing then moved across country and didnt even own one for several years.
on saturdays we watch one signing time for our "signing saturday" when we try to use asl more than english
and if the kiddos are well behaved at mass they can pick one video from the "church movie box" a mix of CCC and veggie tales type movies.
I have a few holiday ones that come between christmas and epiphany.
but no actual tv for the littles.
I should add that when i was so sick through my last pg(9 months!) we watched a lot of pbs- some times hours. we set it up by my bed and we watched a lot of barney the 3 of us. I get vaguely naseuos when i hear the theme song
Maggie
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CAgirl4God
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we have done this in the past. and I will admitt, even though I missed 'my shows' in the evenings... I loved not having TV.
Now that we live in PR.... dh would like to have cable and all that goes into getting football games.
bummer.
I just don't like having to pay soo much $$$ for something we only use a couple times a week.
what we will get out of it?? Discovery, and animal planet. History channel, food network, spanish PBS (lol) sports (mostly football) for dh. HGTV for me. news and weather are a plus, esp here during Hurricane Season.
but other than that. not much tv watching now...
and with two months of lots of tv... we aren't even doing much video/movie watching. lol
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aussieannie
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Carole,
We did it in Jan 2001 and we went 'cold turkey' and have never had commerical TV back on since. But in it's place (to soften the blow considerably) we installed EWTN and that is what we have had in it's place.
I have to say it was one of the best moves we ever made on behalf of the family, never regretted it.
When we visit other people's places and they have commerical TV the first thing that hits me very clearly is the commercials: how junky and polluting it feels to your mind and soul, and they seem to be 'clawing' at you, due to the higher sound volume and flashing images, shouting voices etc - just an interesting observation when you have been away from commericals so long...
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doris
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We decided not to have tv when we got married 12 years ago. Dh had a tv and video but we just purposely didn't buy a licence, and just used it to watch videos.
Dh and I do watch a DVD a couple of times a week. DC used to be allowed 30-45 mins of videos every other day. I've recently read Set Free Childhood which gives lots of background about why giving up or limiting tv for children is a good idea. It's not very well argued in places but overall it's pretty compelling. Anyway, as a result of this, I've just quietly dropped my kids' video sessions. If they ask for one, I usually distract them. They do have a video as an occasional treat or if Daddy is looking after them but I can genuinely say that they very rarely mention it -- and are so much happier, more creative and less aggressive when they don't watch tv.
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aussieannie
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I should have added, we do have videos and dvds if we wish to watch good movies, etc.
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Mary G
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doris wrote:
| If they ask for one, I usually distract them. They do have a video as an occasional treat or if Daddy is looking after them but I can genuinely say that they very rarely mention it -- and are so much happier, more creative and less aggressive when they don't watch tv. |
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Same here -- and also computer time! I've put the kabosh on that for the weekdays ... and we seem to be filling the time just fine!
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dawn2006
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When I'm committed we do well with no tv during the day. But it's the evenings that get me. Dh wants the tv on and/or likes to play video games with the boys. Instead of being the mean-parent I just say "ok" and put a movie on for dd in the other room while I clean up the kitchen and then sit down to read or whatever. Our days are just so long, what with dh working overtime AND commuting plus the kids all still get an afternoon nap... WE really do like our media babysitters around here in the evenings for sure.
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KristinaP
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| Posted: Aug 24 2007 at 6:40am | IP Logged
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5athome wrote:
| I must admit to missing HGTV. |
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I thought I'd miss HGTV, too, but lately it seems that every time I flip to that station, its been on devoted homosexual couples looking for a new home! 
We haven't cut out TV-I sure wish we would but my husband is wayyy too stuck to it. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it and I let the kids watch way too much this summer with the new baby and I'm paying for it now.  I admire and applaud your families for making that transition!
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: If you've ditched the TV ...
