Curing My TV Shame

[nfotxn]

Growing up I was like any other kid. Waking early on Saturday mornings for cartoons. I would eat my whole grain cereal and skim milk with a serving of fresh fruit and enjoy The Transformers, GO-BOTS, The Real Ghostbusters, Gummibears and a whole other host of direct marketing channels. Just like any other kid.

As a teen in the 90s I loved The Tonight Show, SNL, X-Files, Sliders, Law & Order. And then one day in 1998 I got a cable modem and stopped watching TV. Slowly. I stopped going to movies once I started working shift work. I started reading blogs and newspapers. My priorities changed and I changed a bit along with them.

Some people say it's some sort of generational ADHD thing. I suppose that's a decent theory but I think it goes deeper than that. Sounds more like diagnosis via acronym than an actual reason for a change in behaviour. One thing I realized recovering from my teeth surgery is that I was having more fun managing my bittorrents, transcoding the content and playing with my iPod on my TV than I was following the plot on the shows.

To real it up a bit I actually had to be in physical recovery taking a prescription narcotic to enjoy TV. That says something about me I think.

It's not that I can't sit through TV or a movie. I just feel like my time is better spend being actively interested in something. There has always been that schism that savvy marketers and entertainment producers alike have identified. When we're doing things, in this case entertaining ourselves, there are different modes of observation. You can be active or passive. Participating in what you're consciously observing or just an observer.

I gotta admit something up front here. I went to a Montessori method school until Kindergarten. I kinda grew up doing things myself and learning through experience. So really, formatively before my mid-80s TV 'education', I was learning to do things this way. I think it has a lot to do with my attraction to hacking, art, computers, the internet in general and blogs particularly.

And lots of people would assume that I'm some sort of intellectual snob for not being into ANTM or Project Runway or Battlestar Galactica. Which is untrue. I think TV is a neat craft not unlike pottery, running your own weather station or retrofitting your home with renewable energy sources. It's just the dedication to passively sitting in a chair and being entertained, at this point in my life, is an unattractive proposition. What do I get out of it? I can talk to other people about something and relate to them through somebody else's idea, metaphors and narratives. I'd rather talk about non-fictional characters are up to most of the time. If want to get deep into fiction I'll watch a movie or read a book.

But for some reason TV seems out of the question. I can pick-up the cultural ephemera in sound bytes, quotes and clips. I've decided I'm actually OK with that. I've been saying fierce despite not watching the recent crop of fashion-based reality TV.

Maybe if I had the time, money and inclination for a PVR I'd get back on the pop cult bandwagon. But I'm so far gone now that I have few pretences as to returning to the fold. To be honest it is a bit lonely but it could be worse. So many of you, my dear bloggist friends, enjoy your syndicated TV quite a bit. And that's not for me to judge for you. But I'm happier for not being into TV as much as I was in the earlier decades of my life. To think back even 10 years ago and think that the death grip of cable TV could be loosened... and yet miraculously it has come to be.

Bummer it has been replaced by the ever-pervasive multimedia Internet. On our computer screens, in our pockets and actually useful there. It's a blessing and a curse.

Comments

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

As soon as I pay my bills, I'm going to buy the biggest fucking TV I can find. I don't think I can take this much longer.

I see you are a man of your word!

It's all about multitasking!

[telecommunicate.livejournal.com]

I have to agree and disagree in the same breath. While on one hand i love my television, the stories i get to get wrapped up in, the original (and sometimes cotton candy sacrine) evolving of multilayered characters etc etc. On the other hand, i have the same problem, if i sit down and watch 2 hours of television, i get this unnerving sensation like i just wasted a whole bunch of time to do 3 other things at the same time. So to remedy this i find myself either watching torrented tv shows on my computer and working in windows around it, or setting my laptop on my lap on the couch and working on things while i watch tv.

Now i can't claim that i'm entirely without exception selective about the shows i watch (yes i'm guilty, i watch Project Runway, and i watched the entire first -and only- season of Blade The Series even though it was utter trash) but most of the time i tend to catch on very quickly that a show isn't going to hold anything for me, if the writting isn't cohesive or convincing, if the story just isn't grabbing me, etc. These days Tv shows have to be of the diamond in the rough (for the most part) to keep me comin back, cause beleive you me, i use that Delete Series Recording button on my DVR without hesitation or mercy.

I think the thing that keeps me coming back to television, even after we have our tiffs, scream things we'll regret later at each other, and swear we never want to see each other again ever, is that there is something really reassuring that should you find a concept in a show and a story, characters etc that really just wow you, that it's an ongoing love affair, you don't get to love it for two hours and left with wanting more woven tales and adventure. It's the promise of an extended creative expansion that i really enjoy.

I would recommend some truly stunning shows to you, but it sounds like you've sworn off tv, and i can understand the point of where yer coming from. Just thought i'd throw in my two cents.

[pensivegargoyle.livejournal.com]

Not being into Galactica is just wrong. Get downloading!

[velnich.livejournal.com]

I can relate to a degree. The only time I really sit in front of the tv anymore is when I'm sick (like recently) or stressed to the point where anything more active feels like a strain. It doesn't happen often at all, but the few times over the last few months, it was great to veg on the couch and decompress. I'll admit there were the occasional "must know what's going on in the world" trips to the comp though.

My main tv viewing these days comes from downloaded shows I watch on the comp or itouch. Commuting to and from work can make excellent catching up on shows time (the 1 or 2 shows I'm actually following right now).

[texaspenguin.livejournal.com]

In the past couple of years, I have managed to detach myself from the electrical wires of my television set. For the most part, it gets used nowadays to play video games or watch the (extremely occasional) movie. I just lack interest in sitting vegetatively on my couch, mindlessly watching some drivel that happens to be the fad of the moment.

I'll admit, there were some shows that I enjoyed watching: Top Chef, the Next Food Network Star, Jeopardy...but these were shows that actively engaged my mental processes - I love to cook and I like quiz shows.

Once upon a time I was your stereotypical couch potato. I would sit for hours on end staring at digitized images of fictional characters enacting hopelessly impossible situations just in the hopes that I could live vicariously through them. Nowadays I sit in front of my computer, actively engaged in playing games, reading news, or managing my music. The only channel that gets turned on my TV these days is Food Network, and that's just to see if there's something new I can do in the kitchen. I'll watch the local news occasionally, but it's more for getting the weather for the day and even so, I'll do that once every two or three months.

My partner spends hours in front of the TV. When I go to visit, I bring my laptop with me and sit there on the computer, half listening to what's going on and usually not devoting even that much brainpower to focusing on that. I'll watch movies halfheartedly - my mind will be focused more on the computer than on what's playing. The only occasion I'll do otherwise is if I'm with someone who shares enough interest with me to watch something that would be mentally stimulating and would engage me actively in conversation either during or afterwards.

[djmrswhite.livejournal.com]

fuck. you beat me to it.

[dirtyglamour.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this completely. I barely watch TV at all.

But I am online more often than I'd like.

[thumperto.livejournal.com]

I can somewhat relate to what you're saying. For a year or so I didn't watch TV, I only started watching again when I got 'forced' to watch it. Yes, I called it being forced because I started working for a broadcaster, and it was part of the job lol. But when I look back at my tv hiatus, part of it was I felt like I didn't want to 'waste' my time on any of the tripe that was on at the time.

Admittedly, I detest reality based shows, which make up most of the broadcast content nowadays. Even now, I barely watch TV at home. There are some shows that I got hooked on but far and few in between. The convenience of online media makes it a more appealing tool for me. It all boils down to convenience, having the time for it, and content that piques your interest. Or you could be resisting getting hooked on TV again since it potentially can take up alot of your time. Like myself, I am resisting buying a game console because I know it took up alot of time in my youth.

But don't despair. It doesn't mean you're a social anathema just because your TV set doubles as a shelf. With the amount of broadcast content online nowadays, the TV/Internet line is pretty blurry anyways.

[mattycub.livejournal.com]

I find that I don't watch as much tv as I used to. The TV I do watch however I get an immense amount of enjoyment from.

Two interesting factors at play. One, with the advent of DVRs, I never just flip channels to see what's on. I never turn on the tv mindlessly - it's always to watch the handful of programs I want to watch, and then it goes back off and I do other things.

The second is, I think we're living in a golden age of television content. Don't get me wrong, 98% of what's on tv is crap. And the crap seems to have gotten a lot worse. But what's good is really good, and I think that there are more intelligent, challenging, fun, and I would even say artistic programs out there than ever before. The shows that I watch now I never feel like are a waste of my time.

And I hear what you're saying, tv just isn't something you put time into anymore. And that's just fine. I'm glad that you don't take that next step of looking down your nose at people who still enjoy their tv viewing, because that shit is tired.

[kingfuraday.livejournal.com]

I can attest to the fact that Fierce was your word in late '06...

Not generational.

[wwabbit.livejournal.com]

I have trouble sitting still watching TV, and I still prefer doing other things in the dark than wasting 3 hours in a theatre (although there are some exceptions). Even yesterday, while watching (a 6 hour) miniseries from the 70s, I spent much of the afternoon producing a desktop image called "bears of nazareth" :-)

It does, I think, have something to do with the way technology changes us - and I could get all philosophic, but I wont. It has more to do with the reason my mom still can't program a VCR than with ADHD.

a bit long on therapy

[tkn1114.livejournal.com]

but interesting. I ID and relate. I have 300+ channels and end up with PBS.

It's a blessing and a curse. - neither for me. Because I decide.

You're a neat kid, Brodie Noble. Be sure and look me up when you come down to the big Apple.

[sluggobear.livejournal.com]

I am TOTALLY with you, Brodie.

TV is mostly crap. And it seems to get more and more dumbed-down as we go.

Sometimes I actually have to force myself to watch TV because I need to get away from the PC. (And yes sometimes that means getting outside and going for a walk, too.)

I will admit I have some attachment to a few smartly-written shows... notably Colbert, Bill Maher, Daily Show, MythBusters and Heroes. (And I completely miss Arrested Development.)

It's shocking how little is really on TV when you flip through the channels.

(As an aside, I have very little patience for commercials, as well.)

But I'd much rather be doing something interactive, engaging, social, educational or otherwise... and high-speed Internet is vastly more important to me than the television that happens to travel through that same cable.

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

Maybe if I had the time, money and inclination for a PVR I'd get back on the pop cult bandwagon.

Without our tivo, we certainly wouldn't watch much of any TV. When we do, it's probably weeks out of date.