Bob from Tawcan is guest posting today. Before I turn the blog over to him, I must tell a funny story.
I’m a prankster now and always have been. I started young and never stopped. One of my favorite pranks was from my childhood.
Growing up, almost everyone had the same cable service which came with a common settop box and remote control. One day, I figured out that any remote could work any box. This discovery led to an incredible amount of mischief.
There was a townhouse development near us where it was easy to see into peoples’ living rooms from the outdoor common areas. My friends and I would grab our remotes, peek in family rooms and change the channels though the window. There was a certain station that played risque movies, so our pranking usually revolved around that:
- A PBS documentary would suddenly change to Flesh Gordon
- The History Channel would change to Bikini Car Wash
- A sappy romantic movie would change to Busty Cops
And if the TV was already tuned to a naughty movie (this was frequently the case), I’d change it to The Weather Channel
The reactions were the best part. Some people would check under their butts to make sure they weren’t sitting on the remote. Others would get up and slap the settop box. I think one guy thought his TV was possessed. Ahhh, the good old days…
Now, I’m grown and more mature so I abstain from this juvenile behavior. Ha, who am I kidding?!???
The real issue is that everyone has different remotes, so this prank doesn’t work anymore. However, if it did, instead of changing channels, I’d probably just turn the TV off.
It makes me sad when I walk around at night and see the glow of the TV in most homes. There is so much to do and watching loads of TV every day is a poor way to fill precious hours.
Bob takes it to the extreme. The dude doesn’t even own a TV. Instead, he spends his time painting, cooking and taking great pictures. Regarding the last one, I’ve included some of Bob’s wonderful photos in this post. Take it away Bob!
No TV!?!?
If you ever step into our house and walk around, you will immediately notice something out of place. Something strange, something unfamiliar, something very different than other typical homes. We have no televisions. You won’t find a TV in the middle of our living/family room serving as the focal point of the room. You also will not find a TV in our master bedroom or anywhere else in the house for that matter.
You see, my wife and I have been living without a television for the past 7 years. And that means we have no subscriptions to cable, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, or other online streaming services.
To understand why we live without a TV, we need to go back in time…
*cue the going back in time music*
When I moved out of my parents’ place to go to university in 2001, I lived in a dorm room for a couple of years. I kept my dorm room simple, so a television was not an item I owned. Besides, the dorm room was so tiny, a CRT television would have meant I couldn’t fit a bed in the room (the younger folks reading this are probably wondering what the heck a CRT TV is)
Later in my university studies, I shared apartments with different roommates. Somehow, one of the roommates would own a TV and he or she would sign up for basic cable, so we all could watch television throughout the day. Whenever I returned to the apartment, the television was often left on so there was some background noise. This was the norm, and everyone was OK with it.
My wife (I’ll refer to her as Mrs. T) came to Canada from Denmark in 2009 as an exchange student. She lived on the university campus with 3 other roommates. It made no sense for her to purchase a TV, given she was returning to Denmark after 6 months. As it turned out, one of her roommates had a TV for the apartment, so there was no need or reason for her to purchase a TV.
When we started dating in 2009 and moved in together in 2011, neither of us owned a TV. Mutually, we agreed that we didn’t need one. We also didn’t want to spend a few hundred dollars on a TV set when we could use that money elsewhere, like investing in stocks to generate passive income for us.
We also figured that living without televisions at home would allow us to spend more quality time together and have more hygge. It meant we would have more time on our hands to do creative things, like writing articles for my blog, editing wedding photos and portraits, painting canvases, writing cookbooks, etc.
Once we had kids, we quickly realized that not having televisions in our house also allowed them to actively play with toys, us and with each other, rather than watching the glowing tube all day long.
The awkward encounters
Living cable-free, streaming-subscription-free, and TV-free for 7 years isn’t always easy. But it has created some very interesting encounters.
For example, a while ago my parents called me boring because we didn’t have a television at home.
When our internet provider Shaw (who happens to be a cable provider too) calls occasionally for promotional offers, I would have some awkward conversations like this one below:
“Hi Bob, It’s Joe from Shaw. I see that you have internet subscription with us. I have an EXCELLENT promotional deal that I’d like to offer to you tonight.”
“Umm OK, what is it?”
“We’re offering our valued customers a great deal. For $25 extra per month, you can get 200+ channels including HD channels. We will even give you the HD box free of charge. Would you be interested in signing up?”
“Umm, we don’t have a TV.”
*Brief silence*
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, we don’t have a TV at home, so I am not interested.”
“Sorry? Did you say you don’t have a TV?”
“Yes, no TV.”
“Oh… umm OK, well would you be interested in signing up for the package anyway? TV is very cheap nowadays.”
“No thanks, we have no plan to get a TV anytime soon.”
*Another brief silence*
“Umm ok, so you don’t have a TV and don’t plan to get a TV anytime soon. Is there anything I could help you tonight?”
“No thanks.”
Joe probably hung up the phone and started telling his coworkers that he just talked to someone from the stone age that still live in a hole or something! Ha!
I used to have this kind of conversation about every other month. I kid you not!!!
Nowadays, when I see Shaw calling me, I would just ignore the call, unless our 12-month internet deal is about to expire… but that’s a story for later.
Mr. 1500 note: I totally see where Bob was going there!
Having no cable and no TV’s at home also makes TV programming related conversations at work very awkward because I have no idea what my co-workers are talking about. The other day a bunch of co-workers were talking about toddlers and kids friendly educational TV shows. The only showed I recognized was Paw Patrol. And when co-workers started talking about Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Big Bang Theory, or Grey’s Anatomy, I usually sit there and scratch my head, not comprehending what they were talking about at all. When people say that they just bought a 65-inch OLED TV and it has all the latest TV technologies, I usually have no idea what they are talking about. I might as well pull out the Elon Musk’s Boring Flamethrower and start torching things to kill time while my coworkers talked all things TV related… (Mr. 1500 wanted me to throw in the flamethrower reference!).
Mr. 1500 note: There is always room for a flamethrower reference in a post!
Lessons Learned being television free for 7 years
7 years and counting, we have no desire and no plans to ever own a television. Being TV-free, cable-free, and online-streaming-service free for the last 7 years has taught me many lessons.
1. We watch shows by choice
Don’t get me wrong, we still watch TV shows here and there. We do so by visiting specific channel company’s websites (i.e. CBC, CTV, NBC, Food Network, etc) and streaming shows on our computer. Some of the shows we like watching are Master Chef, Amazing Race, and the Great British/Canadian/Danish Bake-Offs. The key difference with us watching TV shows on our computer and watching shows on TV is that we watch these shows by choice. We would set an hour on a specific date each week to watch one of these shows. Once the show is over, we resume our regular evening routines. We don’t binge-watch or continue watching another show just because it is on.
By consciously deciding whether to watch a show or not, we have learned to be more efficient with our time in front of the screen. Watching a TV show on a weeknight becomes a real treat for us and is something that we look forward to each week.
2. Less desire to buy things
Having no TVs at home means we are not being bombarded with different commercials. This has resulted in having less desire to buy things, like the greatest and latest gadgets, different types of makeup, household products, cars, junk foods, sports drinks, etc. We simply don’t get sucked into consumerism via TV commercials. Simply put, we don’t buy things for the sake of buying.
Another benefit of having no TV’s at home is that our kids are not constantly asking for the latest trendy toys because they are not being exposed to toy commercials every 20 seconds. As parents, Mrs. T and I have no idea what the coolest or most popular toys are today. This has made fulfilling Christmas and birthday wishes so much easier.
3. Not worried about news
Having no TV at home and not checking the news on a regular basis means we are not keeping up-to-date with current events. The less we know about what is going on in the world, the less worried we are. We are not stressed out whether the Bank of Canada will increase the interest rate next month or not, we are not worried about the stock market, we are not worried about our investments, we are not constantly thinking about the possible North Korea nuclear attack, etc. If the news is big, we will find out about it somehow, either through people talking about it at work, seeing discussions on Twitter, or seeing multiple people posting about it on Facebook.
4. Better personal connections
Having no TV’s at home means there is no such thing as TV dinners. When we have meals at home, all of us sit at the table and eat together. We enjoy our food and each other’s company. Being able to sit down together over meals is a good lesson to teach to our kids. We are teaching them the important lesson of being present. We also don’t let the kids leave the table until everyone is done eating, as we feel this is a valuable lesson in patience and connectedness (togetherness).
In the evening, once the kids are in bed sleeping, Mrs. T and I can sit on the couch, have a cup of tea (or hot chocolate with whipping cream, yum!), and talk. We talk about our days, we talk about how we feel, we talk about our future, and sometimes we just talk. I believe being able to spend quality time together each night and connect with each other has made our relationship stronger.
5. It’s OK not to watch sports
I used to follow sports teams very closely in my 20’s. Today, however, I don’t follow sports teams that closely anymore. I learned that it is totally OK to not watch games on a regular basis. I can keep up with how my favorite teams are doing by watching highlights on the internet and listening to sports radio channels during my daily commute. There is no shame in not following sports closely. I don’t feel less manly because I don’t watch NFL games every Sunday, or because I don’t watch every Vancouver Canucks game. I can still have educated sports discussions with people, it’s just that I might not be able to provide in-depth, down to the second analysis of how a specific play was developed. We still watch those special sporting events like the Super Bowl or the Olympics. We don’t feel that we are missing out at all.
I am still a sports fan at heart, it’s just that I no longer watch games on a regular basis.
No TV simplified my life!
After 7 years of TV-free, cable-free, and online-streaming-service free, I don’t feel like I am missing anything in my life. Even if someone were to give me a free TV today, I can say with conviction that I will not accept it. I really have no desire to own a TV.
Having said all of that, I think whether to have a TV, cable subscription, or a streaming services subscription (or not) is totally a personal decision. There is no right or wrong. It is a personal choice. This is similar to why it is called personal finance… because it is personal! Having no TV has simplified my life and I am happier without one at home. But that does not mean this is the right choice for everyone. How to decide what’s the right choice for you? Make a decision that will ultimately make you happier in the long run.
Thanks Bob for the great post! Visit Bob over at Tawcan!
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
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You sir, have truly cut the cord. Congratulations! There are plenty of things better to do with your time than watch TV. Not having one at all certenly decreases the temptation to watch
Thank you Jason. Cutting the cord has been pretty awesome.
Love it! We got rid of cable before it was in fashion and were highly made fun of. And yes, I did the same thing to neighbors 😉 with the same remotes. Those were the days!
Jeff from the Happy Philosopher and I just discussed this very same topic on episode 14 of my podcast!
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Haha we were made fun of as well for having no TV. People typically don’t know how to respond when I tell them that we don’t have a TV.
I loved the remote prankster story! And I’m always impressed with people that have no TVs.
We did recently slash our cable bill by switching to streaming, but we still have two TVs. The thought of no TVs scares the crap out of me because Mrs. FF and I like watching various shows and movies.
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The remote prankster story is hilarious. I’m not a prankster at heart so I wouldn’t have thought of that prank. Good one Mr. 1500.
Watching various shows and movies on TV is fine though…. we do that on our computer. 🙂
Meanwhile here I am on the other side: I bought my wife a 19″ TV/DVD combo with a Fire Stick for the kitchen for Christmas, and we’re considering how big we can go with existing furniture to replace our nine-year-old 32″ TV… thanks for this article. It’s a nice boot to the head to realize I really don’t need to spend $350 on yet another screen.
As it turns out, we end up using the kitchen TV mostly as an Amazon music interface, streaming ’60s rock via bluetooth to the nice speakers behind it (unless she’s watching West Wing DVDs as escapist governance fantasy therapy). If I could convince her that we really didn’t need sports or BBC America, we’d cut the cord in a heartbeat. But one must choose one’s battles. 🙂
If you don’t really watch TV that much you can certainly consider downsizing your TV collections. The other thing to consider is stream music on your phone rather than using the TV.
i got rid of my tv to move to the french quarter of new orleans in ’99. all my possessions had to fit in a little pickup truck bed and tiny uhaul trailer, which was nice. i didn’t miss the tv. after all, i was living in a place where the world couldn’t wait to go for vacation! i would go and socialize in the courtyard or walk around to spots where i knew i would find people i like to chat and have a drink or go meet a girl from out of town. after 6 months of this tequila mike moved in to share the place and went and got a tv to watch sports. i’ve had one present ever since but find myself enjoying it less and less, especially the bombardment of ads.
good article. interesting folks, those danes. herring rules.
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Pickled herrings are delicious…but Mrs. T doesn’t like them. I guess I’m more of a Dane than her lol.
oh, i’ve never had and never want to have a cell phone. i’m the unicorn on that one i’ll bet.
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Great story. I knew there had to be a “but” in there. No TVs but we do watch some shows.
I could easily ditch our TVs. Kids have iPads. I have a Samsung tablet.
I guess if I’m going to watch, I’m going to watch on a TV most of the time. TVs (like computers) are almost free. $399 for a 60″ 4k? Under $100 for a 26″ tiny tv.
I don’t watch the news. I don’t channel surf. But, I do have some reasonably entertaining shows I like to watch. Winters are too long where I live to not enjoy some shows and sports.
Thanks for the perspective.
Happy to provide the perspective. Have to say we watch shows on our computer pretty rarely though. And we don’t have any tablets at home. 🙂
Considering smart TVs cost around $300 now, crowing about the cost savings of not owning one are a bit moot, especially since a cheap antenna picks up local channels for free. This person does watch TV if they’re still streaming content on a digital screen. I don’t watch 99% of the popular shows out there and don’t know what people are talking about regarding most TV shows, but I still watch TV. That’s just how life is because there are so many options out there, especially if you bring in old shows into the equation. If it weren’t for Google, I would have no idea what people on Twitter talking about “Pump Rules” refers to. Now that I know what it is, I still have no plans to watch Vanderpump Rules even if I feel left out of the TV conversation.
Now I really want to meet someone in the US who doesn’t watch any form of entertainment, whether that be streamed TV or not. I feel they’d have some great things to share, especially in regards to time management!
Yes you can get a TV for pretty cheap nowadays but it’s easy to spend upwards of $1,000 or more if you want to get all the bells and whistles.
I’d say we maybe watch at most 1 hour of TV shows each week. 🙂
“Now I really want to meet someone in the US who doesn’t watch any form of entertainment, whether that be streamed TV or not.”
Hand raised here. Since 2010, I’ve probably watched less than 40 hours and that’s mostly a couple random sporting events at other peoples’ homes. I don’t actively try to avoid it either; it’s just that I find myself so caught up with other stuff that I just don’t have time. It has nothing to do with the cost of watching. If I had another 10 hours in the day, I’d probably watch Game of Thrones.
Yes!
When I was single, I did not have a TV. One time I sublet an apartment, and the owner had a TV, so I took it and put it in the closet with the screen facing the inside of the closet, so I would not see the screen when I opened the door to the closet.
When I got married, my wife had a TV, and wanted it, so I compromised, and now we have one. BUT I never pay for it. No cable here.
I just cannot see paying for television. We have enough local stations to see news and PBS. I cannot see paying for mind pollution. I cannot see paying for pollution aimed at me.
Television is a propaganda machine. Let me repeat. TELEVISION IS A PROPAGANDA MACHINE.
Everything on television is propaganda, all the ads, all the programming. There is an occasional useful piece of information, but for the most part it is worthless.
As Newton Minnow, head of the F.C.C in 1961 said: TV is a vast wasteland.
“TV is a vast wasteland.”
And it’s probably a lot worse now that in was in 1961. I don’t think there were fake news channels back then feeding biases. There also wasn’t reality TV.
I’m with you Bob! While technically we do have a TV, it was completely free . We also don’t pay for any subscription services. This saves a huge amount of money over a long period of time.
Not having TV in our lives probably made us millionaires.
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I’d take being millionaires than watching TV any day.
How do you live without Fox News on 24/7??!!!
Awesome post Bob – you’re speaking my language. Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, Breaking Bad, Vanderpump Rules (?), never watched a second of any of them. Do I miss out on inane workplace TV conversation, of course. Mission accomplished.
I had a troubling realization while visiting my father and his wife several years ago. I realized that there were more rooms in his house with a TV than without. This meant that there were more than twice the number of TVs as there were people living in the house. I don’t think you can actually experience hygge in this kind of environment.
I used to be a huge sports fan – especially college football and basketball. What I learned after I stopped paying attention was that my life was drastically better once I stopped allowing my mood to be impacted by the vicissitudes of 18-20 year old kids playing on a field or a court. I have no control over who wins/loses, so why should I let that impact my happiness?
Great photos by the way.
LOL, in Canada I think Fox News is considered as a premium channel…but I could be wrong. 🙂
We haven’t had a tv ever since we moved in together almost 10 years ago, but you left out one of my reasons why – I just flat out hate the way they look. Having a giant black rectangle on the wall seems to suck the life out of rooms and having it on looks no more aesthetically pleasing.
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I guess the old TV look pretty ugly. The thin ones nowadays are slightly better looking. I agree with you though, I don’t like having TV as the focus of the room.
Nice post Bob! As someone who’s been without traditional TV for almost 6 years now, you’re definitely right that there is less of a desire to buy things and not to worry about news. I’m constantly reminded by co-workers almost every day about some new thing on the market or something bad that happened in the news…and I have no idea what they’re talking about.
Also, a few years back I did an experiment to see how me and my wife would do without internet when the contract expired. Unfortunately, this experiment only lasted about 8 months. I noticed that we had a better personal connection, but we ultimately grew increasingly frustrated without it. You think you get questioned when you tell people you have no TV, try telling them you have no TV or internet, and then they take it personally Haha!
I wouldn’t imagine living without internet, that would be a deal breaker, especially considering we use the internet for a lot of our daily communication. 🙂
I really enjoyed reading this post. I can see all the good points you made, Tawcan, but at my place you’d have to prise my Netflix remote from my cold, dead hands before I’d give it up! Then again, I don’t have a partner so maybe that makes a bit of a difference. (There’s also no ads on Netflix The best of both worlds!)
TV can be a fun social outlet though… the younger members of staff get together every week at someone’s house when ‘The Bachelor’ is on. They make a real thing of it. And of course, you can’t go past having a ‘Survivor’ sweep at work.
I think that the main benefits you’re receiving are the connectedness with your partner and the lack of neediness from the kids. I gather your kids are still small, so enjoy it while they still don’t have computers of their own. I agree, children’s ads are a pain and if you can avoid them, so much the better.
Nothing wrong with Netflix, it’s all just a personal choice. 🙂
Hopefully this is our last year of TV.Streaming. I have been trying to break the family of it and solely rely on the library for media. When we have power outages that is usually the best time we spend together as a family (and I want that everyday).
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It’s great to have more family time together. Here’s to your last year of TV. 🙂
We long ago cut the cord but I don’t think we could ditch the tv. Count me as someone that likes the noise in the background
But since it tends to be a background thing for me I at least have no need to upgrade TVs.
Have you considered just playing music in the background via your phone?
Look at us all posting about our triumphs or our justifications to as why we do own a tv , myself included does not own a tv , two months ago we purchased a 65 inch 1.21 giga watt Samsung that could do 88mph , I watched 1 world war 2 documentary and said my little moustachian in me is about to roundhouse me one in the chops , so I returned the dumb purchase and went back to the library . It is good to know though in a world that is now not teaching children cursive writing or even printing in schools that our generation has become our parents generation as we shake our heads as the mass of idiots fall off the cliff all the while as we say this new generation is screwed.
Ha. I am not saying technology is bad, I think in healthy doses it’s all good. It’s when you’re glued to the TV all day, that becomes unhealthy.
Raises hand – not had a TV for, must be about 10 years now. And I don’t watch TV programs, so yes I have no idea about references to TV shows or adverts etc.
And it’s great. TV added no value to my life, so I cut it out. I see a lot of plays, read books and listen to podcasts. There is a no TV club growing. Quite a few of my friends are similarly inclined – one boasts of not having one for 30 years!.
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So cool to see that there are so many ppl on here that have lived without a TV for so long.
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
When my wife and I were first married and decorating our tiny, one bedroom apartment we decided to not purchase a TV because it would have literally been the center of our existence at home. We wanted our first years to be focused on spending quality time together. We still had Netflix, but it was an ordeal to set up to watch together.
Now, five years later, we’ve purchased a home, have a beautiful daughter, and still don’t have a TV. Our daughter isn’t distracted and being sold to constantly, and we focus on spending time playing in the floor, reading books, and wrestling. After she goes to bed, my wife and I will occasionally watch a show, but there’s a very small list of shows we enjoy watching.
Isn’t it funny how people get uneasy when they visit and realized that there is a TV shaped hole in your house!?
I went for years a long time ago with no TV, then 9/11 happened and I freaked out without news coverage (I was living in Baltimore)… now I’m back to 2+ years without a TV and it’s great! Besides avoiding the mind suck of time, you also avoid all those ads as you mentioned… and the more subtle but constant barrage of images that say somehow your chosen life, decor, floor rug, partner, chicken nugget, hair style, whatever isn’t good enough and/or is a poor reflection of you, so you MUST buy or upgrade. Product placement is everywhere and hard to avoid in TV or magazines.
We all know we’re being marketed at constantly, but once you eliminate it for a while, it becomes really noticeable when you see it again.
I do watch the Anthony Bourdain travel series from CNN (I buy it on YouTube) – so that equates to about 16hrs a year plus a handful of football games…
One thing that I notice a lot when I watch TV at the gym is all the panning in and out every few seconds. That drives me crazy and gives me a headache from time to time. No wonder some people have short attention spans nowadays.
We still have our TV and would like to keep one. We just really enjoy watching movies & documentaries. Our TV did decide to have a fit last December so we could not watch anything for about a month. The first couple of weeks we had no issues with it, but after week 3 and 4 I really noticed that I was missing the bloody thing! Not that I could not find anything else to do, it’s just my way to relax completely (sounds weird perhaps).
That being said, good for you for not having one! Very environmentally friendly too 😉
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There’s nothing wrong with owning a TV and watch things that you enjoy. I think as long as you don’t let TV over take your life, it’s all good.
I gave up TV involuntarily in grad school. I quickly learned I was happier without it.
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Very cool!
Bob, you are awesome!
The TV can be such a huge time suck. When you’re watching TV, you’re consuming. That’s okay, but most people just spend too much time on it. I used to watch a lot more TV and playing video games before I started blogging. Now, I don’t have much time for it.
We still have a TV, but mostly watch DVDs on it. We still enjoy a good show once in a while. I am looking forward to the last season of GoT and WestWorld season 2.
Thanks Joe. 🙂
I’m not saying give up TV completely. What I am saying is that if you have TV, make a conscious decision to consume less, so you can have more time to do other things in life. 🙂
I haven’t had a TV for going on 15 years and haven’t missed it. It does make for awkward silences at social and work gatherings though (if I mention it, which I generally don’t because it makes other people feel uncomfortable and judged…and why is that anyway?)
That is some serious cable cutting. Sometimes you have to go against the grain of society to pursue and achieve FIRE. When people look at you like you have 2 heads you know you are on the right track. Nothing wrong with that. I have heard 2 heads are better than 1! Tom
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