Turn it off, it's no good for me

[altariel]

I didn't get where I am today by switching off the television, and so I think that the "Turnoff TV" campaign reported in this article is, in my thoroughly considered and exquisitely argued opinion, largely elitist bollocks. I'd agree that there's a certain nostalgia about 1970s telly which tends to gloss over the memories of, say, the toe-curlingly, jaw-grindingly awful sexism.

FWIW, I think there's a bit of a TV renaissance going on at the moment here in Britain, and I'm not just talking about Doctor Who; a peek around the BBC Four site is a good place to start. Anyway, what about multitasking? Experience tells me it's relatively easy to learn how to loll drooling in front of the box with your slack jaw propped up on an open book.

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I feel guilty if I watch the television without something else to do. Usually eating, reading the newspaper, or ironing (ironing's best if it's a programme I need to concentrate on, as the newspaper sometimes gets too distracting).

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I think the problem with television is that a large number of people don't seem to have the ability to regulate how much they watch - and for those folks, turning the set of entirely is probably a very good idea. It's amazing how much more you can do when you're not spending literally all of your free time staring at a glowing box! But if you're the sort of person who is selective about what you watch and you have the discipline to turn the set off once the program you wanted to see is over, television does no harm.

(And as someone who remembers first-run 1070s TV, I agree 100% with your assessment of it. Seems to me people forget that MOST television is utter crap, in any decade - but the syndication process gradually weeds out the older crap, making previous eras' offerings seem far better in retrospect then they really were at the time.)

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

My television watching is strictly limited by practicalities at the moment: my computer is upstairs; the television is downstairs. That, plus the fact that I'm so disorganised I hardly ever manage to remember that something is on. If I ever sort out a wireless network, I'll probably be downstairs like a shot.

That's spot-on about the 70's telly, I think. The perception of people our age is also distorted by the fact that our critical faculties (e.g. the ability to spot the toe-curling sexism) just weren't as developed as they are now.

[archbishopm.livejournal.com]

My mother and child both do this weird thing where if they walk into a room in which the television is on (generally because I'm waiting for something I want to watch to start, I am not a leave-the-television-on-every-waking-hour type, though I have lived with a number of such) they will just stop and stare at it, no matter what it is showing, and I have to switch it off to make them start walking and talking again. It's creepifying.

[mgkellner.livejournal.com]

I think these "National Turn Off You TV Week" is pompous poopa-doodle. It carries a heavy scent of, "I'm superior because I don't watch TV." True, TV is mostly crap these day, but I have been watching it for 55 years, and it was mostly crap in every other era as well. And the good shows usually fail, while pure dreck makes millions. Star Trek was a failure while Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and Lost In Space thrived. Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a hit while Secret Agent failed to draw an audience. Battlestar Galactica was a flop.(I was one of ther first in my crowd of Star Trek fanatics who had a color TV, so we had parties at my house to watch the original first year episodes, which was presented in 2 & 3 hour blocks, and promoted heavily.) The original shows were too adult, with complex characters, relationships, and politics. Adults skipped it as kids fare, and the kids were bored, because they only wanted monsters and action. (If I like a show, it is the kiss of death.)

What is worse is, in the US there is now a turn your computer off week! I swear this all comes from people who have a powerful need to condescend to the rest of us.

In the US, I see the biggest current problem is they are hooked on "reality", which to me looks like cheap TV, with no expensive talent. I quit watching prime time shows years ago, and watch movies for entertainment.

Still, despite all the shortcomings of the Internet and TV they are the mediums of our time and our civilization. There really isn't an alternate civilization to switch to. Switching the screen off does not transport you to some other better place. It just cuts your connection to the civilzation you actually live in. Society would be far better served by a switch to a better channel/go to a better web site week.

FWIW: Right now, I am multitasking, aka slacking off. I have cable news on the TV with closed captioning on, listening to classical music on the radio, and writing this post. I maintain the fiction that I am working by occassionally thinking about how I will make selectable avatars work on my forum. I will get to real work after I post this, as the coffee is kicking in, and my motivation is rising, but the TV news will stay on, and I'll switch the sound to the TV if anything interesting comes on.

mk

[hafren.livejournal.com]

When my kids were little I got a tremendous number of clothes knitted while watvhing 70s telly. And not just straightforward ones; I could design picture jumpers (kitten on brick wall, snooker table complete with balls) and knit 'em to the background of Arkwright and Granville. Non-creative, my eye!

[crossbow1.livejournal.com]

I think there's definitely a TV rennaissance going on here in the US. Sort of an odd one. Most of the new shows are reality shows and really suck, but the ones that AREN'T reality shows seem to be a lot better than usual. In the past I've usually only found one or two shows at a time to be worth watching, but right now there are at least 6 shows on that I like. My guess is that because the reality shows are so cheap to make, they can spend more money on the reguar shows.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I actually have turned off my TV almost entirely. Not because I'm superior, but because I'm a criminal. I download several shows regularly and am vastly entertained. So my glowing box is the computer. It's not as if I'm out exercising at the gym.

I notice one real difference in my outlook as a result of this sea-change: during the one hour I do have the television on (Lost), I barely tolerate the commercials. I don't numbly sit and stare at them. They make me crazy. I'm actively appalled at them--much more so than when I was a regular viewer.

I experience this change the way I've experienced certain healthy improvements in my life (cutting down on meat, preferring organic foods, drinking more and better water, stuff like that): a sort of refinement of sensibility that no longer tolerates what used to be common, and a concomitant increase in (perceived) mental clarity. So I equate turning off the TV with an improvement in my well-being.

In that regard, I'm all for turning off the TV. But I still love my shows.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

I agree that "TV as wallpaper" is annoying. I do try to make sure that if I turn on the TV, it's because I actively want to watch a show that's on at that time.

Experience tells me it's relatively easy to learn how to loll drooling in front of the box with your slack jaw propped up on an open book.
Heh. It drives Dan mad when I read & watch at the same time. Which, if I were completely honest, is probably part of the reason I continue to do it. (Ah, marriage...)

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Anyway, what about multitasking?

I was watching Strictly Come Dancing earlier. Have you and Mr A tried reading while learning the lambada?

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

TV was mainly shit in the late 90s, but it's got better in the last couple of years. I approve strongly of the Beeb's digital channels - they work very well as a way of trying out unusual, risky or just plain obscure programming, which can then transfer to terrestrial if it grabs an audience.

I don't watch films very much, hardly ever go to the cinema, but I fucking love telly. Don't know quite why, but I think it has something to do with it being immediately part of a shared culture, rather than a self-contained object. Or something like that.

One of the most hopeful signs for TV nowadays is the performance of Dr Who in the ratings. It's not just that it gets a mass audience for intelligent, entertaining stories and engaging performances, or that it's been top-rated in its time-slot every week. It's that the ratings did not primarily come at the expense of existing programming: rather, millions of people who don't normally watch telly on a Saturday night now tune in, because at last their needs are being catered for.

And it's fucking Daleks next week. Life is good.

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

I didn't get where I am today by switching off the television

But you're one of the exceptions! :) According to statistics, most people who watch TV for many hours a day don't read books.

IMO, this "switch off your TV" week should be compulsory in Japan. I contacted a survey in my school, and the majority of students watch TV non-stop from the moment they get back home (4 pm on a day without club activities) to the moment they go to bed (1 am)! @_@ None of them reads books, although sometimes they read comics. If you're wondering when do they do their homework, the answer is "at school". I think this picture is worrying.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The TV's off at our place if neither of us is watching it. If Greg is, then I shut the door so I can read or write in peace in the other room. My mother always had hers on 'for company' (argh!) and I used to have to go out for long walks to escape the bloody thing.

We love our TiVo. We record most things we like so that we can watch when we want to and also kill ads in a couple of seconds (all TV here is commercial) and when there isn't anything good on, then there are DVDs, books, and the internet.

We have a channel called UK Gold with a lot of the old classic series from the last 40 years. You're so right about the sexism. B7 did very well compared to most.