And another thing.

[featherynscale]

Often it comes to pass at work or in other social situations that somebody asks me if I saw [insert name of show] last night. I tell them, "No, I don't watch television."

Sometimes this leads people to look shifty and say things like "I don't watch much either, just [these shows]." Sometimes it leads people to turn up their noses and say things like, "Well, aren't you special?". Other negative reactions have been reported, but are less common.

Maybe I'm not being clear enough. I don't watch television. I say this so that people will know that if they ask me about shows, I'm probably not going to be able to provide any response at all, because I will have invariably not seen the thing. I don't watch television. I don't care for enough shows to bother. This is not because I'm inherently a better person than tv-viewers. I'm not advancing the point that people shouldn't watch television. I just don't enjoy it, myself. I also don't enjoy jogging, but nobody seems to get too offended or guilty about that, even joggers.

Why is it so often an attack if I say "I don't watch television" and hardly ever an attack if I say "I don't jog"? To me these are roughly equivalent statements.

Comments

[iron-clad.livejournal.com]

Because it's downright unamerican you fethin' commie! No baseball or apple pie for you! Vote Ike!

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I don't like baseball either. And very rarely apple pie.

I am obviously secretly French.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

I think there are two reasons. First, television is perceived by many as a non-intellectual activity, so saying "I don't watch television" is often interpreted as "I'm too highbrow for the boob tube." Second, because it is widely enjoyed in our culture as a (potentially) artistic medium, it evokes, or tries to evoke, an emotional response.

Imagine if you were to ask someone, "Did you see the Expressionist exhibit at the local art gallery?" and the person replied, "No, I don't look at paintings." Or, "Did you see the new movie that opened last weekend?" and they replied, "No, I don't watch film." Same sort of situation.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I don't know... people tell me all the time that they don't go to the movies. I tell people all the time I don't get poetry. Lots of people don't go to museums. Mostly, this doesn't seem to be offensive either.

I'm more inclined towards your first option. :)

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I like/understand your top reason a lot. Also, what diermuid said below about "I don't jog." is a good point; saying you don't participate in an activity rated as healthy (even if rare) is unlikely to get you the scorn of the masses, because most of them don't, either.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

They are not equivalent because one is self-improvement, the other is junk food.

If you are a non-jogger, joggers don't mind, there were times when they didn't jog.

In you are a non-TV person, you have chosen to forgo something that is a basic part of Americans, except for a few that have dropped it due to moral or self-improvement reasons. It's like saying you never eat fast food... some might consider you a froofy health nut. I simply say good job, you have a clue. This is why some fast-food eaters and TV watchers feel like you're being snooty, I am somewhat snooty, I think both are bad ideas.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Morality and self-improvement are not the only reasons that people may have when they choose not to watch television. Conversely, those of us who do watch television should not be considered to lack moral and/or self-improvement motives.

[iron-clad.livejournal.com]

Maybe they are just jealous that we are strong enough and smart enough to realize that pop culture and McDonalds are evil and choose to steer away from them, whereas they are still the stupid couch potato automatons, that KMFDM sings about.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

PS: The plural of "automaton" is "automata."

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

KMFDM makes the morons cry.
Yay!

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

It probably strikes a nerve, so they strike back. But you already knew that. People know damn well that the vast majority of stuff on TV is vacuous at best. Hearing somebody say that they're not at the mercy of television, or much of pop culture otherwise, is alarming. They can't predict what you're going to think about anything, except for the uncomfortable knowledge that your thoughts are likely to be different from theirs (since you generally refuse to be spoonfed). Your lack of brainwashing is threatening to people who offer themselves as willing victims of everything their TVs inflict.

There are comfortable and thoughtful places to exist at many places between those two extremes, but most folks can only think in either-or terms. Me, I love me some CSI anytime I can get it. :) ::shrug::

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I'm totally at the mercy of the Internet. Sort of. I can stop any time I want.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

I can see some people hearing:
"I'm a freethinker, you 're a drone."

Interesting.
Mostly I skip TV cause it cuts into my Reading time.
Mostly...

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

If you don't watch tv on a regular basis you are clearly an alien from the Planet Zod and must be treated with suspicion and disbelief (nice weather we've been having over on Zod of late, don't you think? :) )

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

That must be it. Is it that odd to be a non-tv-watcher in the UK as well?

Ahem.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

STITCH!

That is all.

[sirvinegar.livejournal.com]

Don't think of television-watching compared to jogging. Think of television-watching compared to breathing. Your typical person not only owns a television, they own several, and everyone they know in turns owns several, too. It's part of people's routines. To them, not having a TV is downright unusual.

I don't find it unusual, even though about 75% of my posts deal with television shows. But then, I'm strange like that.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

To me, it's a recreational activity I don't much care for. I suppose it's not like that to some people though.

I do read your tv posts, by the way. I'm keeping tabs on the television phenomenon through you and a couple of other LJers. It hasn't made me want to go back to cable again, but it is interesting.

[malvito.livejournal.com]

Probably fo the same reason people get suddenly defensive and downright pissy when I say "I don't want kids." They feel like, for some reason, your own choice somehow reflects on them because you are not following their mindset.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

It totally is like that! People always act like you're a monster about the kid thing.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

In addition to the other fine points above,
I would have to say that this is a classic reaction to any item that a person has trouble imagining what their life would be like if it was gone.

Adam's For Example:
I do not watch television because it moves so much slower than my mind normally does. And I really hate the feeling of 'Down-shifting' to that speed. It ruins my concentration for other matters.
I think I detected this when I had the flu, and TV was acceptable to me, as I was already moving that slow.
***YMMV: Your Mind May Vary.
========
I think I would have the same reaction to someone who said,
"i don't read books"
or
"I don't use the internet."
(If they had access to either medium.)
And everyone has free access to books in my lil' Lawrencian universe.

Library cards

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Collect the whole set!

I recently found my KSU library card from when I was like 13... I don't think they'll let me check things out on it anymore. It doesn't even have a proper bar code, just a sequence of numbers. How quaint.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

I think it's more offensive to be perceived as doing something that is considered "bad" (watching TV) than it is to be perceived as NOT doing something that is considered "good" (jogging).

My students totally freak when I tell them we don't watch TV during the school week and only allow a couple of hours on the weekend. Even then, it's usually films. I even had one kid ask me if when my kids are bad, do I ground them from reading. Smart arse.

As you can tell by the icon, I only watch quality television.

"ground them from reading"?

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

hey!
That's what my mom use to do to me.

It was very effective.

[zylch.livejournal.com]

How odd. I have told many people that I don't even own a tv, and the general response I've gotten is more "impressed" than "defensive or attacked."

Of course, right now I'm trying to decide whether to wait and save up to buy a nice plasma screen for movie watching, or just pick up a cheap CRT tube to last me until I can get a plasma. But I'm really sick of watching DVDs on my little laptop.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

You do work at Whole Foods. That may have some bearing on the matter, as clearly, Whole Foods is run by communists and anarchists and other people bent on destroying America.

[cameellie.livejournal.com]

I don't watch much television so when queried about a certain show I just say that I don't follow it. That seems to be less "confrontational", or like less of a judgment call to my tv-viewing colleagues than "I don't watch television". It's not nice to fuck with the mundanes.

[kcwitch.livejournal.com]

i used to watch a hella lot of tv, now i barely turn the tv on. i love to watch movies and every so often i will catch a movie on tv but if i miss a show or 3, it doesn't break my heart.