Why are you TV free? - Page 2

[zinemama]

http://www.babble.com/TV-Free-Why-do...lar/index.aspx

[marie1080]

Originally Posted by zinemama

http://www.babble.com/TV-Free-Why-do...lar/index.aspx

Wow, I was nodding my head the entire time until she insulted my choice of reading material and my kids playsilks in the last paragraph. Sniff.

Great article other than that, though. I have had the very same thoughts when its come out that we don't have a TV and the other mom gets all weird and distant.

[zinemama]

Originally Posted by marie1080

Wow, I was nodding my head the entire time until she insulted my choice of reading material and my kids playsilks in the last paragraph. Sniff.

Great article other than that, though. I have had the very same thoughts when its come out that we don't have a TV and the other mom gets all weird and distant.

Why, thank you for those kind words. I won't deny that I do have my snarky side, though.

[Catholic Mama]

My family is TV free so that my husband and I can protect our children's innocence. Also to let their natural creativity grow and thrive on its own.

It can be very trying sometimes when my children get bored and I have to be involved with them so much to keep them out of trouble, but it is definitely worth it when they all settle down with a few toys and lots of books!

[Nazsmum]

Originally Posted by Catholic Mama 

My family is TV free so that my husband and I can protect our children's innocence. Also to let their natural creativity grow and thrive on its own.

It can be very trying sometimes when my children get bored and I have to be involved with them so much to keep them out of trouble, but it is definitely worth it when they all settle down with a few toys and lots of books!

 For me I was SICK of TV. Nothing on that was worth my time. So we just went TV-free

[lanamommyphd07]

[mokey4]

I think my transition to TV-free has been interesting..

It all started with my first husband, who watched too much TV and played too many video games. He was up until at least 1 or 2am most nights, sometimes later, just playing video games and watching ESPN. Yuck, how did I end up married to that? I liked to watch TV, but this was crazy.

I left my husband for reasons other than his TV addiction, though that was part of the mix of problems. (2005)

I got really into rowing, which involves waking up at an ungodly hour of the morning. The only way to make this feasible was to go to bed by 9:30 every night, which really limited my TV-watching.

I met a new guy (another rower) who watched very little TV. So that was not something we ever did together. He liked to sit around and talk after dinner, or dance in the kitchen, or read books, or make puppets, or clean the house- it was exciting and novel to me. He watched about one televised football game per month. And had no interest in my dumb sitcoms, so if I wanted to watch them I was alone. We moved in together, so I stopped watching any TV at all- why would I, when I had this fun guy to hang out with and talk to? (2006-2007)

Later we got married and had kids and... still no TV in our lives! (2008)

Now we have two TVs in our home- one is in the half-finished basement, which is not super comfy and we don't go down there very much. We use the basement for laundry and rowing machine mroe than the TV. We watch a video maybe once per month after the kids are asleep, and other than that we never use it- we do have a digital converter (no cable), but we just don't like TV anymore at all. The other TV is in our au pair's bedroom upstairs. Our last au pair watched a lot of TV in the evenings, and it definitely helped her improve her English. Our current au pair has only been with us for a couple of weeks and she watches no TV at all- she reads and takes walks every evening. I didn't realize they made 20-somethings like her :).

[Earthmoma]

We are TV free so we can enjoy the real things in life. We bought a farm in the middle of no where & ditched the TV. Life has never been better. Everyone who finds out we are TV free is really confused by it.

[wwjc]

I really enjoy hearing about everyone's lifestyle and experiences.   I have been without a tv for just a month and at first it was pretty big adjustment to get used to the silence and free time, especially if you are not around many people on a regular basis.  I have enjoyed having to go to a shared tv or media area because I can get the best of both worlds by watching a show or two a week but not being a slave to it.  

1)  It is amazing how many hours tv can take up if you let it.  I used to have the tv on day and night and not really watch or enjoy any tv shows.  I would stay up late at night and feel restless.  I felt like my life was being wasted.  Around that time we had a bad electrical storm that broke my new expensive tv and I decided to just let it go all together and focus more on physically living.  

2)  I have wanted to limit family tv time and raise tv-free kids since 2011.  I have grown up attached to a tv.  It is interesting realizing that the way I want to live my life, honoring my values, is very different from how I was raised and from the lives of the people I am around.  It is important to realize the role tv has in your relationships.  I agree with all the reasons for going tv-free or limiting tv.  I want to spend time with my family and talk to them instead of watch other people talk.  I disapprove of a lot of the content on tv and hate the consumerism, brainwashing, and values it propagates.  I enjoy and value tv, news, media, and entertainment but I like dictating my own life.  I want to make a conscious choice to spend only 1 or 2 hours having that kind of fun, picking and choosing how I spend my time.  

3)  I am trying to save money and not having a tv is a great way to save on monthly bills.  Also, I recently was moving and got robbed so I have come to realize that by not having a tv or other expensive items like that I feel like less of a target for thieves.  Plus, its green. 

[Catholic Mama]

When I finally went to read the piece linked to by zinemama on Babble, it couldn't find it. zinemama, do you know if it's at a different address? Thanks anyway for posting it; sorry I didn't read it in time!

[Storm Bride]

I just saw this on the main forum page and felt like posting, even though we're not really tv-free. We have a Netflix subscription and use it for tv shows (and movies), as well as a collection of movies on Blu-Ray/DVD.  However, we don't watch "regular" tv. For us, there were two factors involved in the decision:

1) No commercials. Our lives are much easier without being exposed to the brain rot that is the "commercial break". My kids don't know about half the crap other kids beg their parents for. They're not exposed to the wacky ideas of what life "should" be like, etc. Neither am I. I like it that way.

2) We no longer deal with that "sucked in" effect that happens when one show is over and the next one starts. I can remember wasting 2-3 hours a night with my ex, just sitting on the couch and watching one show flow into another show into another show. Half the time, I didn't even like half of them, but a crappy/mediocre one was sandwiched between two that I enjoyed, so I watched them all. Now, if we want to watch a show, we watch that show, and we're done.

I don't think we'll ever go completely tv-free...ds2, in particular, loves his screens, and sometimes, they're the only thing that will settle him down. But, I have no interest in ever going back to cable.

[Emaye]

I need and love silence.  I just can't stand the constant chatter that is on TV. I especially hate how, every time a commercial comes on, the TV gets louder.  That said, we do have a family movie night (once a week) and the kids watch a couple of half hour videos everyday around 6 (in their room, with the door closed).  

[skycheattraffic]

So many of my reasons have already been eloquently posted upthread. I'll list my top few though

1) I grew up overseas with literally two tv channels and 1/2 hour of kids programs in the evening. We didn't watch more because that's all there was so we read, played with toys, lived on our bikes, went to play with friends, etc. I think kids need the free time to figure out what they like and pursue their interests. I think they also need to be outdoors as much as possible and be active and exploring/interacting.
2) I am a TV zombie. If I have cable, I get sucked into things and before I know it, I've watched 4 hours of stuff I wasn't interested in. I don't get things done, and I feel like I miss out on life. I don't want that life anymore and I certainly don't want that for my kids.
3) seeing how screen time affects my 2 year old: she becomes a zombie too! I'm currently pregnant and I'm sorry to say DD got like 3-4 hours of sesame street a day when I was in the first trimester with the constant nausea and kill-me-now fatigue and I honestly just needed to survive until DH got home. Once I felt better, I quickly weaned her down and TV (well netflix) is now an occasional treat or emergency measure. She is less wound up, more content and easy going and has a blast playing and reading.

DH is the only one who misses cable because he's a big baseball fan (Blue Jays) but at 150+ games a season averaging 3 hours each, we'd never see him from April until the fall lol

ETA: we're not 100% tv free but use it very sparingly with DD and watch a little tv while she's sleeping.
Edited by skycheattraffic - 4/16/13 at 8:08am