Poll: Do you watch television?

[Ovoon]

I don't see how anyone can NOT watch TV.

I don't see how so many people can.

Large monthly fee? Loaded with commercials that will lower your IQ? Nothing ever on? A bajillion channels you pay for and only wind up using like three of them?

Screw that.

 

[zspartancats]

Only to watch CBS in the morning to see what is going on in the world

Then at night, as a I fall asleep.

So I watch a total of three hours of TV a day.

 

[Saulkar]

Not often but I still do since many shows I like are not in complete form online (Mythbusters, Greatest Tank Battles, anime, etc.)

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

The only thing I watch on TV are football games. I just pay for the bare minimum cable needed to watch it. So I watch about 4 hours a week of TV, that is only during football season. I cancel my cable for the rest of the year.

 

[Mauso88]

Primarily when I'm hungover, so Monday afternoons are the only time I watch tv.
Law and Order, Criminal Minds and Mythbusters are the staple.

Kari, damn! ;>

 

[Torrasque]

This poll needs more than a pure yes/no option.

Why? The poll asks if you watch TV, it doesn't ask if you watch it all the time or watch it once a week. It just asks if you watch TV.
Kind of like asking "do you breathe air?".
It doesn't matter if you breathe more than the average person or hold your breath all day, you still breathe air.

Because there's a pretty big difference between someone like me, who watches it once in a blue moon, and people like my parents, who watch it as their primary source of both news and entertainment? The air breathing analogy is a good one: almost no one categorically avoids watching TV. It's next to impossible. However, I'd say a good chunk of this site's userbase only watch a few shows, and otherwise use their TVs as glorified monitors.

I agree that there is a big difference between someone like you or I that watches it once a month maybe and your parents that watch TV all the time, but for the purposes of the poll I say keep it as yes/no.
Include a "I watch TV but..." or "I don't watch TV but..." if it makes you feel better. Including a "sort've" option just weakens the poll by opening up the options for "well I sorta do, but not really", "I do on thursdays every odd month", "only when good shows are on".

Get what I mean?

Well yeah, that's my point, though: the majority of the people who are voting no actually /do/ watch to some extent. If people were honestly answering the poll it would be, like, 90% yes. It's a big issue in social science: the way you word a poll influences the results more than anything else.

Yarp, I am well aware of that common mistake.
Most people will look at this as a scale and choose which they are leaning most towards, so the only people that choose "no" are the people who actually watch NO TV at all. Sadly, misconceptions like that are hard to fix.

 

[Sarah Frazier]

I used to watch TV all the time, but now I don't even give it a second thought.

 

[Callate]

By your definition, probably not. I watch Netflix a couple of times a week; I occasionally watch Hulu, or particular shows on Comedy Central's website. I occasionally watch educational television on PBS with my daughter, but that's about it.

How could I squander so much time on the forums if I was squandering it watching tv instead?

 

[FireAza]

Nope. If when it comes to choosing between commercial-riddled trash that won't allow me to choose when I want to watch it and won't let me pause either, VS choosing exactly what show I want to watch, when I want to watch it and without commercials, it's no wonder I didn't even plug the aerial into my new TV when I got it a few years ago.

 

[Deadyawn]

I hardly watch tv at all anymore. There's not much on it that I want to watch. Plus the endless adds and mindless dross that passes for entertainment on it make me want to stick my head in a pencil sharpener.

 

[Creator002]

Very rarely, unless you include those transferred to DVD. I watched tennis no less than 30 minutes ago, but I've been on the Escapist with my phone almost that entire time.

 

[Khada]

Not for years and I never will. I watch what I want, when I want, and I get my news from independent sources.

 

[theskadudeguy]

what else are you meant to do with a television? sit on it?

 

[JochemHippie]

Yes, usually the music channels I pay for and toddler television when I'm stoned.

 

[Zing]

I'm going to vote no, even though I do very occasionally, but I don't plan to watch shows like I used too. Occasionally I will turn it on to see if there's some reruns of something I like when I'm bored, but other than that, the convenience of downloading is obviously superior.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Not regularly but I have been known to watch some TV...but recently I've been too busy with Skyrim and, Final Fantasy VII...and Ocarina of Time. The last thing I watched on TV was Arthur yesterday and...shit, probably Superhero Squad a couple of weeks ago.

 

[falcon1985]

Why yes, I do. Until the first 15 minute commercial block, at which point I go into a bloodrage.

 

[TheCruxis]

If im bored and don't feel like gaming or doing anything else on my computer I watch TV, mostly Simpsons or Family Guy or something else not very serious. Sometimes also the occasional criminal drama or historical documentary. But I don't really follow any TV-series. If I want to do that I use the internet instead.

I do watch the news on TV mostly though. I know I can watch them online but its more of a habit. I would like to point out that if I had Netflix then maybe I wouldn't watch TV at all but as far as I know Netflix is thus far only avaliable in North America, UK and Ireland.

 

[wintercoat]

I haven't watched T.V. in about 2 years.