Are we very unusual no tv

My DH watches far more TV than me but we do join for a shared film or TV series (such as the wonderful Wolf Hall which sent us on a trail of Tudor films). Otherwise I tend to read or potter.

I do like a TV because it has a big screen and you can snuggle down in an armchair / sofa, rather than squint at a laptop screen which is less easy and comfortable for shared viewing.

I take TV-viewing very seriously - when I watch, it's with my full focus, no scrolling phones for example! But I'm very discerning; it's never been as background noise.

when our kids were young our tv broke down and we did not get a new one for 2 years! we spent evenings doing arts and crafts and reading, precious memories instead of being hypnotised by the tv screen,

I wouldn’t like to be without a tv. Yes, there certainly are some programmes that hold absolutely no interest for me, but there are other programmes that do.
Each to their own.

Do think some people don't understand the rules of a TV licence

*When You Don't Need a Licence:
You don't need a TV Licence if you only watch on-demand or catch-up programs on services other than BBC iPlayer, and you never watch live TV on any channel, pay TV service, or streaming service, including recording or downloading

if you use iPlayer you need a licence

Has anyone said differently Tizliz¿

Mainly turn tv on for News & watch occasional Ancient History programmes but not much else! Have the radio on all day & do read far too much. Can lose myself in a book the way my ex used to lose himself in tv game shows! If I did not have a tv I would catch up with news on the radio as now or online!

When I first moved into my present adress eleven years ago I didn't have a TV set (my ex got that in our divorce) but there was still a record of there being a TV licence at this adrtess. But the TV licening authority refused to believe me when I told them I personally didn't have a TV licence because I personally didn't have a TV set. They actually sent round an inspector who demanded proof of my TV licence so I showd him inside the flat, where he could clearly see there was no TV set.

My daughter and son-in-law did buy me a small TV set after I'd lied here a couple of year and I made sure to get a licence for it, with payments being made by direct debit from my bank account.

Lately there doesn't seem to be much on TV that I want to watch and as I get my entertainment from the internet and my DVD collection I'm considering getting rid of my TV set. My only problem is whether I sould try to sell my TV or just dump it - what do other Gransnetters think?

You might get a tenner if it's fairly new and you sell it on Facebook Marketplace cobden but in this area, 50" plasma HTVs are often offered for sale for only £40 or £50. I've even seen them offered for free on Gumtree but it's worth a try.

petra

I’m trying to remember being without a tv. My parents rented the first one for the coronation in 1953, I was 7.

Snap, Petra! Exactly what happened to me at exactly the same age! I was absolutely riveted to it. My dad went one step further and bought a big lumpy magnifying screen thing that fitted over the screen somehow. (I was too young to take the details of this in properly, so apologies). I just remember it was very small and we sat very close to the tv to be able to see properly.
After a few months, this screen got more and more yellow until it was almost brown and we could see practically nothing! Mum put her foot down, and it went!

Yes unusual and tbh I think you’re missing out. There’s been some really fantastic series and movies recently.

Coconutty

Yes unusual and tbh I think you’re missing out. There’s been some really fantastic series and movies recently.

But that assumes you are interested in series and movies.

I have never been a tv viewer. my parents got a tv in the mid 50s and except for one or two specific programmes, I never watched it, neither did my sisters.

Our DM became a regular evening tv watcher and used to complain that her three children spent all their time elsewhere in the house, to which our response was always 'We avoid the living room because the tv is always on'.

Some of us are just not sitters and watchers, If we sit we read or sew or listen to music - or talk to other members of the family.

We don’t sit and watch in silence we chat, I do my cross-stitch etc etc

Good on you is what I say! It's becoming less unusual now not to have a TV. I know and have known several people who won't have them.

I can't stand them and refuse to have them, I won't pay a whopping £169.50/£57.00 to keep Katie Price, Ant & Dec, Gary Lineker etc etc. in the lap of luxury!

So many films, shows, soaps, ''reality'' and so on are obsessed with sex scenes and f-bombs, there's even swearing and sex scenes in Discovery and Picard now, which I won't watch.

''Sod it, oh poo'' and so on I don't have any trouble with but I don't want to be blasted with f-words and porno!

I too get the nasty menacing letters from the TV Mafia threatening to break into my house and check for TV's but I totally ignore them and I burn the mail because if they break in after I've repeatedly told them I won't have a TV/license/other license stuff I'll drag them through every court in the land and plaster them all over the press and social media!

In hotels and B&B's etc. I always cover the TV with a sheet or something, I can't abide having them anywhere near me!

I watch free films on YouTube!

We have TVs, on often for news and sports. I tend to not look at TV, just hear the news and the noise in stadiums. Our GC and GGC are not typically TV children - but they occasionally watch.

Each to their own.