Comments on: Is the Television being phased out of Irish homes? What will we point our furniture at if so?

By: Celine (McMademoiselleLikes)

Celine (McMademoiselleLikes) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:38:10 +0000

Well, I still use my TV… but only because the computer is connected to it, so I can watch everything I downloaded on the TV screen, instead of the computer screen.

By: Kittykat

Kittykat — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:34:14 +0000

Wow, Chris, brave move getting rid of the tv.
I’m not a telly addict and only have the one in the sitting room. Since starting on shiftwork I don’t get to watch much now anyhow and don’t miss it much. Whenever friends come over, the tv is switched off. I think its the height of rudeness to invite people over and expect them to sit there while your glued to whatever soap happens to be on. And I REFUSE to have a tv in the bedroom. The bedroom is strictly for sleeping and sex IMO.

At xmas time I do like to watch my fave xmas movies, but xmas night in my house usually entails the tv being switched off and the Trivial pursuit coming out. There will always be music in the background, but no tv. Oh and plenty of alcohol.

As kids the tv was such an integral part of family life in our house. We all watched Dallas with mam mid week and then Thats Life on a Sunday night with mam and dad. I remember getting hooked on The Thorn Birds and we’d all sit down and watch it religiously every Sunday night. Whenever a sex scene would come on screen I’d usually stand up and rub the hands together with a “right, who wants a cup o tea?” to mask that teenage awkwardness. No teenager ever felt comfortable watching a love scene in the company of their parents

By: gracey

gracey — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:17:17 +0000

Honestly, I rarely watch TV anymore. I much prefer YouTube! I have nearly 400 subscriptions so tons of videos are uploaded daily. Whether its great, TV production quality like sxephil, AwesomenessTV or WIGS, or hilarious skits like CharlesTrippy, KassemG, Smosh, DailyGrace, and ShayCarl or daily vlogs like Shaytards and CTFxC, there’s so much content on YouTube that I much prefer to staged tv. When I’m older I will probably not have a TV, I wouldn’t use it anyway, YouTube is more real, more personal, there’s such interaction between viewers and the youtubers. YouTube is something I truly believe in and too many people don’t realise that there’s top quality content on there!

By: gobo

gobo — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 13:25:34 +0000

Chris- it’s like you are inside my head. The idea of paying one cent towards Ryan Tubridy (and others, but God, I just loathe him) and the shitty programming bugs the hell out of me. And that bloody stupid habit of interrupting movies in the evening for 45 mins of news is infuriating. I do not miss RTE in the slightest.

By: thefrog

thefrog — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 18:33:59 +0000

Thnaks to those who replied on the license thing.
I understand now that there seem to be some sort of strong opposition to RTE which translates into general opposition to the license. While I had read about the wages of the top presenters, I had never realised that people felt so strongly about the quality of the programmes, and the ‘value for money’ they’re getting. It’s not a topic that comes up when I chat to my Irish friends.
Frankly, the value for money analysis never crossed my mind when thinking about French TV (even though I can’t give you the name of any high quality programme on ‘France télévisions’ – our public channels, since I watch mostly the franco-german channel Arte which is funded by both governments, so in a way partly funded by the TV license), but it’s a very interesting way to look at it. I never saw myself as a customer, allowed to ask for quality service.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 16:47:56 +0000

Holy hell I am speechless at the comments! You can survive without your TV? You could sit down at night without the absolute relaxation of both good TV and the trashy rubbish we all watch? Or is that just me?
Right now I am disappointed that the Good Wife is over but looking forward to Homeland. My current secret shame is the Real Housewives – the bitching is so funny!
I catch up online when I have to and I am grateful for the service but I doesnt compare to my TV. I record all my shows and watch them in the evening and totally relax. Eyes and ears are busy so my mind can take a break from the hassles of the day.
Good TV is so much better than many of the movies made today.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 13:20:52 +0000

I got rid of the tv in January and still don’t miss it-would not even consider getting one now. We stream or download all the series that we enjoy watching, and same for movies, or else go to the cinema.

I have never paid a tv licence and would never. I strongly object to subsidising crap RTE and paying crazy crazy wages to Ryan Tubridy, Pat Kenny and the like. There is no good reason on earth that RTE cannot raise revenue from advertising etc, like every other tv station on earth, but the robbing taxpayers blind to subsidise crap State services and pay well over the odds to connected individuals is so ingrained in Ireland it will never change, as we all have collectively have no spines. Won’t feed the beast though! (ok rant over, sorry, have bit of PMT!)

Was so disappointed though-the TV licence inspector actually called to the door TWICE since we had no tv, AND I MISSED HIM BOTH TIMES! It’s the first time I’ve not had a tv and I was so looking forward to inviting him in for a good gander at the no tv in the living room. DAMN!!! COME BACK TV LICENCE MAN! I WILL MAKE YOU SCONES!

By: izo

izo — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 11:00:23 +0000

I had to give tv up about two years ago because I had the most severe insomnia of anyone I know for a few years, and the professional advice was to not look at screens for a few hours before bed. That goes for internet too!

Initially it felt like I was literally sitting there doing nothing in the evenings, really bored.

Now I prefer life without tv. I’ve read some amazing books and I didn’t used to bother reading and I play piano for an hour a day. I keep the house really nice and clean, and I DEFINITELY didn’t used to do that! I’m more inclined to make an effort with dinner and more likely to invite someone over for tea or meet someone for a pint or a random gig in the evening.

It was my own fault, but my weekday evenings didn’t used to feel like time off work at all! I just wasted them. I still really enjoy watching my old shows with my mam when I visit her, but I don’t want to do that every day like she does.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 06:43:41 +0000

Ugh, I have a strong dislike for TVs! To me there’s two occasions on which you’d watch TV: a) you’re watching something you *actually* want to see, in which case I really dislike the ads and the fact that I’m supposed to sit down at a certain time and interrupt what I’m doing in order to watch tv – I really dislike the idea of scheduling my day after the tv program.
2) as background noise/happy moving colours. I have no issue with natural background noise, but TV background noise (and the light colour for that matter) drives me mad. I cannot do it at all. I can’t even be in a room with someone who’s watching TV and not watch doing something else without getting nervous. That’s me being weird, I know that, and I try to be courteous and leave the room.

So no, I don’t have a TV, I’ve actually never had one! Growing up I watched my fair share of TV but I never had one in my room (“Hey Liz, we’re worried you’ll watch too much TV if we put one in your room” – “but… I really don’t watch that much in the first place mum” – “well than you don’t need one now do you!”), and after that I never wanted one. I actually developed a dislike for how livingrooms are often centered around the TV. I’d never tell someone else how to decorate their living room, but it’s just not something I want in *my* livingroom, so I when I moved into a fully furnished apartment in Shanghai I actually asked my landlord to take out the TV. I much rather have the living room sofa/armchairs face each other and the balcony!

I do like movies and certain TV shows, but I just buy them on DVD/blu-ray and watch them on my laptop. That way I don’t have to deal with TV schedules, cliffhangers, and I get lots of fun bonus material and making offs most of the time!

Now, my fiance loves TV! He loves watching sports and he loves watching stuff like American Idol and lots of things… it’s the only thing we absolutely don’t see eye to eye on and we’re always working on finding a solution that we both can live with. I know he wants to watch his sports, but I really hate the idea of him spending 4+ hours in front of the telly when he gets home. Of course he has a massive 3D TV and a home theatre set-up with 3D projector and screen… anyone else would probably be thrilled!

thefrog – we have a law similar to that in Germany too; a tax you pay to the public tv stations that you *have* to pay no matter if you own a TV or not. I actually refuse to pay that because I really don’t want to support our stupid public TV stations and their stupid content! (Sorry if anyone here likes it, I don’t, and I don’t see why I should pay for something I don’t even like!). They send me an angry letter once in a while but so far there have been no consequences. I’m completely prepared to take this to court if need be, because I’m pretty outraged over the whole thing.

By: Therese

Therese — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 00:02:00 +0000

Since moving to Australia we’ve watched less and less telly simply because its soooo awful! The ad breaks are every ten minutes so a 90 minute film takes all night to finish, its ridiculous!
I didn’t want to get into the habit of downloading though as I work in copyright so it would be ruining my own industry to watch stuff illegally!! So now we just wait and buy boxsets of shows we like, sorted! Plus husband got a cable to link the laptop to the telly so we can watch anything he (legally) downloaded on the bigger screen.