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For me, this whole thing has had a positive experience on my life. I can't be bothered dealing with the different streaming services and incompatible devices, I

For me, this whole thing has had a positive experience on my life. I can't be bothered dealing with the different streaming services and incompatible devices, I decided a while back I wasn't going to pirate things any more, so I just end up not watching things. I used to watch a lot of things. Even if it was just to have something on in the background. I haven't really done that for years now and my interest is pretty much gone now. Reading people's experiences with these services and devices just sort reaffirms my decision to just not bother with movies and tv shows any more.

iforgotpassword 8y ago
Same for me. Hardly watch anything nowadays. I used to watch prime in kodi when that still worked reliably in 2014(?) and stopped bothering after they put an end to this. I actually still have prime but never use it for anything but free shipping. Should I feel the urge to watch a movie at home once a year or so I just pirate it so I can play it back on kodi.
- alecco 8y ago
  Yep. Good audiobooks and podcasts are better for you, anyway.
  - overgard 8y ago
    Better for you in what way? Why should removing the video component implicitly improve things? If you're talking content; presumably a documentary can be just as enlightening as a podcast or an audiobook...
    - richk449 8y ago
      If you genuinely want an answer to this, read Amusing Ourselves To Death. Postman presents a very convincing case that the medium (tv, book, radio, etc.) has a very strong influence on the content that is presented, and the discourse that ensues. I don’t think that all television is worthless, but neither do I believe that all information forms are equivalent in their ability inform and enlighten.
      - overgard 8y ago
        I'll read that. I have no doubt that medium tends to have a dramatic effect, but I don't see how a medium that requires more attention (say a documentary) is worse than a medium that requires less (a podcast). Of course a book requires the most attention; but that also presents the largest obstacle -- especially if you don't have the time/energy to invest but are otherwise interested in the subject. I guess I don't disagree with you, I just disagree with the people that think not watching things is some sort of badge of honor. I'd also point out that the Postman book was written in 1985, and TV/Movies then vs now with the choices and streaming and the improvement in the medium, I mean, it's not even close to the same thing.
        richk449 8y ago
        > I'd also point out that the Postman book was written in 1985, and TV/Movies then vs now with the choices and streaming and the improvement in the medium, I mean, it's not even close to the same thing. Very true. And that is part of what makes the book so impressive. It is the most prescient piece of writing that I have ever read, in how well it predicts our current politics, and to a lesser degreee, society. The book does not argue that tv is dumb, and watching it makes you dumb. The argument is more that the structure of tv tends to favor the types of content that aren’t good for society. Even though social media wasn’t around when the book was written, the analysis can easily be extended to provide a lot of insight into its effects on society. I’m not saying not to watch tv - I watch plenty of it myself. I’m just (poorly) trying to answer your question about why a documentary would be any worse than a podcast.
jwr 8y ago
I find it amusing that this approach will likely be classified as "sales lost to piracy" in whining reports from the media industry :-)
overgard 8y ago
I don't necessarily mean this as a criticism of you, because you should spend time how it best suits you, but I feel like there's this meme that watching things is a waste of time. To me, I don't buy it. Certainly some things are a waste of time, but there's also absolutely a lot of excellent things that are entirely worth watching and will better you. I guess I just get annoyed by the, somewhat smug, "I don't watch TV crowd". If that's your jam that's fine, I just don't think it's implicitly a good thing or a bad thing.
- blfr 8y ago
  there's also absolutely a lot of excellent things that are entirely worth watching and will better you Name two. I'm very sceptical of the idea of being bettered by watching in general.
  - mruts 8y ago
    I watch movies with my wife and we talk about the good ones for years. Watching good content is stimulating and makes you think about it for the rest of your life.
  - overgard 8y ago
    I could name far more! Cosmos? Planet Earth? Or what about the myriad of documentaries you can find? Or shows about history? I suppose this also depends on if you think fiction betters you as a person (I don't think the medium you receive it in matters all that much; so I don't think you need to read a thick russian novel). If you don't; I guess I just fundamentally disagree with you, and in a way, I almost feel sad on your behalf. Almost all of human morals and values, not to mention deep life lessons, have historically been taught through fiction. If you do, then obviously there's a lot of EXCELLENT fiction on TV, shows like Breaking Bad, or Mad Men. Or recent shows like Barry. Those shows rival even large novels in the amount of time it takes to consume them and what they can say, and they even have the advantage of being able to take advantage of music and filmography to set moods and make points that books cannot (books of course also have their own set of advantage, I'm not trashing them)
mattnewport 8y ago
This has pretty much been my response at this point too. I was an early DVR adopter, then an early cable cutter and Netflix user, now I have no TV and no subscriptions to any of these services and am happier for it.

iforgotpassword 8y ago

Same for me. Hardly watch anything nowadays. I used to watch prime in kodi when that still worked reliably in 2014(?) and stopped bothering after they put an end to this. I actually still have prime but never use it for anything but free shipping. Should I feel the urge to watch a movie at home once a year or so I just pirate it so I can play it back on kodi.

alecco 8y ago
Yep. Good audiobooks and podcasts are better for you, anyway.
- overgard 8y ago
  Better for you in what way? Why should removing the video component implicitly improve things? If you're talking content; presumably a documentary can be just as enlightening as a podcast or an audiobook...
  - richk449 8y ago
    If you genuinely want an answer to this, read Amusing Ourselves To Death. Postman presents a very convincing case that the medium (tv, book, radio, etc.) has a very strong influence on the content that is presented, and the discourse that ensues. I don’t think that all television is worthless, but neither do I believe that all information forms are equivalent in their ability inform and enlighten.
    - overgard 8y ago
      I'll read that. I have no doubt that medium tends to have a dramatic effect, but I don't see how a medium that requires more attention (say a documentary) is worse than a medium that requires less (a podcast). Of course a book requires the most attention; but that also presents the largest obstacle -- especially if you don't have the time/energy to invest but are otherwise interested in the subject. I guess I don't disagree with you, I just disagree with the people that think not watching things is some sort of badge of honor. I'd also point out that the Postman book was written in 1985, and TV/Movies then vs now with the choices and streaming and the improvement in the medium, I mean, it's not even close to the same thing.
      - richk449 8y ago
        > I'd also point out that the Postman book was written in 1985, and TV/Movies then vs now with the choices and streaming and the improvement in the medium, I mean, it's not even close to the same thing. Very true. And that is part of what makes the book so impressive. It is the most prescient piece of writing that I have ever read, in how well it predicts our current politics, and to a lesser degreee, society. The book does not argue that tv is dumb, and watching it makes you dumb. The argument is more that the structure of tv tends to favor the types of content that aren’t good for society. Even though social media wasn’t around when the book was written, the analysis can easily be extended to provide a lot of insight into its effects on society. I’m not saying not to watch tv - I watch plenty of it myself. I’m just (poorly) trying to answer your question about why a documentary would be any worse than a podcast.

jwr 8y ago

I find it amusing that this approach will likely be classified as "sales lost to piracy" in whining reports from the media industry :-)

overgard 8y ago

I don't necessarily mean this as a criticism of you, because you should spend time how it best suits you, but I feel like there's this meme that watching things is a waste of time. To me, I don't buy it. Certainly some things are a waste of time, but there's also absolutely a lot of excellent things that are entirely worth watching and will better you. I guess I just get annoyed by the, somewhat smug, "I don't watch TV crowd". If that's your jam that's fine, I just don't think it's implicitly a good thing or a bad thing.

blfr 8y ago
there's also absolutely a lot of excellent things that are entirely worth watching and will better you Name two. I'm very sceptical of the idea of being bettered by watching in general.
- mruts 8y ago
  I watch movies with my wife and we talk about the good ones for years. Watching good content is stimulating and makes you think about it for the rest of your life.
- overgard 8y ago
  I could name far more! Cosmos? Planet Earth? Or what about the myriad of documentaries you can find? Or shows about history? I suppose this also depends on if you think fiction betters you as a person (I don't think the medium you receive it in matters all that much; so I don't think you need to read a thick russian novel). If you don't; I guess I just fundamentally disagree with you, and in a way, I almost feel sad on your behalf. Almost all of human morals and values, not to mention deep life lessons, have historically been taught through fiction. If you do, then obviously there's a lot of EXCELLENT fiction on TV, shows like Breaking Bad, or Mad Men. Or recent shows like Barry. Those shows rival even large novels in the amount of time it takes to consume them and what they can say, and they even have the advantage of being able to take advantage of music and filmography to set moods and make points that books cannot (books of course also have their own set of advantage, I'm not trashing them)

mattnewport 8y ago

This has pretty much been my response at this point too. I was an early DVR adopter, then an early cable cutter and Netflix user, now I have no TV and no subscriptions to any of these services and am happier for it.