4 ms·

I know it's in bad sport to point out a straightforward solution that obviates a clever one, but... I find it's more effective simply to not watch TV. Ditch yo

I know it's in bad sport to point out a straightforward solution that obviates a clever one, but... I find it's more effective simply to not watch TV. Ditch your cable, stop imbibing mind poison, and torrent/purchase/stream specific, worthwhile content according to your ethical predispositions. Our population grows ever dumber, ever more apathetic. Mainstream content is optimized around this. Better to opt out of most of it. That said: boy, nothing beats Arduino for rekindling my boyhood sense of magic and imagination. Well, perhaps with the exception of seeing the world through the eyes of David Attenborough.

billybob 15y ago
Ditto. I am happy to say that I'm only vaguely aware of any of the celebs/scandals mentioned, because I don't watch TV. I can't avoid seeing celeb mags in the grocery store checkout line, but I recognize fewer and fewer of the names. Also: although I've seen posters of Bieber, I've never heard him sing. See how nice life can be without TV? Now, if only Adblock Freedom were real: http://chromeadblock.com/freedom/ http://chromeadblock.com/freedom/
- mirkules 15y ago
  In television, like in life, you have to look for the gems that make up quality programming. I recently ran across a show where Stephen Hawking talked about the existence of God and black holes. Awesome program. After the show finished, it was immediately followed by "Axe Men" (or something). Does that mean Discovery channel sucks? Nope. You win some, you lose some. Likewise, I accidentally flipped to a channel with Spanish Flamenco dancing on a public channel, which was so far outside of my normal routine and culturally enriching that I couldn't help but watch. Where people get in trouble is when they use TV as a crutch to live life vicariously instead of using it to enrich their view of the world (or universe). Eleanor Roosevelt once said "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and simple minds discuss people." It's amazing how much more you can get out of television (or life) when you categorize a show into one of those three boxes and select the first one.
  - billybob 15y ago
    Maybe so, but I'm not willing to sift through whatever happens to be playing at any given time, hoping to find something good and likely wasting my time. If all of TV's content were on something like Youtube, I might watch. "Whatever I want, whenever I want" should be the default mode of entertainment in the internet age.
    - mirkules 15y ago
      True, but that's the point of TiVo and DVR
steve-howard 15y ago
While I concur that not watching TV is a decent solution, please don't insult the population. Is mainstream content dumbed down? Certainly. Should people find a way to entertain themselves without passive consumption? Absolutely. But let's not get on a high horse.
- vidar 15y ago
  I think he is rather downplaying the problem, horse or no horse.
- danilocampos 15y ago
  You don't see the entropy I've described? What, exactly, is "insulting" about the observation? I didn't grow up around much money. We weren't poor, because my mom worked her ass off. But most people around me were. They reproduce endlessly, these poor, because poverty, religion and ignorance of birth control are all best friends. Each successive generation ends up just a little more screwed than the last, as pregnancies roll into the mid-teen years, and generations start stacking. Women in their 30's, grandmothers. Financial literacy isn't taught in schools – schools, which, thanks to all this reproduction, are packed to the gills with students who don't focus all that well because they have miserable home lives. They don't learn how to learn. They grow up, work way more jobs than any human being should have to bear at once, entirely robbed of the time needed to broaden their mind and their skills. And this is if they're lucky, and didn't get sucked into gang violence or drug abuse. In aggregate? The population gets dumber because what other outcome can there be from this reality? This is nothing to do with being on a high horse. This is observing that most TV is shit because so much of the population that exists to consume it hasn't had the opportunities to desire anything better.
  - wdewind 15y ago
    Citation needed.
    - danilocampos 15y ago
      c.f. My entire childhood.
jack7890 15y ago
I think you're missing the point here. He isn't actually suggesting this is the best possible solution to the problem. He's just showing off a cool hack and giving it a little backstory for fun.
mixmastamyk 15y ago
Yep, sold my TV in 2004 and don't miss it a bit. We've got free Dvd's from the library and Netflix streaming when we need a movie night. Best part--haven't seen a commercial or heard anything about B. Spears in YEARS. The garbage and corporate agenda eventually clears from the mind.

billybob 15y ago

Ditto. I am happy to say that I'm only vaguely aware of any of the celebs/scandals mentioned, because I don't watch TV. I can't avoid seeing celeb mags in the grocery store checkout line, but I recognize fewer and fewer of the names. Also: although I've seen posters of Bieber, I've never heard him sing. See how nice life can be without TV? Now, if only Adblock Freedom were real: http://chromeadblock.com/freedom/ http://chromeadblock.com/freedom/

mirkules 15y ago
In television, like in life, you have to look for the gems that make up quality programming. I recently ran across a show where Stephen Hawking talked about the existence of God and black holes. Awesome program. After the show finished, it was immediately followed by "Axe Men" (or something). Does that mean Discovery channel sucks? Nope. You win some, you lose some. Likewise, I accidentally flipped to a channel with Spanish Flamenco dancing on a public channel, which was so far outside of my normal routine and culturally enriching that I couldn't help but watch. Where people get in trouble is when they use TV as a crutch to live life vicariously instead of using it to enrich their view of the world (or universe). Eleanor Roosevelt once said "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and simple minds discuss people." It's amazing how much more you can get out of television (or life) when you categorize a show into one of those three boxes and select the first one.
- billybob 15y ago
  Maybe so, but I'm not willing to sift through whatever happens to be playing at any given time, hoping to find something good and likely wasting my time. If all of TV's content were on something like Youtube, I might watch. "Whatever I want, whenever I want" should be the default mode of entertainment in the internet age.
  - mirkules 15y ago
    True, but that's the point of TiVo and DVR

steve-howard 15y ago

While I concur that not watching TV is a decent solution, please don't insult the population. Is mainstream content dumbed down? Certainly. Should people find a way to entertain themselves without passive consumption? Absolutely. But let's not get on a high horse.

vidar 15y ago
I think he is rather downplaying the problem, horse or no horse.
danilocampos 15y ago
You don't see the entropy I've described? What, exactly, is "insulting" about the observation? I didn't grow up around much money. We weren't poor, because my mom worked her ass off. But most people around me were. They reproduce endlessly, these poor, because poverty, religion and ignorance of birth control are all best friends. Each successive generation ends up just a little more screwed than the last, as pregnancies roll into the mid-teen years, and generations start stacking. Women in their 30's, grandmothers. Financial literacy isn't taught in schools – schools, which, thanks to all this reproduction, are packed to the gills with students who don't focus all that well because they have miserable home lives. They don't learn how to learn. They grow up, work way more jobs than any human being should have to bear at once, entirely robbed of the time needed to broaden their mind and their skills. And this is if they're lucky, and didn't get sucked into gang violence or drug abuse. In aggregate? The population gets dumber because what other outcome can there be from this reality? This is nothing to do with being on a high horse. This is observing that most TV is shit because so much of the population that exists to consume it hasn't had the opportunities to desire anything better.
- wdewind 15y ago
  Citation needed.
  - danilocampos 15y ago
    c.f. My entire childhood.

jack7890 15y ago

I think you're missing the point here. He isn't actually suggesting this is the best possible solution to the problem. He's just showing off a cool hack and giving it a little backstory for fun.

mixmastamyk 15y ago

Yep, sold my TV in 2004 and don't miss it a bit. We've got free Dvd's from the library and Netflix streaming when we need a movie night. Best part--haven't seen a commercial or heard anything about B. Spears in YEARS. The garbage and corporate agenda eventually clears from the mind.