Yeah I feel like it differs by generation in Russia as well. My parents' generation and older would often have either TV or radio on in the background most of the time. My generation mostly considers the mere act of watching broadcast television a sin because of how much propaganda there is and how much more useful content, available on demand, is out there on the internet anyway. Those who do own a TV often use it as a big display for streaming/torrented movies and/or console games, with the antenna cable often not even connected.

It's the same in my family, with one exception. We sometimes do have TV on in the background, but the only permitted channel is TV Kultura -- news about art, museums, exhibitions, theatre, humanities, arthouse cinema, etc.

It seems to be generational in the USA too. My parents and in-laws have the TV on in the background constantly. We, and our friends, never have it on unless specifically watching something. But, we are on our phones constantly. I feel like we’ve replaced one background media/entertainment device with a different one.

I'm 30 and have a tv and Bluetooth speaker in every room. Both me and my wife get anxious in silence. We do retreat to the bedroom if we need silence though. Our puppy seemed to have figured out the same... We used to think she did it when she was sick, but it became a pattern and seems to be her way to tune out the world.

The best way I can describe the effect of silence is like what brains do in extreme sensory deprivation: they begin imagining and hallucinating external stimulus. Silence makes my internal stream of consciousness stark. It is severe to the point of causing me decades of insomnia. As soon as I lay in bed, if I don't have white noise or otherwise, the recursive nature of my thoughts spirals immediately into existential panic.

Anyways, I love TV.

Depending on TVs to save you from existential panic doesn’t seem like a sustainable solution.

If you have a sustainable solution to provide you'll be rich. I default to squelching thoughts of my mortality. That is at the top of the list of mental frames that have improved my life. I otherwise lived in constant existential panic from the ages of 12 to 25. Thanks a lot Nietzsche...

What works for me is negative visualization. Thinking of the worst possible thing that can happen, and how I'd feel in that situation. It's kind of like exposure therapy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_visualization

Have you tried psilocybin? The dissociative state could help you realize that are more than your ego.

You are not one but many, and the ego is truly the only thing that dies in death we fear.

Several trips. Microdosing for weeks. It helped me understand Alan Watts. No real impact on the existential terror thing.

Active stoicism worked for me. I think only ryan holiday is getting rich from it though.

I had the same issue I think, struggled with it up to around 25 when a doctor asked me to try melatonin.

It actually changed my life, now I can sleep and be like a normal person. I used to joke that I was a C-type person (instead of A/B) when it comes to sleep.

Meditation

I thought so too. I have at least 150 hrs of meditation under my belt. I can't say I'm worse or better, just another silly thing for my ego to carry around.

Take it from me. Ignoring your mortality is a lot easier.

150 hours over how long time? Those who aren't "naturals" may need more than that to "get it" and start seeing benefits (coming from someone who after several attempts in various forms finally "broke through", in lack of better words, on day ~6 of a 10 day Goenka-Vipassana retreat. That'd be ~10 h / day during that time).

After that I was able to do 30-60 minute sittings at home and experience the associated change. If you're also a very cerebral person you may also need a similarly concentrated "boot camp" or similar to get to some base level.

In a similar vein, if someone has extremely weak physique, it's not really convincing when they claim that physical exercise doesn't work for them, as they did spend 150h at the gym machines ;)

That's a great point. I guess hype made my expectations unrealistic. I have it on my to-do list to get the habit going again. I'll try this weekend!

I've wanted to do a retreat very badly. I would need to work to organize my current world to fit it in but it's something I have in the back of my mind.

You may want to experiment with your diet.

I have a thing where I get weird anxiety ~18hr after I eat pasta, maybe you get something similar.

If your anxeity has a biological cause (ie excess cortisol or something), then modulating what you put into your body may help.

Or maybe you just need to accept that every moment might be your last and try to enjoy it. :)

I'm in my 30s and I went through the phase of watching a lot of TV as a teen, then not watching at all in my 20s and not owning a TV for many years, and now I'm back at moderately watching TV everyday. There're several pros of TV compared to streaming: you turn it on and there's immediately something playing, if it's not interesting you just change the channel (I hate scrolling through stuff on a streaming service and getting stressed that I can't find anything interesting and just wasting time), there're many movies I would never watch otherwise but sometimes you just leave something on because "there's nothing better to watch" and it turns out to be a great movie, there's also many classic movies and TV series that are hard to find online, even "trash" daytime TV shows sometimes are fun to watch if you just want to "reset" your mind :-)

Yes. I missed putting on the History channel and just letting it run all day and night. Pluto TV made that possible again and it's free. RiffTrax, MST3K, Pluto History, Pluto Science, and on and on. I hat the stress of trying to figure out what to watch on demand.

I get anxious with noise around, especially TV. My brain generates plenty of stimuli all on its own, no need to add more ;)

I have the opposite problem and need some background noise in order to stay focused. That said, I can't use TV as background noise unless it is something I have zero interest in. The visual component is too distracting, so I tend to use music instead.

Brains are weird.

That's funny, I've always hated it when someone turned on the TV or put on some music in the same room as me because it disturbed my inner monologue.

My inner monologue is only there to say disturbing things, so it's nice to drown it out.

Try meditating. Learn to let the thoughts wash over you.

That's not always good advice, particularly for folks who experience depression and anxiety...

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medici...

Agree for the generational thing. At my dad's place the TV is always on, at ours only if we're watching something.

But if you don't turn your TV on at all, I have to ask - where do you watch Netflix et al? Or you simply don't?

I think it's just a semantic thing. Everyone watches TV, but a subset likes to describe themselves as not having/watching TV on an extremely pedantic technicality.

I am 50 and have never owned a television myself.

I have never had a Netflix account.

At this point, I have been offered pretty nice TVs for free more than once.

If you really get use to living without a TV though it feels like it has negative value to have one IMO. Even more now with Netflix and long binge watch series with disappointing endings.

Of course, I don't get to participate in the conversations about how much show X ending sucked after wasting a week of my life on it.

Forgive me if I put no stock in your opinions on tv quality when you don't watch any.

Before I had a smartphone and a TV, I was much more physically active and got a lot more done on hobby projects. The 'quality' of TV programming is inarguable; if that's a net positive is debatable. The quality of carfentanyl is amazing, from what I hear...

Curious how you fill your time without TV. Also, do you consider others to be wasting their time for making a different choice?

not the OP, but I ride my bike (indoors or outdoors, mostly indoors now because riding outdoors around here is dangerous, even for me), lift weights, read Reddit (my front page is super curated; mostly niche subs, none of the huge ones), go to breweries/bars/restaurants, find things to do in the city, code, and write on my blog.

i do think that TV is fine in moderation like everything else, but, like social media and video games, overconsumption is socially normalized. putting off work and keeping yourself healthy for shows or endless scrolling isn’t okay IMO.

Owning a "TV" is really irrelevant. I know plenty of people that only own a iPhone. Yet they watch hours of Netflix, AppleTV, YouTube on it.

If you don't watch anything on whatever you're using to post your messages to HN then fine but if you do then you're still "watching TV" for all intents and purposes.

He he, the only reason I have a TV in the first place (plus two in storage) is because my dad keeps replacing his (because of some tiny new feature) and I find it a waste to throw out a perfectly good panel.

Have you ever watched a YouTube video?

TV is changing meaning.

It used to be synchronous broadcast on a schedule, on a channel chosen from a small selection. If you watched TV, you could be reasonably expected to talk about the thing that was on last night.

With on demand, scheduled releases etc. it's much less well defined. If you only watch movies on Netflix, it's probably not "TV" as a cultural artifact, but if you're watching the latest Star Wars or Marvel series on Disney, then probably you are, despite there being little difference in technology.

There's TV the device and TV the specific way and content to watch. Of friends our age, precisely zero have the latter. The device about half have I think. Which is very different from our parents generation, where everyone has both.

Yeah, maybe I'm closer to your parents' generation, maybe broadcast TV is still better enough in the UK that it's worth watching — I still do. Obviously, I recognise your point about younger people watching less broadcast.

I don't have "TV" in the sense that I can't watch e.g. live sports. But I have a couple large screens in the house that I can use to stream e.g. Netflix (or I can just watch it on a tablet or PC). I'm not sure it's really that pedantic. "No I won't be watching the game because I don't have TV." (Though if you had YouTube TV, that's getting into pedantic territory.)

Right, if your response to "are you watching the game?" is "no, I can't watch it", fair enough. My scorn is more reserved for people who willingly volunteer the "I don't have a TV" information as some kind of 'badge of honour', yet they watch five hours of Netflix on their laptop every evening.

Especially when they do have a TV. In the Us at least TV refers to those large screens the broadcast system is referred to as cable or satellite, which it is true very few people have these days.

Oh I agree. For me it was a purely financial decision of "Should I keep paying $100/month for this service I haven't used in weeks or should I put some of it towards another streaming service or two?" And, while I'd like to have it every now and then for live sports, that's not worth $1000/year to me.

Where is the "pedantic technicality" though? Looks more like a continuum to me.

Consider, here are some activities I do, which of them are you sure is "watching TV" and which aren't? Is it such a clear bright line?

* I watch "Only Connect" - a very difficult BBC Two quiz show - on the iPlayer web site. There aren't any adverts of course because it's the BBC, but this was made to be shown on a broadcast TV channel even if I haven't watched it that way for years.

* I watch the Two Ronnies "Mastermind" sketch on Youtube. Once again this was made to be shown on broadcast TV, decades ago, as part of an episodic show - but now this is just one sketch

* I re-watch the final sale decision scene from The Big Short on Youtube. The Big Short is a movie, this was never made for broadcast TV, and all I'm watching is one clip from a much longer work.

* I watch previews of a friend's review of the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Most of these were movies. (but there is a TV series) and he doesn't include clips but he does talk about them. This will eventually be a Youtube video, but I'm watching the preview.

* I watch an SC2 AI Arena playback of a match that happened recently between two AIs. It's video, at least by the time it reaches me, but it was never intended to be broadcast anywhere, many of these videos are never watched by anyone they're generated automatically so why not.

* I play a video game with an FMV cut scene, such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

* I play another video game with a cut scene but it's in-engine using the game's 3D assets, such as GTA3.

* I join a Teams call with colleagues to discuss progress on our main Project

* I watch a rather hypnotic screensaver of overlapping fractal shapes.

* I read a web page with some simple animated multi-step tutorials. Is it important whether they're animated with Javascript, GIFs or MPEG video?

* I read this comment on Hacker News.

I guess the specific "pedantic technicality" I was thinking of was the "I watch Netflix on a big screen in the corner of my room, but I don't have TV". I get why, in a very limited number of scenarios, that might be useful or interesting information, but a huge amount of the time it isn't.

See, I think the pedantic technicality is the other way around -- that is, saying "Well you're watching this movie on Netflix on a big screen, so that counts as TV." It feels a bit like mocking someone for claiming that the New York Times isn't a novel when they're both things you read off folded paper in your living room. When people say that watching Netflix on a big screen in the corner of their room isn't TV, they're using 'TV' to refer to a medium defined by a fixed programme of highly-scheduled and localized broadcasts. I think that's a much more useful definition than "TV is what you watch on a big screen in your room", because that medium has very unique and distinct features, frequently contains very different types of content, shapes its content differently, and is often consumed very differently. Why isn't going to the movies or playing Charlie Got My Finger on your phone counted as watching TV? Is it the screen size? The location? Or the difference between playing a specific video you've requested and tuning into a schedule of programs being broadcast to the entire region?

I agree with that. Watching YouTube TV on your phone feels a lot closer to watching TV than playing streaming or DVD movies on a big screen.

Is the difference between making a website using Wordpress and building one using React/Node etc just a pedantic technicality on account of both groups building websites? No of course not, they are two very different processes that are only tangentially related.

I watch tv shows on streaming services with no commercials, on demand when I want to, and only when it’s an ‘event’ where we plan to focus on the story being delivered. My father watches broadcast television, flipping channels regularly, leaves the commercials on half the time, and always has the tv blaring in the background the entire time we are at his house even for hours at a time and during a holiday gathering.

You can be negative and try to classify the difference between us as a pedantic technicality or you can join the conversation about this interesting and seemingly generational difference in what it means to “watch tv”.

If I listen to podcast videos (in car or video hidden), do I still watch TV or listen to radio? And if those are niche podcasts that wouldn’t make it to broadcast services.

"Everyone watches TV"

No

It's amazing how normalized tv watching is for some people. It's as expected as the sun rising or setting. My kid broke the family tv out of anger 4-5 years ago. We simply never replaced it as a natural consequence. We also stopped watching broadcast television sometime shortly after Lost's imfamously poor ending.

There are some situations where I come in contact with televisions today. They make me feel frustrated because they sap away my attention. I read more, I do hobbies, and I spend more time with people and have better relationships. It feels like an easy trade-off.

i’ve gotten scolded by my parents for not wanting to watch TV with them. my dad and siblings usually insisted on having the TV on while eating dinner, much to my mom’s frustration.

i remember one time specifically when my family was all watching “House” (super popular TV show on FOX back in 2004-ish?). I think I wanted to use my laptop or something; don’t remember. My parents got really mad at me, insisting that I watch with them. Ended up doing so, begrudgingly. I get why they did that (family time) but I didn’t like that our family time was spent in front of a screen.

> There are some situations where I come in contact with televisions today. They make me feel frustrated because they sap away my attention.

YES! I can hate watching TV and be angrily fixated on it when at a bar at the same time. My wife doesn’t get it lol

Sorry, I find this funny though I can relate. Not wanting to spend "family time" in front of a screen when your preferred alternative is to work/play in front of a screen.

lol @ “everyone”

i don’t watch TV on my own accord. usually with my wife (when she wants to watch something) or when i’m forced to while at a bar or restaurant (many bars, especially around here in southwest Texas, have MANY TVs, almost all of them tuned to some variant of sportsball). when i travel by myself, the tv in the hotel room never turns on, for example.

sorry if this comes off as me being vain; I never tell anyone and having a soapbox to finally talk about it is awesome!

i’ve only been to Europe once so far (Barcelona) and restaurants and bars without TV was one of my favorite things ever. this experience only exists in big cities.

however, netflix, hulu, and youtube premium probably think differently of me lol (i pay for these services but my wife consumes them)

I watch movies pretty much only at local film festivals. Pre-corona it was 2-3 movies twice a year since my city has sweet spring and late fall festivals. During corona festivals moved online and I watched a movie from each festival on laptop. Hopefully masks-in-cinemas will be over by the time spring festival rolls in!

Last series I followed was Breaking Bad. Used to torrent it and watch on laptop screen.

> But if you don't turn your TV on at all, I have to ask - where do you watch Netflix et al?

I watch video content on my 15.6" laptop with a retina display. The picture is subjectively larger, brighter, and sharper than on a TV because it's closer to my eyes. It's like in a movie theater but with lots of privacy. So I prefer it this way. I would turn on a TV only if I'd want to watch something with another person, I guess.

> But if you don't turn your TV on at all, I have to ask - where do you watch Netflix et al? Or you simply don't?

Don't even own a TV. I own a projector / home cinema. I think it beats the shit out of a TV big times. I much prefer the "feel" of a projector compared to these 4K TVs or whatnots. When we turn the projector on, it's to really watch something, not as background noise.

Same for me, but it's still in the continuum of TV watching like the other person said. I don't have TV the device, or broadcast receiving capability, but I still watch TV shows not that much unlike the normal definition of TV use.

We've a laptop in our bedroom, which is very intentionally a small screen. It's pretty variable how much we watch there.

Netflix on smartphone, second monitor, and my daughter watches it on TV (via an Nvidia Shield TV so arguable a computer).

Mid-40s, British family, living in the US since the 80s. We had the TV on most afternoons/evenings, lots of evening news, then sitcoms. But, it went off for dinner (as a family at the kitchen table), off for homework, off at bed (and no TV in rooms), and definitely off if guests were visiting (and not there for a big game).