My Life With No TVs
By: Steven Douglas
Tags: TV Series, Housing, Architecture, Creativity, TV

My Life With No TVs

Before coming to Boulder, I lived in Los Angeles in a house with three other guys. I was in that house for upwards of three years, with a TV in just about every room. A big TV in the living room and smaller TVs in three out of the four bedrooms, all of which were mounted on the wall.

Personally, I am not a big sports fan. I’ll play it and watch it from time to time as I like competition, but I’d rather do other things than watch sports on TV. My roommates would have some kind of sport playing on the TV nearly every waking moment they were home. It wasn’t terrible, and I didn’t mind it horribly, but after a while, it got old (Mike, Tyler, if you’re somehow reading this, you know I love you guys).

I rarely watched TV in my room, but I watched quite a bit of video content on my phone. When I did turn on the big screen, I’d put on a movie, mindless show, or a music documentary.

I moved to Boulder in late August of this year. I found my roommates on a Facebook group and had very little idea of what to expect of the living situation before moving in. My new house has no TVs. Not one. Now you can’t deny, in 2019, this is a strange concept. It’s rare.

TVs first started to become popular in the 1950s, with the number of households with TVs being 4 million. In 2019, there are 120 million. In 2018, it was estimated that there are about 128 million households in the US. That’s less than 1% (~0.94%) of all households in the United States that don’t have a TV. That’s a pretty stunning statistic. I’d like to reflect on the pros and cons of being part of that 1%.

Pros of No TV

It leaves much more room for conversation. I come home from the studio every day and have a pleasant conversation with my roommates with no distraction from a TV. If a TV was playing I’d be fearful I was interrupting their watching.

One less distraction for someone with already poor focus. Looking at my living room area now and seeing it TV-less, it’s quite freeing. Relaxing in a way, peaceful. Granted, I’m typing on a screen right now, but you get the idea. If it were there, I’d always be passing by it, teasing me with its eerie blackness.

More time for other activities. Reading, going outside, doing work, the list goes on. All that time has to go somewhere.

Save money. No paying for subscription services and lower electricity bill. Can’t be mad about that.

Honestly, our house doesn’t really have a proper space for a TV anyway. The only wall that could hold it is taken up by a massive fireplace in the center of the living room. If we were forced to put it somewhere, the only logical place would be above that fireplace and it’d have to be quite small and we’d break out necks because of how high it would be on the wall.

A glimpse into our TV-less living room

Cons of No TV

I can’t watch the newest episode of Bachelor in Paradise. This is a crying shame, but I think I’ll live for now.

More focus on other devices. Like a good majority of Americans, I can admit I have a screen addiction. I hate it, but it is what it is. I’ve been trying to be better. Now that my life doesn’t have a TV, I might spend more time on my phone. I can’t confirm this as I don’t have any proper data. It’s better than watching TV and being on my phone at the same time I guess.

Conclusion

I’d like to add to this that before coming to Boulder I really didn’t watch too many shows or TV in general so this wasn’t a massive switch for me. I’m not really invested in any shows. I want to see a movie, I’ll go to the theaters.

Based on this pros and cons list, it looks like the pros out-weight the cons. Would I say I’m happier because of it? Maybe. Would I recommend it to someone else? Sure. If you think you can survive without your shows go for it. Try it for a month or so, see what happens. Join me in that 1% #hipster.