arfink Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I was having a conversation with a coworker the other night about TV. She was set on convincing me that TV is worth watching because "there are so many good shows on TV." Now initially I had said that I didn't want to watch TV because 1) there is so much filth and worthless content on TV and 2) because it's a massive waste of my cognitive surplus and free time. She didn't seem to understand, and kept listing off shows that she thinks are good. Now, I'm willing to concede there are some things on TV that might be worth watching. Mythbusters springs immediately to mind, mainly because of the copious quantities of geekyness and explosions. But even so, the amount of time the United States spends watching TV is absurd. If you compare the number of man-hours wasted on TV to things like the total human input of Wikipedia or the amount of time it took us to get to the Moon it's astounding. We could do Wikipedia a thousand times over if nobody watched TV. So, in exasperation, I said: "For me, it's not about whether there is anything good on TV, but whether there is anything [i]better.[/i]" So in this thread I encourage people to list things that are better than wasting time watching TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMcB Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Going for a walk. Tackling chores around the house, so that the house is nice to be in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 (edited) Books. *Edit: Good Books. Edited January 13, 2012 by Amppax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not A Mallard Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Going to Church Receiving Communion Going to Confession Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyAnn Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Going on Phatmass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinytherese Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Having actual conversations, including discussing opinions. I've heard it said that in our culture of "I'm busy with xyz..." that we don't spend as much time working on our relationships and treasuring them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 A million things, but just for starters: Observing the night sky (esp. with a decent instrument) Studying amesome things Contemplating existence and stuff Experiencing nature Gardening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Television can be educational, but the viewer is largely passive while watching TV - you can't interrupt to ask questions, people don't pause to think about something and then go on to the next idea (although they[i] could [/i]if they used Tivo et al). Therefore, anything that's mentally active is better than television - play a musical instrument, draw, tap dance, make cookies with your Granny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthephysicist Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 cooking and/or eating food volleyball hay-rides coloring books dancing board games with Grandpop Church playing the drums petting zoos puzzles making a snowman walking through the woods playing with LEGOs going to the beach wrestling with a friend over something silly (like the last cookie) playing 'dress up' and taking silly pictures Wow, how old am I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maximilianus Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Archery Rifle marksmanship hiking in the woods hiking in the meadows hiking on the beach hiking in the mountains hiking in the hills mountain biking creating a large oil painting of a person hiking in the woods, doing archery or rifle shooting making a sculpture out of anything of a person hiking in the woods, doing archery or rifle shooting making a replica of a famous cathedral out of foam core or toothpicks making a model spanish galleon that actually floats building and flying a RC car, helicpter, boat or plane taking your dog with you when you hike in the woods, meadows, hills or mountains making a fortress out of sofa cushions and defending if from and army of orcs or commies, take your pic, I grew up in the Cold War era. restoring an old car, motorcycle, scooter or moped. building a tree house traveling to obscure places and checking out the Churches and the Catholic scene snorkeling camping in a primitive camp canoeing fishing ... Some of this stuff I have done, some of it just sounds like stuff cooler than watching television. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 reading books (with my children, or by myself) going to the library creating art with my kids jigsaw puzzles!! (I'm a little obsessed with them) surf phatmass journal/blog pray with my kids/by myself watch classic movies (I watched West Side Story the other night! ) take a nap write a letter to a friend to be honest, much of what we watch is PBS - even with a digital TV we only get ABC & the four PBS channels. so either we watch PBS educational stuff, or watch NOVA (they had a great program on last night!). Most tv is complete bunk nowadays, or totally misogynistic and perpetuating absurd attitudes against women...nothing that Catholics should support or watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 You know I DVR'ed a show about this EXACT topic!! I can't wait to watch it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Making music reading the interwebs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
add Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 (edited) surfing Phatmass forum Edited January 13, 2012 by add Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyAnn Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 [quote name='add' timestamp='1326496809' post='2368549'] surfing Phatmass [/quote] Now that's just copying me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now