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Comment by rcurry | Hacker News Reader

My parents never let us have a television except for around Christmas. My dad would buy a cheap TV set and we’d watch holiday movies but after Christmas it went in the trash. We amused ourselves by playing Star Wars in the yard with hockey sticks for light sabers. I’ve fought Darth Vader (my brother) more times than I care to remember and sure got a lot of bruises in the process.

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Your dad would spend hundreds of dollars on a TV set every year and then throw it in the trash after a couple of weeks???

That sounds insane.

Yeah he was a scientist and a total madman. He thought TV was unhealthy and made us read books instead. I ended up working at an investment bank.

He did teach me to how to brew beer though, so his Phd wasn’t a total loss for us kids.

But why break his standards at Christmas time?

Because exceptions don’t form habits? I don’t get my kids presents constantly, but I will on Christmas. There is also a pretty clear difference between watching miracle on 34th street vs whatever schlock happens to be on.

This.

I dunno, I guess because he was my Dad, and that’s good enough for me.

When did a "cheap TV" cost hundreds of dollars? Seems more likely it was something closer to an 80 dollar thrift store TV that returned to the thrift store in January.

The 80s!

In the 80s (at least the late 80s) you could get 13” TVs at a thrift store or garage sale fairly cheaply. Probably B&W though.

fascinating; do you have a family of your own? Did you try to emulate this approach? If yes then what were your results?

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