Why does everyone think I’m an asshole for not having a TV?
blog.glenelkins.com
blog.glenelkins.com
Not owning a TV doesn't make you an asshole.
Making sure that everyone else knows you don't own a TV is what makes you an asshole.
Speaking as a non-TV owner (and, unlike the author of the block post, someone who doesn't watch it particularly much either), you kind of have to. It's practically a survival skill.
People who do own and watch TV are constantly bringing it up in conversation. Generally, they start by assuming you watch $POPULAR_SHOW[0]. Once they figure out you have no idea what they're talking about, they move on to quizzing you about whether you watch $POPULAR_SHOW[1..7]. After a series of negative replies, they move on to explaining how you simply have to start catching $POPULAR_SHOW[8..13]. By the time they're done, it can easily have been the sole topic of the entire dinner's conversation.
And it's a long, tedious conversation that I've had way too many times. I'm not sure why it has to happen; I don't try to talk computer science with people I know aren't interested in computer science, and it seems like it shouldn't be hard for others to afford me similar courtesy. But it happens, and if it happens much more I just might die of boredom.
So for me, it's much easier to just shut it down by laying it all out there. "Don't watch TV, don't have a TV, don't go to movies, don't have a Netflix account, not interested in getting one." The quizzing usually doesn't end there, because this apparently makes me some sort of sideshow curiosity. But it's usually over with rather more quickly, so that we can sooner move on to a conversation topic that we can both enjoy.
popular(adj) ... "regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general"
> The quizzing usually doesn't end there, because this apparently makes me some sort of sideshow curiosity.
Why are you surprised at that? If you want to be considered part of "people in general", then I'd suggest becoming familiar with a few (self-described) popular shows!
I don't watch much TV, as such. But I've found the best way to exercise is to queue up various series of shows and hit the cardio machine. Usually they're ~40 minutes an episode with ads removed which is a reasonable cardio time. You get a little popular culture and some fitness too. But I'll bet you're about to tell me that those popular cardio machines aren't for you, and you only enjoy exercising by hiking mountain trails :)
If spending my precious free time on an activity that I find to be enormously boring is a condition for being considered a peer by people who're so devoted to an activity that I find to be enormously boring that they're not sure how to interact with me in a way that doesn't revolve around said activity that I find to be enormously boring, then I suppose that's fine. Seems a bit unfortunate that anyone should be so devoted to one thing out of a whole universe of activities and topics, but if they really don't have anything else to talk to me about, then I suppose I probably won't have anything to talk to them about that would interest them, either. :)
You just have a machine that can receive television programs and display them on a nice screen? It kinda sounds like you have a TV.
Why would anyone without a tv be an asshole? We are all born assholes I guess.