For no particular reason (well, other than that I'm really, really sick of commercials), I didn't set up my TV after I moved in 2014. Haven't had a TV since.
In my experience, most people who eschew TV still watch and like moving pictures of some sort, however they get it. For example, I have a good friend who hasn't watched any TV since the 1970s, but he loves movies.
And sure enough, I've noticed that I sometimes get sucked in to power-watching YouTube videos one after the other, whether it's standup comics, amateur lens reviews, or binge-watching the world's limited supply of C.G.P. Grey videos one after another (see in particular his delightful explanation about how Americans elect a president, which, if you don't know all about the Electoral College yet, will boggle your reasonable, sensible mind). C.G.P. talks fast, which is one reason I like him. Most video moves too slowly for me.
A reader who works for YouTube recently sent links to two YouTube videos about YouTube:
What Does YouTube Do To Your Video After You Upload it?
And
What Actually Happens When You Watch A Youtube Video?
She noted that her tip was not an official Google reachout; she just thought TOP readers might be interested. I was, anyway.
(I don't know what you think, but I think this is on-topic, because so many cameras shoot video now. I'm not a video shooter who uploads to YouTube—although I've done it once or twice—but that doesn't mean you aren't.)
Mike
(Thanks to Laura Majerus)
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Mike, if you like Grey's videos, check out the podcasts Hello Internet and Cortex. They're good for listening while working on something else, provided you can work while someone is talking. Probably not the best thing for writing, but maybe while out shooting.
http://www.hellointernet.fm/
https://www.relay.fm/cortex
Posted by: Mark Hesseltine | Monday, 29 August 2016 at 10:51 PM
I agree completely when you say you can not abide commercials on television. I adore the Olympics and I watch many events in the recently ended Rio games. But the only way it was possible was to record hours and hours on my Tivo and then watch only what I wished to while zipping past all the commercials. That Tivo made it feasible for me to enjoy my favorite sports. I love my Tivo and if that technology didn't exist I to would give up on regular TV.
Posted by: Marvin Van Drunen | Monday, 29 August 2016 at 10:53 PM
Maybe those GGP Grey videos are good but I shall never see them as they have 20+ seconds of unskippable ads at the start of the few I checked!
Posted by: Richard Parkin | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 03:23 AM
I tell my friends that I watch television two hours......per year. Then I see their eyes like almost pop out.
Seriously, I wonder if my quality of life is any worse if I did not watch TV.
Posted by: Dan Khong | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 04:15 AM
Speaking of Youtube, I watched this PBS American Masters documentary called Darkness and Light about Richard Avedon last week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1f3egvLwVE It was 90 minutes well spent.
Posted by: Zack S | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 05:46 AM
One word: "NETFLIX" - for 10$/month, no commercials, It will change how you think of TV.
Posted by: cfw | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 06:50 AM
I switched off the TV permanently some 30 years ago and the improvement that made in my life was comparable to the improvements that came with switching off a few other things that were interfering with my life around the same time.
For one thing, there are so many more hours in the day when TV isn't part of it.
Hours that can be spent taking photographs and processing them, or hanging out with friends, or reading reviews of camera equipment that I'll never be able to afford to buy …
Posted by: Richard Howe | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 08:39 AM
TOV is on its way
Posted by: Paul Metcalf | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 08:48 AM
Mike wrote, "I didn't set up my TV after I moved in 2014. Haven't had a TV since."
How should we define "TV" these days? By the device, the signal source or the programming?
We have several classical TV devices in our house but I can view YouTube videos on them as well as my computer, tablet and phone. I can also watch broadcast TV shows on the same devices.
Posted by: Speed | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 09:31 AM
Netflix seems to have less and less, for more and more money (second price increase since I signed up). What I really hate is that they just took away the latest couple of seasons of a series I was watching -- just as I got to those seasons. Getting tempting to drop back to watching over-the-air network broadcasts only, mediated with a free-software DVR application on a media computer. Not very good, but consistent and cheap. And it's not very important anyway.
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 12:13 PM
I watch a lot of YouTube. But not for reviews of camera gear.
Yesterday I was watching reviews about SLS prototyping and manufacturing.
Last week it was doing some research on Intel's Skull Canyon NUC mini computer.
The week before it was Lap Steel Guitars. I discovered Peavey's Robert Randolph Signature PowerSlide® which I'll probably buy when I have some extra money.
If you like photographer biographies I'd recommend Hulmet by June https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52hxDJweTCs and Fame, Fashion, Photography: Bailey's 70s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S678bcdXsag
For music lovers there's Carol Kaye: Session Legend Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Tuesday, 30 August 2016 at 04:32 PM