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Why I Traded My TV for a Turntable

blog.nathanaelsilverman.com

71–75 of 75 posts

Re: Why I Traded My TV for a Turntable

#71

tldr: TV is bad because it is a time-suck and there are much better uses of my time like switching to an archaic, time-wasting (my opinion) method of playing music with a method that involves having to (quoting him about the difficulty of records): "[remove] the dust it [the record] easily collects, as well as cleaning the stylus [...] Records have 2 sides, each containing a little over 20 minutes worth of music, so…

Author enforced vinyl unto themselves because it's the latest cool thing to do.

Had we been in the late nineties, author would have taking up trick yo-yos.

Re: Why I Traded My TV for a Turntable

#72
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't interested in any television shows? Man, I have the exact opposite problem. There are so many things I want to watch that my to-watch list is getting longer and longer. Often I'm finding television more interesting than movies these days (my wife and I go to the cinema once a week).

Nope. I'm very interested in the production of film and TV, but actually watching the result gives me an unexplainable anxiety. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[deleted]

Re: Why I Traded My TV for a Turntable

#73
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But where and how? If you don't have one at all, when you make a more deliberate decision to, how do you? I'm all for demoting the object in terms of rooms, but if you rid your house of it completely I'm not sure what you mean by deciding what, where, and how to watch television?

Here's one example that comes to mind: because I don't have a TV anymore I now watch GoT at a friend's home, something I had never considered doing before.

Yes, that's what I do as well.

Also, I go to the movies more often to see the films I'm actually interested in.

Baby Driver was my favorite movie of the year--in fact, the best movie I've seen in many years.

Dunkirk, Detroit, and Inconvenient Sequel all good as well!

Re: Why I Traded My TV for a Turntable

#74
post #47

I gave up my TV in January. I don't miss the black mirror when it's turned off. I don't miss making special space in my house for another screen. I don't miss Netflix. It has forced me to be more conscious about what I want to watch, and where and how.

But where and how? If you don't have one at all, when you make a more deliberate decision to, how do you? I'm all for demoting the object in terms of rooms, but if you rid your house of it completely I'm not sure what you mean by deciding what, where, and how to watch television?

Yea, I coordinate with friends and family who have TV's. I also go to the theater more often.

But just getting the device out of our home space means that I won't, like the author of this post, relapse into old habits! :)

Re: Why I Traded My TV for a Turntable

#75
post #64

LOL. I don't throw this around much, but what a hipster: "Replacing it with a turntable went even further. Do you have any idea how complicated it is to play music on those things? I didn’t. Playing a record usually involves removing the dust it easily collects, as well as cleaning the stylus (the part that comes in contact with the record). Records have 2 sides, each containing a little over 20 minutes worth of musi…

Process is important. If we don't invest in an activity, it becomes worthless to us. This is well understood. Thus, ceremony and ritual in so many cultures. Making tea, greeting a guest and offering them a drink, taking a casserole to the church picnic. Modern music is a click away. And dismissing it for the next track is another click away. Folks have confused the activity (listening) with the instant-gratification/…

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree. It just came out of left field for the author and was stated in such a way that it was an attempt to become someone, instead of harbor a general interest in old analog and physical music curation ways.
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