Comments on: Am I crazy because I don’t have cable?

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:36:36 +0000

@Jenny – Haha, glad you liked it so much! Not having cable can definitely be frightening thing during football season, talk to me two days ago when I was snowed in without it for the Super Bowl! Thank God for justin.tv is all I have to say. I am pretty attached to my laptop on my off work hours because it is the only attachment I have to the outside world without a television. But it’s really cool to be able to skip through many of the commercials and watch shows exactly when you want to start them. Thanks for the comment Jenny!

By: Jenny Blake

Jenny Blake — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:50:45 +0000

Benjamin – I loved reading this! I FINALLY made the decision today to join your cable-less camp (now that football season is over). I’m a little afraid of just getting sucked deeper into my laptop vortex (as I watch shows on Hulu) – but somewhat excited and up for the cable-less challenge! Have a great week – and thanks for sharing all the pros/cons

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:17:48 +0000

@Susan – Hulu changed my life too! Not sure if you have seen the subscribe feature, but you can set it up to email you when a new episode of your favorite show has been posted. Even better than just normal Hulu is email reminders. Thanks for the comment, I think you and I have the same idea about the dilemma.

@Sam – Haha, I do put a lot of effort into finding stuff on the internet, but my Google Reader usually catches me up on anything that I missed. Who knows, maybe I could buy NFL Ticket with the money I saved on not having cable during the rest of the year. Thanks for the comment Sam!

By: Sam Karol

Sam Karol — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:47:51 +0000

Ah, the great cable debate. I don’t think you’re crazy for not having it since you seem to do a pretty awesome job at finding things online. If Hulu starts charging though, you might be in trouble. Like others have said, I enjoy having cable for certain shows that I watch on a regular basis…and of course, for football season, having cable is key. Like we’ve discussed, you’ll probably be fine until football season starts again and then you might decide it’s worth it. As for now, I say make a chart of pros and cons. Thanks for letting us all weigh in!

By: Susan Pogorzelski

Susan Pogorzelski — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:00:57 +0000

I don’t have much to add, as I’m in agreement with your post and with the other comments here. But I will say this: discovering Hulu changed my life.

I watch most of my movies on my laptop and a lot of TV on DVD. It’s only been recently that I began watching TV again in the evenings, and that’s just to completely unwind. I’m not a sports fan, so speaking solely on TV as entertainment (I get my news in papers and online), especially when I’m busy, I find it just easier to concentrate on what I’m working on and catch up during down-time on the weekends.

If you can save a few bucks and utilize the means that you have (the internet), I say it’s not crazy, it’s being resourceful. And possibly more productive.

Interesting post, Ben! Good luck, either way!

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:22:56 +0000

@Grace – You are right, I think eventually everything will be available online, whether you have to pay for it or not. One advantage to that would be that I could bring most videos that I have on my computer to my iphone or ipod so that I can watch them outside of my house. That is definitely not something that can be done with cable, pretty much if you don’t record it on your DVR, it is gone forever. I am much the same way, I miss cable a little but it is more magnified at this time of year during the NFL playoffs. Thanks for your comment!

@Beth – I wouldn’t go so far as to hate yourself for it, television is a good escape from reality! Even having cable shows on DVR or watching them on Hulu (you would think I am getting paid for how much I mention it!) will cut down the amount of commercials you have to watch significantly and can turn an hour of time watching television into about 40 minutes. I see that you struggle with it as much as I do, maybe we can start a television-watchers’ anonymous group to deal with cable television withdrawl, haha. Thanks for the comment!