This. It's crazy to me that my entire generation loves to say "I don't own a TV" while staring at videos on their tiny laptops (or even phones) all day. You don't need cable or any other subscription to get a lot out of a TV.
'Historically' not owning a TV was really just saying that you don't watch broadcast television and, by extension, that you don't really watch much TV (like The Onion's Area Man [1]).
I agree that this interpretation doesn't make sense anymore. What fascinates me is that many people will still use "I don't own a TV" to mean the same thing. Even more interesting is that more than a few people I know, myself included, will even believe what that statement implies despite it being completely inaccurate.
It wasn't until recently that I realized that not having a TV had absolutely no impact on my consumption of entertainment, and yet somehow it still felt like I was being 'more responsible' by not having one. Nevermind the fact that I'll happily binge on Netflix or watch hours of YouTube, and not just in my living room at broadcast times, but anywhere and at any time where I have 'nothing to do'.
Maybe one day people will brag about having only one dedicated media consumption device at a fixed location in their house!
EDIT: I just realized that another common implication of "I don't own a TV" is that the person is more discerning in their consumption and only watch 'good stuff' (HBO, feature films, etc.). Having spent loads of time watching only the highest quality shows (of which there many nowadays), I can't help but feel that this is also very often just another justification to consume relatively pointless media that just happens to be well-written and expensive. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Similarly, I have a MASSIVE TV on my living room wall, but it's off most of the time. In these days of flat-screen TVs, very few concessions have to be made to have a large TV. It's not like when we needed huge entertainment centers to hold a television. It does not exist at the exclusion of anything (except money, I suppose). It doesn't take away from anything when it's off. It doesn't necessitate cable/satellite television (we have neither).
To me, it's sort of like when people complain about Facebook/smartphones/24x7 connection to the office/whatever being an addiction and such a burden in their lives. shrug I use it to enhance my life, and when I don't want it, I don't partake.
I don't invite people over often, but typically when friends are over we're not watching television or youtube videos, unless that's the point of the gathering (watch a sporting event together, or whatever).
> It doesn't take away from anything when it's off.
While you can certainly design a room around a modern TV easier than in the past, I still find them to be aesthetically unpleasing when I'm not using them. Especially when dealing with small apartments and studios, I don't want a large TV in my space.
