I was raised in the house where TV was all the time on, even when nobody watched it. I was so used to having it in the background that even when I was studying I also kept it on (not the most efficient way of studying, you have to agree).
I was very happy when I finally moved out of my parents' place and could decide myself when TV should be on and when not. Still, I remember that I had it on much more than it was necessary - again using it as a background noise rather than watching it.
The final liberation from television came when I moved to Germany. There was no point in watching TV when you did not (fully) understand it. I did not even want to own a TV, but that was unimaginable for my father and he insisted on buying one for me (which again shows how important role television plays in lives of my parents...). So for a short period of time before falling asleep I would switch it on and try to watch some stupid program hoping that in this passive way I would somehow manage to learn German. Since that did not work, I moved the TV to the basement (where it stayed until I moved out of Dresden).
Strangely enough, whenever I went back to Poland I was actually interested in watching TV. I think the reason for that was mostly curiosity - I wanted to see how the programs changed since I moved out of Poland and I wanted to see at least one episode of any soap opera/entertainment program/news edition that everybody else talked about to see for myself what's the fuss about.
Here, in SF, we again have a TV, but luckily, nobody watches it. Moreover, I would have difficulties naming a friend that watches TV. So I wonder what is it about the generation of my parents that they are so addicted to it? Is it because when they were children there was no TV? Or because during most of their youth it was black and white and full of communist propaganda and now when it is is in color and full of different programs they just can't resist it?
Moreover, I sometimes wonder if internet is not for us what TV is for our parents (both are in the end source of education and entertainment)? Maybe the time will come that our kids will look down on us, as we do on our parents, shaking their heads in disapproval at the amount of time that we are wasting browsing the web?
When I used to watch TV, I did like watching this: