Are We the Only Ones That Don't Have a Flat Screen Tv?

Updated on February 14, 2012
F.H. asks from Gilbert, AZ
38 answers

LOL! We only have 2 tv's in the house, both 32 inches and both at LEAST 15 years old. I never really thought twice about it until I invited my mom and her new boyfriend over to watch the Super Bowl and she said no, because we have a "little" tv. Really? Ok.

When my ex and I moved to AZ from CA in 2003, we bought the big 65 inch TV. It was huge and on wheels. I have to admit I loved it and when I kicked out my ex, it went with him. I was more sad to see the tv go than the husband.

So my husband now doesn't care necessarily that we don't have a huge tv. And we decided we wouldn't get a new tv until these break.

But I feel like we are the last ones that have old tv's. Please tell me there are others out there that have the old school tv's too...

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So What Happened?

Oh, and I forgot to mention that last week we switched from our cable companies and the new company kept asking me all these questions about the tv and finally I had to yell "ITS AN OLD TV, NOT A FLAT SCREEN!!!" Then finally he's like, oh, ok. And the tech was out here for 2.5 hours trying to hook everything up like it was a pain or something. Oh well. I would like to have a bigger tv and when we do get one, it will likely be at least 50 inches. And another factor is we would have to buy new stands for them too since our old school entertainment centers won't hold them. =)

Featured Answers

T.N.

answers from Albany on

I'm embarrassed to admit we have a flat screen hanging on the wall in nearly every room in the house. But none of them are very big.

Not my fault, The Man is an Olympic Caliber TV Watcher.

:(

7 moms found this helpful
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D..

answers from Charlotte on

Nope, you're not the only ones. I don't either. I keep cars and TV's til they die. When I HAVE to replace the TV's, then I'll get a flat screen. I just hope the people won't look "wide" on screen. That really bothers me.

Dawn

7 moms found this helpful

C.T.

answers from Santa Fe on

Well, we are so weird we do not even have a TV....by choice.

Updated

Well, we are so weird we do not even have a TV....by choice.

6 moms found this helpful

More Answers

E.S.

answers from Dayton on

Ours is a "flat screen"...but it has a big ol' butt. ;)
Meaning, it is old school.
Funny, I was just thinking about how old our TV must be...we got it shortly after we got married...so probably 9 yrs.
We have an identical one upstairs. But we don't use it. Not even sure it works.
How many people can boast one working tv?! :)
And no cable!
Gasp! ;)

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B.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Nope and I don have "TV envy" either.

New shiny electronics do not excite me but heaven forbid should my internet go down. Then I'm a raging lunatic no joke LOL!

6 moms found this helpful

J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

Well my dad doesn't even have cable and he has one. :p

The only TVs we have in our house are flat screens. Sorry but once you mount a TV to a wall and realize you don't have to dust under them they become rather addictive. :)

6 moms found this helpful

T.L.

answers from St. Louis on

All of our tv's are at least 15 years old too. Most of them even hand me down's LOL. I don't see the need in purchasing a new one until one breaks.

5 moms found this helpful
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P.M.

answers from Portland on

We don't have the time, the space, or the budget for television. We do have a 16" portable color set that we haul out for watching occasional videos in the evening (along with trading delicious foot-rubs!), but that's it. I haven't had television reception for the past 33 years, and I don't want it. My life is so full of things I like to do and would rather spend my money on (art, play, reading), I don't know where would I possibly find the time.

3 moms found this helpful
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K.B.

answers from Cincinnati on

Flat screens are all we have thanks to my husband. He wouldn't have it any other way. I like them, but they're not as important to me as they are to him. I do have to admit that the picture is phenomenal on the new smart tv he bought- you really can tell a huge difference on that one.

3 moms found this helpful

C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

ooh F.!!!

We have five TVs. We switched them all out in 2008.

The smallest is our wonderful Polaroid Portable DVD/Cable ready with a 12" screen (we picked that up in 2005).

Then we have a 32" in the kitchen/eat in, a 32" in our bedroom (attached to the wall arm so it's not sitting on anything), a 47" in the formal living room and the 52" in the family room. All of these are flat screens.

In 2008, we had a nice influx of stock sales so we bought new computers and TVs....I don't think I could go back to a non-flat TV!!

Don't feel bad - we have a friend who still has a CONSOLE (cable ready) TV!! now **THAT'S** vintage!!!

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S.E.

answers from Philadelphia on

I would love to have a flat screen for the aesthetics of it in my living room. But, I refuse to part with the money until the one we have (which we bought for my husband's grandfather and then re-inherited when he died 12 years ago) dies..... Too cheap to do and I figure the price will drop.

3 moms found this helpful

L.B.

answers from Biloxi on

One of our TVs still has a built in VCR player - how's that for old. LOL

When you say flat screen - do you mean the skinny TVs that people hang on their walls? If so, nope I don't have one. We do a fairly large TV with a flat front, but the huge triangle back, in the family room.

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C.W.

answers from Washington DC on

Nope I don't have one yet either. And the odds are quite good I wont until one of mine literally stops working.
I'm cheap like that.

2 moms found this helpful
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D.D.

answers from Phoenix on

Dont worry, I have a Big Screen but its from like 1990, We dont care also if we have new TV's Like the rest of the world, We are just happy to have one, Plus I still have my TV from High school and I will not get rid of it, It works just fine. My thoughts are why replace unless its broken?

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J.S.

answers from Minneapolis on

Nope. We only have one TV and it was given to us by my MIL when her mother passed away last fall... it's "big" to us (32 inches) because our old one was only 27 inches... which we donated to charity when we got the "new" one...

Someday we'll replace it with a flat screen, but it is totally functional, and suits us fine.

We don't have cable either.

2 moms found this helpful

L.L.

answers from Rochester on

Um...we have two console TVs...one is 32 and the other is 19 inches. Don't feel bad. :)

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S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

totally aggravates me! We are fruuuuugal. We do not buy new until the old is beyond use. So our living room tv is not a flat screen. We can hook up our son's XBox360, but not our other son's PS3. I cannot watch Netflix on nor hook up my camera to it. Hate it.

BUT I will not buy a new tv until this one goes out. This is an important life lesson that we have instilled in our sons. They, on the other hand, grew up with hand-me-down tvs that eventually blew, & now both own flat screens in their rooms. My turn is coming! & I know where I'm going to hang the sucker!

2 moms found this helpful

R.D.

answers from Richmond on

We have 3 out of 4 t.v.s old school and huge ;)

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M.G.

answers from Atlanta on

My husband bought one a little while ago but for the life of me I don't really see much difference in watching tv with this flat screen than with the one that we had. I thought it was a waste of money. I agree with a lot of the gals that said they wouldn't buy one until their present tvs broke. I just don't understand all the hype over a flat screen tv heard today and I don't think you should feel pressured to buy one because of it. I think what you've decided makes a lot of sense - wait til your current ones no longer work.

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S.B.

answers from Kansas City on

We only got ours when the old one broke. We still have 3 old school ones around the house, one downstairs, one in the kitchen and one in our bedroom. We even have 3 VCRs!

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L.M.

answers from New York on

All 3 sets in my house are NOT flat screen. I have no intention of buying one in the near future. Even if I had the extra money, there are a lot more items much higher on my priority list.

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B.R.

answers from Madison on

the only reason we have one now...and it is not big by any means is because my uncle gifted his old one to us for Christmas! LOL we have joined the new age..haha sad thing is we only have like 7 channels to choose from..but my hubby likes it for playing games.

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P.K.

answers from New York on

We will get one when the TV we have now, dies. So you are not alone.

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J.E.

answers from Albuquerque on

We don't have a flat screen tv. We try not to make tv a priority in our house and try to spend more quality time together doing other things.

1 mom found this helpful

A.S.

answers from Iowa City on

I don't have any and I don't want any. To me the images look fuzzy (must be my messed up eyes). Plus, there is nothing wrong with the TVs I have so I'm not going to replace them until they require replacing.

1 mom found this helpful

L._.

answers from San Diego on

Ours have broken one by one. My mother is looking at lines through hers and being slow about buying one for herself. She insisted that she do it herself. So we didn't get her one for Christmas.

1 mom found this helpful

✿.✿.

answers from Dallas on

We're really old school. We only have 1 TV. It's in our family room. We got it free from our neighbors 3 years ago when they upgraded to a flat screen. I'm hoping that we'll get their old flat screen when they upgrade again ;) (Just kidding, although I wouldn't say no!)

1 mom found this helpful

S.B.

answers from Topeka on

Our old school tv went out on us this past month. Our taxes came in and we now have a flat screen. Honestly I miss our mammoth tv. It seems more sturdy and can take a beating.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.B.

answers from Boston on

LOL my husband and I ask ourselves this all the time. Our parents and grandparents all have flat screens. We technically do have one, but it's teeny and in the basement where the kids have a fort. Our main TV is a 27-inch classic TV that's at least 10 years old. We also have something in the basement that is slightly smaller and had a built in DVD player. The kids use that for movies and video games. No, you're not alone!

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J.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

We don't have one. All our TVs are so old that they all need a digital adapter to get shows using the over the air antenna. I've actually only ever inherited old TVs when my friends and family upgrade to flat-screen. I expect I'll finally get one when the next thing comes out and my friends upgrade to that and give me their old flat screens. :)

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E.S.

answers from Boston on

Hi! We don't have one either and chances are excellent we won't be getting one anytime in the forseeable future. We only have two, one in the living room, one outside in the screen house where we spend most of our time in the summer. It's a TV, it works, we are happy.

1 mom found this helpful

☼.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

My MIL gave us one for Christmas. Now you see why I like her so much?! (Just kidding, she's wonderful all-around :)

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J.K.

answers from Sacramento on

We don't have one. And we only have one TV. A friend bought it from some guy on Craigslist for $60 because our old one (that we'd have for like 20 years) had something wrong with the picture and our friend couldn't stand to watch football on it. We don't watch TV enough to bother with some behemoth in our living room...

1 mom found this helpful

N.A.

answers from Chicago on

We don't and refuse to buy one until the one's we have clonk's out on us...Why spend the extra money to replace something that still works? I was tempted to buy a nice Sony flat screen on Black Friday but didn't. Also, my family room has a built in opening for a standard tv...it's nice and all but not a big deal in our house. Don't worry about it! It's fine, and when it does burn out or break then invest in a really good flat screen.

Updated

We don't and refuse to buy one until the one's we have clonk's out on us...Why spend the extra money to replace something that still works? I was tempted to buy a nice Sony flat screen on Black Friday but didn't. Also, my family room has a built in opening for a standard tv...it's nice and all but not a big deal in our house. Don't worry about it! It's fine, and when it does burn out or break then invest in a really good flat screen.

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L.E.

answers from Provo on

I hate flat screens. You have to be right in front of them to see anything clearly, even when they are huge. And I hate watching things on a huge screen unless I am in a theater.

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A.B.

answers from Sarasota on

Sounds fine to me. I would have been happy to have kept our old "tube television" but my husband, like many guys, has a thing for flat screens. W

J.U.

answers from Washington DC on

We have one in our livingroom that we got 4 years or so ago. It's 42in, perfect size IMO.
We have a 19in. that is about 14yrs old and another 32in that was from my husbands single days, who knows how old that is. I just can't bring myself to get new tv's if they still work.

M.D.

answers from Washington DC on

We have too many flat screens - and I don't know anyone who doesn't have them anymore...but that's just me and the people I know :). Nothing wrong with not having one!

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