Raised by television

sabbath

Banned
I feel like I was raised more by television than by my family. Both my parents worked and I was pretty much left to tend to myself. I read some books but mostly watched a lot of television. Didn't have many friends, didn't get out of the house much.

I still watch a lot of television but I really need to get out and exercise more. Television has plenty of entertainment, information, music, etc. But it would be nice to have real life friends too.
 

this_portrait

Well-known member
Growing up, I never had the 'luxury' of cable television. All throughout childhood, I wanted cable so bad, so I could watch all the popular shows for kids at the time.

Now that I'm older, I'm glad I never had that 'luxury.'
 

dottie

Well-known member
i was raised by the tv, too. it was my babysitter. then came the internet in the early 90s. we watched a lot of sensationalized crime shows like unsolved mysteries which instills fear and makes you not trust people. i wasn't allowed out much. even as a teen if i wanted to ride my bike i had to ride it on the street in front of the house in circles because my mom thought i'd get kidnapped.

it makes sense that i am afraid of people and don't know how to interact with them.
 

a215s5837

New member
You have to have some special affinity for a TV series or such that would prompt some stimulating online discourse, and from there you could seek out conventions to get real human-human interaction. If you own a t-shirt with whatever you like on it, that would prompt both odd stares - who cares - and also genuine interest in, perhaps, a shared predilection.

A cute woman said something to me while I was at a store a week ago because I was wearing a genrist [?] t-shirt... but I'm too shy and women are too confined by social construct here in the U.S.A. [Or I can hope that it meant this much.]

Also, my weirdness for referencing television shows that fellow co-workers enjoyed as well allowed me to make "friends"... at one point. I know I feel at times as though I'm "The Cable Guy" because of a similar childhood/adult addiction, due to this, I never was able to realize what I had when I had it. Even as I slipped away into AvPD with auditory delusions, many people would seek me out for movie/TV information, which in turn gave me a social comfort to talk to them, which leads to an easy way to be social as I can return prompts to the other persons' affinities.

I know that if you relate pivotal moments of your life to something you saw/heard on a television show you will come across as odd, but most people accept this if you have a similar interest. I know I was able to hide my feelings of inadequacy because I never knew they liked me that much, but I definitely will always come across as being stupid due to lack of "normal" life experiences that never came for me. I know this is always going to be an issue for people like me.

Not sure if this/anything I type makes sense? I suck at understanding other people.
 

NormanBates

Well-known member
Hey I hear ya. The only time things are different is when the power gets knocked out. Maybe for a few days. And all you have is each other for entertainment and real life suddenly makes its way back. lol it's hurricane season again
 
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