What's important IMO isn't not owning a TV, it's not having or using traditional TV services, namely cable TV or even over-the-air TV.

Having a TV by itself can be good, so you can watch a movie at home with friends (preferably served by a mediaPC). It's cable/network TV, stuffed with ads and mostly worthless shows, that's the real time-waster. (And even if there's worthwhile shows in there somewhere, they're aired at inconvenient times, you actually have to watch them as they air (without spending extra money to rent a DVR), and you can't pause or rewind them (again without a DVR rental). The whole scheme is archaic and ridiculous and inefficient.

Finally, a big factor is cost (except with OTA). The TV itself is pretty cheap these days unless you get some big 60" quantum-dot display or something. A simple 32" TV can be had for just over $100 now, and a 40" for around $200. These are one-time costs. But cable TV can easily cost you over $100 every month, or over $1200/year. And for what? So you can watch ugly, over-compressed video, loaded with loud commercials, that you have no ability to control when you watch, or pause or rewind?

Back in the yesteryear of the early 2000's, I didn't own a television. It was better.

Now I'm one of those people that does spend too much time refreshing my smartphone. It's worse.

So maybe we were on to something back then.

Hah. We got rid of the tv a decade or more ago. Though being pretentious wasn't part of the decision. :)