The main perpetrators of hyperbolic language on this topic are the people who act as if there is some necessity and moral right behind downloading some crap CD or movie or TV show, as if that was the same as stealing bread to feed a family.
Guess what, you won't perish if you don't watch that TV show everyone is talking about, or if you have to wait six months for that new movie to show up on Netflix. The "harm" of doing without entertainment is no harm at all.
To be clear, I'm not arguing against copyright. I think some form of copyright is still a good compromise that serves society well. But I don't see how you can construct a system of human interaction where copyright is more of an inherent moral right than the general right to share information (including "entertainment," which can carry great cultural value).
I outright said, "I'm not arguing against copyright." I definitely think copyright is a kludge, no two ways about it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a purpose. I think copyright is a good and necessary compromise, where we temporarily give up some of our natural rights in order to improve society in the long run. But I think some people place it on far too high a pedestal. Violating copyright — even my copyright — does not necessarily make you a bad, selfish person any more than my insistence that I am entitled to this weird privilege called "copyright" makes me a bad, selfish person.
If this wasn't true, why would the music industry pay to get songs played on the radio?
Where I grew up, we got two channels. Later, when we erected a huge antennae, we got two more. I didn't know what "Nickelodeon" was. So what did I do? I asked kids about the show they described, and I went to a friends house who had cable to watch it.
If indeed TV wasn't a big deal where you grew up, replace "TV" with whatever activity dominated the social scene among kids your age. For example, it might just be hanging out and shooting the breeze, or it might be sports, etc.
As a former homeschooled kid, I definitely believe shared experiences and culture are important to socializing.
The sense of entitlement and the notion of "harm" contained in the above comment is just unbelievable.
How about real bloody issues, like being the only kid in highschool who's parents can't afford medical coverage? Or sending him to college?
Those are also first world problems.
The various types of free "low quality" (by US standards) medicine available in the US are far better than what you get in much of the third world.
Despite what the media show in their humanitarian segments, the third world is vast, and third world problems are not just of the kind: no access to water, famine and/or civil war.
Get some perspective.
You know what would be social? Going over to a friend's house to watch that show with them.