As I was flipping through channels last week at my parents’ house I was thinking about how much my TV watching habits have changed over the last few years.

TV Service

Almost two years ago I ditched traditional cable TV service and switched to streaming. First I used Playstation Vue plus a Tablo. Then I tried DIRECTV NOW for a few months. Finally, in June, I switched to YouTube TV, which I’m really happy with.

One of the great things about these streaming services is you can switch easily and often. If you have an Apple TV and a router, you don’t need to swap out any special hardware or have technicians come out to turn service on/off.

Channel Surfing

When I’m at my own house I never turn on the TV and flip through channels. If I’m watching something on a TV channel it’s a live sporting event, a TV special, a recorded show, or On Demand.

Thinking back, I used to watch SportsCenter pretty much every morning and/or night. At night I’d flip through channels and watch random shows. I’d watch sports teams I don’t care about. It’s extremely rare I do any of that anymore.

Content

I still spend a fair amount of time with the TV on though. Content delivery has shifted from TV channels to primarily Netflix and YouTube (not referring to YouTube TV here). I watch a bunch of original series on Netflix and the occasional movie. On YouTube, I subscribe to a lot of different channels, many where people make things. I have an upcoming post that’ll share all of my YouTube subscriptions.

How about you? Do you sit in front of the TV much? Have you tried any of the streaming services? Have you noticed your habits changing?