GoKawiilYour smart TV is watching you. Well, not "watching" exactly, but it is keeping track of what you watch and selling that data to other companies. They also do that in reverse, showing you ads based on what you've viewed elsewhere. This is partly why you might search for something on Amazon, then suddenly see ads for it on your TV, phone and on other websites.
While this tracking is an unfortunate part of the modern internet, there are ways you can minimize it when it comes to your TV. There are no good dumb consumer TVs anymore; all the best TVs are "smart" TVs, but you can make any smart TV dumber.
Before I dive in, it's important to understand that no manufacturer wants you to do this. Many manufacturers make a significant amount of money selling ad placement and your data, sometimes more than the profit on the TV itself. They don't want you to disconnect their products for that reason, as well as the simple fact that most people want a connected TV. As far as the manufacturers and most people are concerned, the TV is "not working" if it's not connected to the internet. Fortunately, you do have some options.
Unplug or disconnect (easier said than done)
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The easiest way to make your TV dumber is just to disconnect it from the internet. There's more to it than just pulling the Ethernet cable or revoking Wi-Fi privileges, though. If your TV has been connected to the internet up to this point, it will likely start giving you notifications and warnings that it can't connect. This might be an easily dismissible pop-up, it might be every time you turn on the TV or it might get annoyingly insistent that you reconnect to the Wi-Fi -- it'll depend on the model and brand.
You might need to fully lobotomize your TV by giving it a factory reset. This option will be buried deep in the settings. Before you do this, write down or take pictures of your picture settings, as these will also disappear. If you have a TV that uses the Google or Android interface, check out the Basic TV section below. Once the TV reboots in its factory-fresh mode and you progress through the initial setup, just tell it you don't have internet, skipping that section entirely.
It's worth considering that you'll be losing more than just annoying ads and access to built-in streaming apps. You likely won't be able to cast from your phone to the TV, get firmware updates and you definitely won't be able to use any voice/AI assistants. You'll have, essentially, just a monitor for whatever you connect to via HDMI. More on that in a moment, but any features beyond that likely won't work. If you're reading this article, you're likely thinking, "Good!" but I just want to make sure we're all on the same page.
Also see: Why I'm Telling People to Stop Hunting for Dumb TVs
The lack of firmware updates might not be a big issue. Most of these updates are either security patches (which won't matter if you're not connected to the internet anyway) or to improve the performance or stability of the various apps (which, again, you're not using). You can also check if your TV's manufacturer lets you download the firmware to a USB drive, which, when connected to the TV, can be used to update itself.
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