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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why people have the TV on all day long.

204 replies

iwuddarryl · 17/02/2016 13:17

Is it constantly on in the background?
Or do you only turn it on mid afternoon/evening?
Are you selective with your viewing?

MY OH was recently made redundant and I am CRAVING piece and quiet. Before he was around 24/7, I would have it turned off most of the morning, but he switches the tv on at 6am and it STAYS on. all. day. long. Angry
It's as if he can't sit in a room without the box blaring away.

I like tv as much as the next person, but I HAVE to have a couple of hours piece and quiet in the house every day.
If I don't I feel stressed.
He says I'm unusual and being unreasonable.
Am I?

OP posts:
NerrSnerr · 17/02/2016 13:31

I meant tv!

NickyEds · 17/02/2016 13:31

YANBU. I have two small dc and God knows it's on too much but no, not all day. I'm selective and use it as a babysitter when i need to get stuff done. Dp will turn it on whenever he enters the room and leave it on all of the time. He'll have the radio on in any other room (It's Five Live in our house BackInTheRealWorld). He just can't stand the quiet. His mum and dad and BIL and SIL are the same.

Artandco · 17/02/2016 13:31

That would drive me mad. We have the radio or music played sometimes, otherwise quiet. No tv at all though.

NickNacks · 17/02/2016 13:31

Me? I mean my of course!

Momamum · 17/02/2016 13:33

Bleeding Jeremy Kyle! That's what's blaring out of my neighbour's house every morning and when I call round to get her shopping list, she shouts talks over it to me, her eyes constantly flicking to the screen. And those hearing aids you got on the NHS? Fuckin put them in. I ring her doorbell on the mornings I go shopping, but can she hear it over effin Jeremy Kyle? And I've even foned her to say I'll be round for her list, she doesn't always hear that either.

Touched a nerve, has that. Can you tell? ShockGrin

ThisOneSeemsNice · 17/02/2016 13:33

I've noticed this about myself that I feel really unsettled if the TV isn't on in the background.

On some level I'm aware it doesn't make sense to have it on if I'm not watching it, but I don't like a silent house.

Even more weird is that if we go away somewhere and there's no TV, I'm totally fine and don't mind it.

Sallystyle · 17/02/2016 13:33

I only have it on when I'm watching something, hate it as background noise.

I love sitting in silence but it rarely happens and dh or a child or two usually has music on.

iwillbemrsminty · 17/02/2016 13:34

My mum is long time widowed and always has the TV on when she is home. For company I think, when me or my brother aren't around. Sometimes though it gets turned up quite loud simply to drown out the sound of her next door neighbours' frequent rowing!

gelizabeth · 17/02/2016 13:35

YANBU. What is he watching all day?

Tbh mine is on most of the day because it takes about 10 minutes and 4 controls to turn it on. We watch a couple of hours of cbeebies and a film, sometimes I might catch a glimpse of this morning but there's bugger all on for adults all day!

MadamDeathstare · 17/02/2016 13:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EssentialHummus · 17/02/2016 13:38

My dad has Sky News on non-stop during evenings and weekends thank fuck we don't live together. Drives me bananas, particularly since a typical day includes the same content repeated at 15 minute intervals by an increasingly fraught Kay Burley. Grump.

My mum has talk radio on all day too, to "keep her company".

I'm a work in silence type - with exceptions made for coffee shops with the "right" level of background noise or music.

OhWotIsItThisTime · 17/02/2016 13:38

ILs do this and it drives me nuts. DCs are mesmerised by it, so you have to really push to get them to do anything.

Groovee · 17/02/2016 13:39

I only have the to on if I am watching something. Dh walks in and promptly switches it on to watch nothing. Does my head in.

hazellnut56 · 17/02/2016 13:41

Afraid to say we too have a tv on household, however we don't always pay attention to it. We eat dinner at the table and play cards/games and catch up on each others days whilst it talks to itself in the background. I've used it more of late as 39/40 pregnant and can't go out much so it relieves a bit of boredom! Also been able to watch a few DVDs I hadn't had the time to watch before hand...
We're also very naughty and leave the tv on for our dogs whilst we're out- they know all about current affairs and probably the plot of Eastenders lol!

HermioneJeanGranger · 17/02/2016 13:42

I have it on all day when I'm off work. I was never allowed TV as a child and I think this is probably some kind of subconscious rebellion! I don't like sitting in silence (again, reminds me of growing up and not being allowed music on without headphones, or the TV on unless it was an adult programme), and I would rather have the TV than listen to radio DJ's droning on!

LocatingLocatingLocating · 17/02/2016 13:44

I never have the TV on unless watching it, but if I'm home I have R4 or R6 on a lot of the time.

My pet peeve is people who don't turn the TV off when you're visiting them. So rude!!

cozietoesie · 17/02/2016 13:45

My cat likes having it on.Smile

KinkyAfro · 17/02/2016 13:47

I hate it but dp would quite happily sit in front of it all day when he's not at work. If there's nothing on I want to watch I'll switch it off but dp scrolls constantly up and down all the channels, it's really annoying. I'm quite happy to read a book, mess on phone/tablet but he has to have tv on. He leaves it on when he goes for a shower which also annoys me and our holidays are dictated by the tv, if there's no sky/satellite then we find somewhere else despite the rest of the place being perfect

CottonFrock · 17/02/2016 13:48

I never turn it on unless I'm actively watching something, and the earliest that is likely to be is after nine at night. I also work from home several days a week, and can't have any noise (other than deafening birdsong, cows, sheep, and squirrels and magpies apparently having a fight in a tree outside the window etc). If I had an urge for sound, I'd put on classical music quietly in another room.

My parents, on the other hand, seem to feel each room should have a soundscape, and despite continually turning off lights and shutting doors, never switch off TV or radio. It's not uncommon for their house (a small, one-storey cottage, to have a radio blaring at ear-bleeding volume in the kitchen, another in the bedroom, and a TV screaming over them all - and no one in any of the three rooms. They also deliberately turn them all up when going out as an anti-burglar device.

OP, is your OH suffering because of the redundancy and doesn't want to have enough quiet to be alone with his thoughts? Because even turning on the TV briefly at 6 am suggests something very odd going on to me.

AwakeCantSleep · 17/02/2016 13:49

I am convinced this is a cultural thing to some extent. Where I grew up (in continental Europe) I never experienced anyone who had the TV on all the time in the background. (Thinking about it, people weren't watching much TV in general.) TV being on while having guests would have been unthinkable (unless of course the guests had come over to watch a programme together).

These days people in my home country probably watch more TV than they used to, but the general behaviour around TV is the same. It would be considered extremely rude to have a TV blaring while your guests are trying to have a conversation with you. I know quite a few people who don't own a TV (and don't watch on other devices either).

The UK on the other hand - TV rules the house. Or netflix/playstation. I struggle to understand this. I mean, most TV is shit. Especially daytime. TV takes over your visual attention, which is very distracting. I also wouldn't appreciate music as much as I do if I was listening to it all hours of the day.

But clearly many of you disagree with me Smile

EatingMyWords · 17/02/2016 13:49

I have it on as background noise- it's better than listening to the tinnitus! I don't have it loud though- I put subtitles on.

wheelofapps · 17/02/2016 13:49

I grew up in a house with a permanently on Radio and TV.

I am - just - training myself to be able to tolerate classic fm during the day.

I am 48.

I think it is to stop you thinking too much. Inane babble does that.

I cant hear other people if I visit their house and it is on.
My hearing is fine.
It's not 'background noise' it is intrusive foreground noise.
Cant bear it.

operaha · 17/02/2016 13:50

My dad does this and it drives me mad. We'll go round there for a cuppa and I can't speak because I can't concentrate to think what I'm saying.
If we then sit in the adjoined dining room for dinner, no one thinks to turn it off!
Can't bear it myself, each to their own. Don't particularly like the radio on when I'm in the kitchen, never watch TV in bed, just like peace!

crispytruffle · 17/02/2016 13:51

If I am home alone I don't even think to put on the TV however, as soon as my DH enters the house and before he has done anything he rushes straight over to the TV to get it switched on! I just don't understand it personally!

GothicRainbow · 17/02/2016 13:51

We're a tv on all day household. I was as a child so I suppose I've continued it on into adulthood.

It's mainly on CBeebies/Amazon prime cartoons for DS at the moment. I'm 35 weeks pregnant and struggling with painful Braxton hicks so finding I'm needing it more for the babysitting purposes than cancelling out my boredom!

I do make sure I turn it off though if we have people over/DS's friends over to play - I'm always aware that people have different preferences over tv watching.

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