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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:
JeanPadget · 17/02/2016 13:52

My XH was incapable of sitting in a room without having the TV on. Gave me the rage when he left the room and didn't turn the TV off Angry. I, on the other hand, tried to set up a new (smaller than the pub-sized one he left)) TV on Sunday and made such a hash of it that I've got to wait for DD to come home from school trip at the weekend to tell me what I've done wrong. Not really missing it much. Gives me way too much time to mn, instead

decisionsdecisions123 · 17/02/2016 13:52

I used to just have it on mainly to drown out the noise from the neighbours and for a bit of company I suppose.

LBOCS2 · 17/02/2016 13:53

My ILs come into our house and turn on the FB 'for the kids', even if they're happily ensconced doing something else. And then it stays on until they leave. It drives me bonkers. I'll happily have the radio on as background noise and I'm not funny about screen time but it's just incessant noise which I struggle with.

LBOCS2 · 17/02/2016 13:53

*TV. Not FB. Autocorrect.

tinyterrors · 17/02/2016 13:54

Ours is on all day as background noise. It's on low unless we've actively watching something so doesn't interfere with conversation.

It's no different to having the radio on in the background except there's no annoying talking over the beginning and end of songs.

SpocksThirdEar · 17/02/2016 13:56

My DH is the same. He will put it on, moan there is nothing on and leave it on BBC news or CBBC - even if the kids aren't even here. I turn it off when there's nothing on I want to watch.

I have the radio on at the moment, as I like music when I'm doing housework. Although I'm not actually doing any right now. Blush

motheroftwoboys · 17/02/2016 13:59

Three out of four of us work/used to work in TV so couldn't possibly have it on unless we are actively watching it. Likewise I can't have talking radio on unless I am actively listening to it. I can't concentrate on a conversation or read or anything. Weird me! My DH loves talk radio and puts it on when he enters a room and I have to switch it off to read the paper. Music, however, is a different thing. Unusual for me to be in a room without Radio 6, my I-pod or a CD on.

MistressDeeCee · 17/02/2016 14:01

I don't live with OH thank God. He's another who switches TV on immediately he comes home, its never off until he is in bed, and he watches the news regularly too. Sometimes Sky news then he'll switch to CNN. I don't care why he does it, as long as its not in my home. I watch TV, pretty specific tho I have few TV series I follow.. But I couldn't have TV on regularly and it would do my head in if it had to be on constantly, as if its the centrepiece of my home. I don't get why people do it or justify it as if its a necessesity but I think its just one of those things I won't really try to fathom. Get on with it, as long as Im not subjected to the drone of the box in the background of my home life

Greydog · 17/02/2016 14:02

I don't usually have the TV on but it's on at the moment, I have to go out, and I leave it on for the dog!

Skiptonlass · 17/02/2016 14:03

I much prefer quiet. I'm on mat leave right now and people keep asking me what I watch Confused

Daytime tv is soul destroying it's depressing as hell. I have family who constantly have five live or tv on and it drives me barmy.

I wonder if this is an introvert-extrovert thing?

Goingtobeawesome · 17/02/2016 14:03

When I was a new mum I'd have the radio or tv on most of the day. It was company for me so I wasn't in a silent house which made noises and scared me. I wasn't watching it all day. I'm not as bad now even though I spend a lot of time alone in the house.

AnnieOnnieMouse · 17/02/2016 14:05

DP used to turn TV on as soon as he came home from work, and it would be on until bedtime and all weekends. When home alone I used to just have CDs on - can't stand background chatter. When he retired the TV would be on all day - drove me mental, so we rearranged the rooms so he could have a TV in his mancave, leaving me in peace on mumsnet all day.
When we used to visit dp's sister they'd have TV on all the time - if someone started talking, the kids used to turn it louder - and no-one stopped them. We stopped visiting.

BrownAjah · 17/02/2016 14:06

I grew up like that. TV was first thing on in the morning and last thing off at night. My Mum still lives like that now. She absolutely hates being alone so I think it's company.

I used to be the same. I couldn't stand the silence and would find myself watching all sorts of inane crap. DH doesn't watch TV at all and he hated it. Then our TV broke and we decided to see what happened without it. We have an iPad so we used catch-up instead and it has been really great for me and the kids. It took me a while to get used to the quiet but we won't be replacing it as we all watch far less now.

PittedOlive · 17/02/2016 14:07

It's partly a class thing in this country, Awake. One of the hallmarks of middle-classness is highly selective TV use while laughingly accusing yourself of using it as a babysitting device.

When I lived in a city and used to go for early morning runs through residential areas, I was first of all completely taken aback by how many living rooms had the TV on at 7 am, and then realised you could pretty much map exactly where I was, in socio-economic terms, by the numbers of turned-on at 7 am televisions on any given street.

God knows if any sociologist has researched 'social class and an ability to tune out inane babble'...

Katedotness1963 · 17/02/2016 14:08

Background noise.
Loneliness.
Company.
Blocks outside noise.
I can block it out for the most part and read if I want to. I can't read and listen to music.

AcrossthePond55 · 17/02/2016 14:10

My DH does this, he says he likes the 'background noise'. Since we've been retired it's really started to grate on me as we live in the country and I like to hear the 'country noises' when I'm relaxing. He'll walk into the living room, sit down and turn on the TV then promptly go on his laptop or fall asleep (GRRRRRR!!!). And he turns the volume up LOUD. Not a thing wrong with his hearing, he just likes the TV loud in the same way people turn up the volume for music.

I'm slowly starting to wean him off this constant need for noise and it's going pretty well. I found that the remote for the TV in our bedroom works on the living room TV so I've started turning down the volume when he's not paying attention and I've even turned the damn thing off and there are times he hasn't noticed!

He's away for a week and the silence is bliss! Half hour watching the news with my morning coffee and the TV goes off until the evening when I'm re-watching Poldark on Amazon Prime.

TeaT1me · 17/02/2016 14:11

I find it strange, especially families with children!!

Gobbolino6 · 17/02/2016 14:11

I need background noise. When the kids are out and it's just me, it's on constantly.

herethereandeverywhere · 17/02/2016 14:12

I do it subconsciously when feeling lonely. when I'm the only adult in the house all week I like a bit of chat in the background (but I don't do it all day every day).

And there's only so much kids TV I can tolerate. The Disney Channel for periods of more than 30 minutes should be banned as torture by the Geneva Convention.

EthelMercaptan · 17/02/2016 14:13

It's off here unless someone is watching it. If I'm on my own it's never on, in fact I wouldn't even have one! I'm not middle class either.

MerryMarigold · 17/02/2016 14:20

I'm with you, OP, but Dh listens to music ALL DAY LONG, when he is working. It is not a physical job, lots of emails and sorting stuff out which is complex. I just don't know how he can properly listen as well as work, but that is because I am terrible at multi tasking myself. It drives me bananas when he works from home and has his music going on and on and on and on and on and on Hmm Angry.

I too like my peace and quiet, there is precious little of it when the kids are around! But some people seem to like the company of constant noise.

PittedOlive · 17/02/2016 14:22

I'm not middle class either.

Me neither, Ethel, but in my experience there is definitely a class difference when it comes to 'tv on all day' norms. I don't think I've ever visited a middle-middle-class house where the TV was left on in the room when a visitor arrived. (Assuming a wanted/invited visitor, obviously, rather than some bore you hope to deafen into going away with high-decibel Coronation Street Grin).

EthelMercaptan · 17/02/2016 14:28

You might be right Olive! I just don't think I've spent much time with or visiting anyone who watches much tv, somehow. :)

GarlicBake · 17/02/2016 14:29

I have the radio on all the time. I don't use the TV now, but would often have it burbling away while I was doing other stuff.

Feeling cut off from the world at large makes me anxious.

I spend vast amounts of time alone these days, and actually need the radio & internet for my mental health.

Before getting sick, I still preferred to be 'connected' all the time. It's just a personality thing.

Also, silence is a meaningless concept for me as I have tinnitus! Who wants to hear nothing but whistles & whines?

Worst possible environment for me: A silent house with a ticking clock. Urgh.

WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 17/02/2016 14:30

Quote from my 3yo.

Ooh. I like going nannas house. Nanna picture box works.

Ours works, but there is very little I want to watch.

I think it was last on about Thursday. An that was probably for the radio!

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