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

[iwuddarryl]

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.
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?

[MewlingQuim]

DH puts the TV on and then picks up a book to read DH will also put the TV on, flick through all the channels, realise there is nothing decent to watch and then wander off upstairs to play computer games leaving the TV on

I must turn the fucking thing off about 5 times a day.

What on earth do people watch all day? There is utter shite on most of the time.

[Xmasbaby11]

I get you. I prefer the radio if I don't want silence. If the TV is on I get distracted from doing what I'm doing.

[NanaNina]

Totally agree pigs (sorry sounds a bit rude!) You're obviously a fellow baby boomer. We had out first TV for the Coronation in 1953 a tiny Bush 9" I think it was and as you say we didn't watch TV in the day - there was nothing on but we were too busy playing outside. Yep TV doesn't go on till 6.00 p.m. for news and tends to stay on.

I know a lot of people with young kids have the TV on all day and I don't think that's a good thing at all - it's just background so the kids don't really appreciate a particular programme. Mine used to watch Sat morning TV and some of the evening programmes as they got older.

A TV on from 6.00 a.m. dear god I'd go crazy

[MashesToPashes]

DH is very much a TV on person. He has also been known to come in from the garden, change the channel from whatever he left on when he went out in the first place and then go back out leaving it unwatched again.

I usually have it off if I'm alone. The exception is the day my Dad died, when I was 12. Mum usually had the TV blaring all the time, but she'd turned it off. The silence was unbearable.

[zeetea]

We're pretty good at turning the telly off when we're not watching it, it's just a waste of energy as I wouldn't be able to hear it from my other rooms. For background noise we have a couple radios about the house anyway so I usually put those on to listen to music if I'm pottering about on my own.

Someone mentioned TalkSport earlier - I LOATHE that station!!! DH listens to it every morning, does my head in. Absolute 90's is my fave -proper tunes in the evenings!

[Owllady]

We watch stuff on sky plus

[LiviaDrusillaAugusta]

Because I like it

Because the radio actively depresses me

Because I need to be on my own when away from work but don't like silence

Because I'm severely depressed and it gives me something else to focus on

Because it's fuck all to do with anyone else

I just don't get what's so terrible about peace and quiet.
Why do you have to have the constant blah blah blah in the baring at you confused

These posts always seem to have a slight sense of superiority like the poster cannot imagine why anyone would do something different to them

[ToastyFingers]

I like background noise or I start to feel antsy and my internal monologue gets a little too loud and intrusive.
TV is convenient, although I'm just as happy to play music or just white noise.

[RortyCrankle]

To answer the OP's question: because they want to. Not rocket science is it.

[LiviaDrusillaAugusta]

Rorty you put it far more succinctly than I!

[CaptainCrunch]

We have friends who used to keep the TV on when we were round at theirs for dinner. It's more him really, he's obsessed with the telly and it drives his wife daft as well.

The last couple of times we were round I asked the TV to be turned off as I thought it would be nicer to listen to music while we ate our dinner, rather than Ant & Dec or somesuch blaring in the background. He was very nice about it and switched it off right away. He even said how much more he'd enjoyed the evening, chatting and listening to music.

I love TV, I really do but it has its place.

[iwuddarryl]

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.

It's the way it takes over and overpowers everything.
Also, by refusing to turn it off, it's affecting other people's enjoyment of their own homes.
You are forcing them to live in constant noise without any breaks.

Surely most adults have enough intelligence about them to be able to cope for a couple of hours without the tv being on?

[Doubleuponcoffee]

It doesn't have anything to do with intelligence

[iwuddarryl]

He's sulking now.
But the TV's gone off

Aaah Bliss for a couple of hours anyway.

[LiviaDrusillaAugusta]

So do only thick people watch TV then? Nice!

And me watching TV does not affect anyone else. I'm not forcing anything on anyone - I live alone.

I'm sure you do things that cause your DH irritation too - surely the issue isn't the TV but the fact he is suddenly at home all the time.

[iwuddarryl]

I prefer silence - how do people think with the TV on?

Maybe that's the whole point. They don't want to think?
The tv being on is equivalent to 'not being on your own'

I've always enjoyed my own company and as much as I love being with people, I also enjoy spells on my own (typical introvert in that way. I need a couple of hours of 'quiet' time during the day to recharge my batteries, otherwise I start to feel stressed)

[iwuddarryl]

Olivia, then I must be 'thick' because I watch tv.

and your point is exactly

[LiviaDrusillaAugusta]

I'm introverted too - but I also have the intelligence to be able to read, play games and do any number of things when the TV is on.

This may be a shock but some people like things you don't - it isn't a reflection of their intelligence any more than its a reflection of yours that you find you can't concentrate on other things when it's on.

[Doubleuponcoffee]

It's nothing to do with thinking. Plenty of people find it easy to
Think during noise.

[LiviaDrusillaAugusta]

I also crave quiet time - but to me that means not having to talk to anyone and having my own space.

Each to their own.

It was you that questioned whether people were intelligent enough to go without the TV for a couple of hours.

[iwuddarryl]

And me watching TV does not affect anyone else. I'm not forcing anything on anyone - I live alone.

It doesn't matter if you want to watch tv all day long.
You live alone, so your noise pollution isn't impacting on any other people in your house.

But when you live in a house with other people, you have to take their needs and mental health into consideration
I get stressed if I don't get a few hours a day respite from constant noise.
A tv (especially the gigantic monsters nowadays) can be heard in most areas of the house.
There's nowhere to hide.
He should consider my feelings.

[Doubleuponcoffee]

You sound very delicate OP. Is DH usually ok with meeting your demands?

[iwuddarryl]

You seem to be taking my dislike of having the tv on all day a bit personally.
I get it:
You like having it on all the time.
Good for you.
I don't.

and your point is

[LiviaDrusillaAugusta]

you live together so you should both consider each other's needs.

This is nothing to do with the TV surely - it's to do with compromising etc that you both have to do when you live together.

[iwuddarryl]

That's a bit below the belt, calling somebody who has sensory issues 'delicate'.
Nice to make fun of what could be a MH issue with some people