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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:
LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 17/02/2016 20:00

And the only time I listen to the radio is when it goes off as my alarm - the inane bollocks they speak is a million miles away from what i would watch on TV.

Pipbin · 17/02/2016 20:26

Laguna most daytime TV is dross. Most Radio 4 output is not. But I accept that is just my opinion.

But in my opinion the main difference between TV and radio is the way that TV can take you entire attention. With the radio you can get on a do other suff.

That said, today the TV has become just another screen. Very often the TV is on in the background as we do other stuff on the computer, iPad or phone.

CanadianJohn · 17/02/2016 20:42

Some people apparently can't think without music or distractions, and others say that they need silence to think.

I (used to) organise chess tournament for children, no music/tv/ headphones allowed. When I get around to it I'll ask the kids if they think they could concentrate better on chess if they were allowed headphones.

BackInTheRealWorld · 17/02/2016 21:49

I had to split up with a boyfriend once cos he had to have the radio on all night or he couldn't sleep - and I had to have the radio off or I would have stabbed him.

Orda1 · 17/02/2016 22:04

No, I don't have it on all day, I'm at work Confused

kittykarate · 17/02/2016 22:14

I prefer to have some noise generation rather than silence (e.g. radio/audiobook/tv) as it stops me hearing my tinnitus quite so much. I find tinnitus very disruptive to concentration or relaxation, but I wouldn't have the tv blaring, and I avoid watching/ignoring things that turn my brain to cheese.

AnnieOnnieMouse · 18/02/2016 02:20

The difference between TV and mumsnet, etc, is that the screen on this is fairly static, and I keep the speakers turned off. I can't bear the flashing images on a TV screen, or the babble of voices, especially the loud adverts. I find it very tiring to have a TV on, whereas I can simply ignore the PC, and it sends itself to sleep. I do like music on when I'm doing housework/DIY etc.

NerrSnerr · 18/02/2016 02:23

Orda people are clearly talking about days they are at home. I clearly don't have it on all day when I'm at work, just weekends/ annual leave when I am not out doing something else. I don't think it's that confusing.

GarlicBake · 18/02/2016 02:49

I don't know how anyone can watch things like planet earth or panorama and deny the quality and importance - the vitality- of TV.

Very good point, Double.

You made me think about the kind of TV I used to have playing. For 'watching', I'd find something that engaged my attention - intellectually, dramatically, visually, whatever - then for background I'd play seamless Channel 5 back catalogue Grin Their detective series are so formulaic that I could follow with very light attention (I used always to have them on while programming, for instance), switch my focus to the screen if a denouement was coming, then fade my attention out again.

Now I'm remembering it, I miss it! Perhaps I should get a TV.

GarlicBake · 18/02/2016 02:50
  • programming = writing code, not planning my viewing!
mrtwitsglasseye · 18/02/2016 07:41

My parents do this. It does my head in.

We don't have an actual TV but do watch I player, it goes on when we want to watch something and off when it finishes. Exactly the same with TV when we had one.

Catsize · 18/02/2016 08:10

I had a friend who put the TV on all day and then put CDs on at the same time. Couldn't stand it!

Rinceoir · 18/02/2016 08:18

My parents and in laws both do this. Radio blaring in kitchen, TV blaring in living room. Them shouting over it. It drives me nuts. My parents think I'm "sensitive" to noise but I just like to have a conversation without TV intruding! Equally when I'm watching TV I like to watch it without having constant conversation over it.

KaraokeQueenOfTheNorth · 18/02/2016 08:30

I was never allowed to watch any tv as a kid, ever. So as soon as I became a grown up, on went the TV and I never want to turn it off Grin

I love tv. I like the background noise, I like watching it, I like chilling out and letting it just wash over me.

I wonder whether I feel like I might miss something if it's off?! I was teased A LOT as a kid for not watching TV (my best friend used to tell me every day what was happening in Eastenders so I could join in conversations...)

DamascusTwelve · 18/02/2016 09:07

I find this thread fascinating - this really seems to be something so binary. For interest, I'm definitely someone who doesn't have the TV on, and my DB will have Sky Sports News on in the background all day and it makes it hard to talk because my concentration is often drawn away

murphys · 18/02/2016 09:28

I am going to agree with Awake. I think it is a cultural thing. I lived in the UK for a while, and it was one of the first things I noticed that was different from how we lived in another country. I couldn't understand when I visited people, that it was 1) on during the day, 2) if it was on (as not every single house I visited had it on, but a lot did), then it wasn't turned off when you are sitting having a conversation... no-one was watching it, it was... just there..on... blaring in the background Wink

Now we quite often get visitors from the UK who stay with us. The first thing they do is ask if they can turn the tv on... fine if they want to watch something, but then they leave, and leave it on! And why, oh why, do they have to watch the news ALL THE TIME. I did quite politely say something along the lines of, I am sure not much has happened in the news from when you watched it half and hour ago.... but I suppose its my own fault for handing over the remote and saying "help yourself".

I think it is maybe as tv isn't that important to us. As a child growing up we didn't even have a television, it only started in the late 70's, but we didn't get a tv in our house until the late 80's at which point I was no longer a child Wink. And also when it did first start, it was only on for 2 hours a night 6-8pm. And English programs were Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and our 2nd language in our country had their programmes/news on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays. Sunday was the day of rest. Wink

LagunaBubbles · 18/02/2016 09:45

Pipbin, thats my point, that we all have different opinions. If Im off work there's loads stuff I would probably watch during the day that I dont think is dross, Ive got about loads episodes Crminal Minds on my Sky Plus that I will get round to watching one day to! And Radio 4 bores me. If I'm not watching anything specific the chances are it will be a music channel. But I can read and watch TV at the same time.

Anniegetyourgun · 18/02/2016 09:47

I do have a big shiny flat screen TV (yes, even while I was unemployed I had it - DWP should have taken it away for the duration) but I turn it on once in a blue moon to watch DVDs, and that's it. This is not a moral superiority thing (quite the reverse, given what I do instead eg faffing on MN and mindless computer games). I listen to the radio first thing in the morning and in the car, so I do get to hear some news, and have on the odd occasion watched something on iPlayer. However, when I go to other people's houses and they have the telly on I become instantly hypnotised by it. So it's probably just as well I don't use mine properly.

Micah · 18/02/2016 09:51

Yep, dh too. He'll come home, switch the tv on, then disappear to the shed.

Then moan at me for leaving lights on. Or for switching it off because he was "just about to watch"

I can't stand it. Rarely have it on.

Original poster
iwuddarryl · 18/02/2016 19:51

I find this thread fascinating - this really seems to be something so binary. For interest, I'm definitely someone who doesn't have the TV on, and my DB will have Sky Sports News on in the background all day and it makes it hard to talk because my concentration is often drawn away

I wonder whether it's to do with personality types.
Introverts have to have some peace and quiet, whereas the more extrovert types crave company.

My OH is an extrovert. fMe not so much.

OP posts:
Original poster
iwuddarryl · 18/02/2016 19:53

Yep, dh too. He'll come home, switch the tv on, then disappear to the shed.

Love it!
That sounds like habit.

OP posts:
cleaty · 18/02/2016 19:57

I love silence. But I don't like the snobbery of radio 4 being seen as okay, and TV being seen as bad.

Believeitornot · 18/02/2016 20:01

We rarely have the tv on apart from for the children. I did read somewhere that background tv isn't great for speech development in children hence the restriction (they watch two hours a day at most).

On the rare days that the kids don't have tv, they're actually in better moods!

hazeyjane · 18/02/2016 20:02

There is dross on TV. There is dross on radio 4 (although the dross on Tv knows it's dross) Some of the plays on radio 4 bleeding awful and comedy that is, well, not comedy.

If I have the tv on as background it is usually news or old films.

I am one of those people who can't sleep without the radio on, and it has to be talking not music, dh thought I was mad when we got together!

Orda1 · 18/02/2016 20:17

Well people are rather implying all day everyday.