To think there is nothing actually wrong with watching TV.......

[Miaowing]

.... and for wondering why people get so snobbish and holier than thou about it.

DH and I are in our 50s and childfree by choice. We do stuff but we also watch a LOT of TV. Mainly box sets, movies and sport.

I read a lot - he doesn't but he never has. He's not a book person.

There is nothing IMHO wrong with watching TV yet on here it seems to be a badge of honour not to own one or to be so high and mighty that its beneath you.

In real life I do't know anyone like that - which does make me wonder how there are so many on here.

I have nothing against watching TV. We don’t own one and I’d rather we didn’t raise our DS to use TV as his main form of entertainment but we do watch the odd comedy or documentary of an evening.

What I do object to, is people saying they ‘don’t have time’ to exercise/take up a hobby/cook/read etc. But still manage to watch 2-3 hours of television per night. Don’t tell me you wish you could go running but you don’t have time when you can tell me what happened in Love Island every night this week.

I agree! There are so many terrific programmes and films available. I wonder whether people just watch on a laptop, though, or think by doing so they don't have to pay the licence fee.

Hundreds of years ago certain people thought books were the devil. You can't please everyone. TV is as good or as crap as you make it. I like it. It is actually very rare to find someone who has neither telly nor tablet/laptop. Often after a bit of probing the smugly telly-less watch just as much as the rest of us but on an iPad so apparently it doesn't count. However those who truly use no screens for entertainment - hats off to you.

Just in saying that you have a moral judgement that those activities are superior to watching TV.

Nothing wrong with it so long as you’re not wasting 90% of your spare time watching it. Also depends on the quality of TV you’re watching .

YANBU. TV is better than it’s ever been! My DM is convinced that radio is more virtuous as entertainment but I’m very keen on pictures And she’s got quite into nature programmes recently - much better with pictures!

Well yeah, I do think that being active is a bit superior to watching TV.

Nothing wrong with it, it's just a choice.

Pre-kids I didn't have time to watch tv more than 1 evening a week, since I have had kids, I have even less!

What is funny is people who judge BUT spend just as long browsing the internet... These I laugh at! I 'd rather be watching a movie at work than being on MN but it would be a bit too obvious, so I stick to forums

There’s a difference between planning what to see and sitting down to enjoy it and plonking yourself down to watch endless old rubbish for hours on end - Cops with cameras, border control staff in Australia with cameras, traffic wardens with cameras, job centre plus workers with cameras etc etc.

Both myself & DH enjoy watching TV, especially in winter when we have dark evenings. My young DS also watches TV at 15 months old, much to the disgust of a lot of mums at baby/toddler group! He isn’t sat in front of it all day, we go out and meet with friends every day and obviously play with toys. But whilst I’m getting dinner ready I’ll happily strap him in his chair whilst he watches CBeebies. I know he’s safe whilst I’m too busy to keep an eye on him, most of it is educational and he enjoys it! So many people turn their noses up at me when I tell them he enjoys tv though.

We watch quite a lot of TV, we have Sky, Netflix and Amazon in the living room and bedrooms. My mum seemed to think she was a better person because she didn't watch much TV. . Some people are not very good at accepting other people have different interests to them and get very judgemental about it.

Nothing wrong with watching TV. I'll often see something and think 'oh I didn't know that!', so I'll have learnt something new. I don't sit for hours on end with the telly on just for the sake of it as background noise. But I do enjoy the odd series, film, comedy show.

Humans put things is hierarchies all the time

Eg extrovert > introvert

A lot of the hierarchies eg going out with friends > staying in watching TV come out of the example above

@TinyMystery Will you be investing in a TV when your DS is at the age all his schoolfriends are talking about shows/playing on consoles? Genuinely curious as I'd imagine the pressure will be there so he's not the odd one out.

I love my tv. I only really watch it between about 8-10pm though but only because I am cooking dinner when I get home, then me and DP will have a chat. DP is constantly watching something on her phone though.

Yadnbu
I like the social side. It’s a safe thing to discuss with people at work. And with family and leads to other more important topics

I just find it terribly boring. I'd rather do something than watch someone else do something.

I love TV. It's my wallpaper most of the day - don't necessarily sit and watch but it's on most of the time.

I find it weird how anything that's on a screen is seen as automatically inferior even if it's the same content. My parents think mobile phones are terrible even if you're reading a book or the news (apparently doing this analog is fine though). And YY to people thinking browsing the internet/IG whatever is somehow 'better' than TV, that doesn't make sense either; it can be just as mindless. I don't actually have 'TV' in the sense that I don't receive live TV; just have Netflix/Prime etc. but watch a lot of that. TBH what I do in my free time is no-one else's business and sometimes I just want to switch off and watch some trash. I do plenty of exercise, volunteering. socialising etc. as well as working full-time so I think I deserve a mindless break some evenings. People who are endlessly judgmental really get on my nerves.

I watch less tv now but only due to more time online. I get most of my news from tv because I don’t know how news feeds work.

I didn't have a tv for 10 years as I have a lot of hobbies and mainly listen to radio 4, now I have a tv and don't watch it much but do spend a lot of time of social media catching up with friends and relatives.
But really who cares if other people watch hours of tv, it doesn't affect me at all.
I'd be pissed off if someone said to me why do you spend hours doing that hobby!!

I love it. My seven month old watches some programmes too and really enjoys them. Each to their own!

TV is great. But I only sit down to watch a specific thing and usually on players like iplayer or Netflix. I never just turn it in and see what's on . My kids have it on as background and that drives me crazy ( I run it off)

I don't see the appeal of Love Island etc. but I suppose it's no less intellectually stimulating than me watching endless re-runs of 90s sitcoms so I'll reserve judgment

Mum appears to have some sort of virtue hierarchy:
Spending time with friends or doing stuff outside > reading a book > reading the paper > listening to the radio > watching "good" TV on a TV > watching crap TV > watching TV/ youtube/web surfing on a laptop > doing anything on your phone, which is the lowest of the low. Even if it's texting the friends you spend time with or looking up how to do something specific outdoors which feature at the top of the hierarchy.

As a PP pointed out, we humans love a good old virtue hierarchy (environmentally ethical choices are absolute gold for this)