Do you have the tv on in the background all day when you are home ?

[IcandothisactuallyIcan]

I don't and my DH says I'm weird as whenever he gets home he puts the tv straight on.

So I'm at home with our nearly one year old all day. DH says I'm the only mum who doesn't watch daytime tv in the background whilst playing/looking after DD.

I didn't have the TV on with my older DS either, although he had daily some tv time everyday once he could focus on it (so from 18 months onward maybe.) My DS had a speech delay and my DH says it because the house is so quiet due to no TV. I of course I do talk to the kids. I do however look at my phone for texts and MN a bit , but try not to all the time, so I guess that's the modern reading a book whilst looking after the kids. He could be right that I'm unusual. I suppose I've never thought to have the tv on and only put it on for the kids to watch stuff. I hadn't considered having bargain hunt on whilst playing cars. Maybe I'll try it for lockdown 2, instead of going out and having occasional company.

I don't really understand the benefit. So, it's just background TV meaning you just turn it onto a random channel and leave it, and you're not actually watching, is that right? So it's purely to fill the silence? I don't get why you'd want the background chatter of Bargain Hunt or Doctors to fill your silence

No, I only put it on if I want to actually watch something, If I'm home during the day and doing stuff around the house I'd be more likely to put on some music

Absolutely not, and DP and DSS think I'm super weird for it, too.

Sometimes I'll be sitting reading my book, and they'll come home and be like it's too quiet in here .. yeah, hence why I have to read my book when you're both out!!!! It's not a pastime they're fond of ..

I will sometimes put some music on through my headphones if I'm doing housework, but if I'm working on my laptop I have to have silence .. or I type the words I'm hearing from the TV!

I only ever have the TV on if I'm actively watching something. The other 2 have it on ALL the time when they're here and it drives me up the wall sometimes, the incessant noise!

Although! If I'm feeling particularly anxious, and I wake up with that 'feeling' of something not being right, a sort of dread, then I actually need noise as I can't bear the silence. So if I'm in silence you know I'm okay!!

Drives me batshit when I'm in a house where this is the norm. I like radi o 4 on in the background but TVs make me want to watch them if they're on, even if it's drivel. Can't stand TVs in pubs either, same problem - it just steals my focus!

@Bwlch
I have no aerial so we don’t have live tv, so no tv licence.
We have netflix, amazon prime, star play, Hulu and Disney+ instead.

My parents have their tv on constantly. I can barely hear myself think but they seem immune to it. This thread has made me realise I have a pretty silent house (no children).

@hetanom

I don't really understand the benefit. So, it's just background TV meaning you just turn it onto a random channel and leave it, and you're not actually watching, is that right? So it's purely to fill the silence? I don't get why you'd want the background chatter of Bargain Hunt or Doctors to fill your silence

You'd want something fairly unobtrusive on, and of put something on I'm interested in, o just wouldn't sit staring at the screen doing nothing else

So in houses where you say its "always on." Don't you ever talk to each other? Have conversations? Do you turn it off then?

Yes, of course. It's just background noise. We're both more than capable of having the television on AND holding a conversation at the same time. If I get a phone call or visitors come over, of course it gets turned off or muted.

When do you do stuff in the house or are you always watching tv? Do you leave it til a break between programs to do cooking etc?

Again, it's just background noise. I do plenty of stuff around the house - so far today I've been out for three+ hours walking dogs (my job), a load of laundry, dishes, fed the cats, vacuumed and steam mopped the floors.

What about mealtimes? Are you still watching tv?

Yep. But we don't have children so we have nobody to set an example for. If we had small DC it would be different. But I really don't see a problem with sitting down and eating in front of the TV anyway.

Dont you ever do anything else at home? Read a book? Play games? Housework? Are uou literally watching tv all day?

It's a bit narrow minded to assume that people can't do more than one thing at once. Just because the TV is on, doesn't mean it has my 100% direct attention all day.

Im just trying to fathom the logistics of always watching tv. I think I watch too much since lockdown as I bingwatch a series occasionally. But even then we're talking a few hours here and there not all day!!

You're looking at it the wrong way. The TV is on as background noise, not because we're sat there watching it for 12-14 hours a day. Some people like listening to music, some listen to talk radio - others prefer the TV. I notice having the radio on all day long doesn't attract the same kind of "naive" bewilderment. Is it because it's a screen? Is that why people are snobby about it? I genuinely don't get it.

My DH is like this and it drives me insane. I do like to have music or the radio on when I'm home alone. But usually its too noisy when the kids are home.

No. I don't have a TV any more!

On what basis does DH claim to know 'what all other SAHM's do'?

I hate the TV being on all the time.

It's been in a lot more this year because I've had the news or the 'House of Commons' on, but I could not stand 'Bargain Hunt/Loise women/Doctors/Paw Patrol on all the bloody time. Even with the news/HoC I get fed up of the 'noise' all the time & it goes off.

@SleepingStandingUp

I think the class thing might determine what you do based on what you think you should do, but whether you have Judge Tinder or Vivaldi on or silence is just about brains working differently. DH and i are both working class, altho he can't remember having ice on the inside of the window so he was warmer working class

I think that's probably right. There's definitely a value judgement for a lot of people (very evident on this thread!) that radio is 'ok' but TV is not.

A friend of mine who is a musicologist finds it bewildering and slightly offensive that I put classical music on in the background when I need to concentrate (I've always done this when writing) - she can't understand how I can have it on but not be properly listening to it. I suspect for her music is as distracting as TV is for me, because we both see it as something we actively 'do', whereas my parents see the TV like I see music - it's on, I know it's on but it doesn't affect my ability to do something else.

@Hardbackwriter I suspect this is also the basis of the wide-eyed confusion of "if the TV is on all day so you sit there and drool into your lap for 12 hours as you pee onto the floor". TV isn't something I actively do, I actually find it hard to concentrate on one thing solidly

No, my TV is in the front room and I am only really in the front room if I am watching TV (in which case obviously it is on), reading (in which case obviously it is off) or entertaining (ditto). I do have the radio on a lot but not constantly - I think it is because I tend to move from room to room a lot and our house is quite spread out so it would be blaring to itself most of the time. I am not snobbish about it, I grew up in a house where the TV was on a lot (although it always went off when guests arrived). It just isn't for me - I either want to watch it or not watch it.

No.

The TV goes on when we sit down to specifically watch a programme, otherwise it is off. I have the radio on while WFH and cooking, but not the TV.

Only since yesterday to watch the elections. Other than that no.

Not the tv, but I am usually listening to podcasts all day, especially when I'm doing housework. It used to be the radio until I discovered the joy of podcasts.

No, radio on instead. If the TV is on its because I specifically want to watch something.

However my husband will have the TV on as background if he's home.

No TV here. I used to have it on more in the day but don't think it's good for DS so we watch a bit first thing in the morning and then it's generally off for the rest of the day. I'd rather read with him than have the TV on!

@SleepingStandingUpepingstanding I think you're right, and it's about how your brain is wired. I love radio 4 but wouldn't listen to it while working because I would actively listen to it, and so stop working! TV is the same for me. For me it's about whether or not it has words, which is why I always listen to classical music if I want something in the background; I find that fine, but music with lyrics distracting. For some people I think visual distractions are much more intrusive than aural ones, which is why they can't imagine having the TV on but will have speech radio on.

Here is a question though. For people that do not have the TV or even radio on for background. Do you not get irritated by the other noises you hear then if there is 'silence' such as clock ticking, footsteps, water dripping, people breathing

@lovepickledlimes

Here is a question though. For people that do not have the TV or even radio on for background. Do you not get irritated by the other noises you hear then if there is 'silence' such as clock ticking, footsteps, water dripping, people breathing

No real noise I could hear from most of the rooms here, and when I am in silence, it's either to read, to work, or just enjoying the peace and quiet but then I am not sitting down so probably not that quiet anyway.

No, I bloody hate the TV on as background. Hideous.

Yes I find lyrics or talk quite distracting