Do you leave the TV on for background noise?

[PawsForTea]

Do you only put the tv on if you're going to sit and watch it or do you leave it on for background noise while you work or do housework etc?

That’s what the radio’s for

I like to have the radio on, usually Radio 4 or Radio London. Sometimes I put a playlist on if I don’t like what’s on the radio (Woman’s Hour!). I love telly but generally restrict it to later in the day unless there’s cricket on

No, we only have one TV and it’s in a room we only go into to watch TV, so if I did turn it on I wouldn’t hear it! I never watch it on my own, but listen to music or the Radio.

Never, can't stand indirectly noise like this. Music yes but a TV programme no!

I find it way too overstimulating if I’m not actually watching something. My partner on the other hand used to want it on all the time. When we first started going out together whenever he came round to my flat he’d come in to the living room and be perplexed that it wasn’t on. I understood why when I met his family- they all have the TV on constantly, so he’d just grown up with it like that.
We’ve now got two young children and so it’s now only ever on on the rare occasions we have time to actually sit down and watch the thing!

No, in fact I hate that. It’s a distraction and doesn’t benefit anyone. I do have radio 4 on when I’m cooking though, but that’s just auditory and I am actively listening. If a program comes on I’m not interested in I turn it off.

No. It’s a dreadful habit and I can’t understand it. I mean, I get why people who are used to it do it, but it’s just so much more unnecessary noise and stimulus in an already over-stimulated world.

The snobbery about TV on MN is, well, to be expected I suppose

Oh god no I wouldn’t dream of saying anything like that very rude poster.

I wasn’t thinking about chat radio, that drives me mad as well. I was thinking about something like radio 4. And there Is a podcast about literally everything, for even the nichest of interests. I can guarantee there’ll be loads about crochet for instance.

Anyway, to quote the classic mn cliché, you do you in your own home.

My TV is such a pain to turn on and off that, if I’m in the house, I just turn the volume down.

It’s not superior per se (though I think the old phrase about the pictures being better on the radio is true! ☺️) It’s just that radio / podcasts are designed to be on while you do something else because you don’t have to watch to get the full effect, that’s all. That’s why I think they work better than tv for company / background.

@PersephoneParlormaid Does it not have a on/off button? Who needs a picture flickering away with no sound? Why waste the electricity?

We have the TV on all day as long as someone is home (and even if they aren’t when the dog is home alone). I find it relaxing.

Not tv but I leave an audiobook playing on Alexa day and night.
I find silence oppressive but at the same time am very sensitive to noise.
A quiet voice reading a book is just right for me.

TV news on mute with subtitles in kitchen all the time and radio always on. I like the company.

Dh will have sky sports news on in the background but usually we have radio on if the house feels too quiet. Random tv, not usually unless it's been left on by mistake

I thought it was just my dp. More than once I’ve come home to find the tv on in the lounge, a radio on in the top garden, another radio on in the shed and dp having been at the bottom of the garden for hours unable to hear any of the above. It drives me mad! Now it’s just the radio in his room he leaves in which is audible in the lounge but not loud enough that I can hear what is being said. I often go and turn it off but wish he would.

I used to, all the time especially the TV in the kitchen whilst pottering around in the mornings.

Then I had my DC and now I can’t stand it. I think it’s a bit of an overload with the household noise now. Silence is now a treat!

No but Dh does. I’m not anti telly but I only put it on when I want to watch something. We have more TVs in the house than people 😂
dh will put it on during the day (he’s self employed but regularly home ‘catching up on calls and checking emails’! When really he’s watching columbo and other such stuff). Then he’ll wander off and turn on the tv in the kitchen leaving the one on in the front room. He might then just leave the house and go back to work with both tvs on.
does my head in.
I like podcasts on my phone so I’m not against background noise, there’s just something about a tv rolling relentlessly that annoys me. My mum has it on from the second she goes downstairs to the second she goes to bed. And it’s so loud!

Mines not a pain to turn off, but it is to turn on due to being connected to a surround sound system that's a bit funny about whether it'll let you have sound straight away, or I need to go through the settings to get the right one, and if I take too long to do that it switches itself off and I have to go through even more faff!

Yes in most rooms all the time. Sometimes I watch something on my.phone at the same time but keep the tv on anyway. Then I dip between them and tune into that sound

Always.

Only on if I am specifically watching a programme.

No. I do listen to R4 and Times Radio though.

I put it on for the dogs it seems to calm them a bit. They like come dine with me. Nothing shouty so I have to turn Gordon off. If they’ve been playing up I put Graeme Hall on 😀😀