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Do you keep TV on for long periods?

(81 Posts)
biglouis Sat 02-Sept-23 11:53:08

Just read an interesting thread in Mumsnet about attitudes to having TV on all day.

I tend to only put it on when Im watching something specific. Or if its already on I mute the sound until Im ready to watch again. I do have (loudish) music on most of the day and when Im working at the computer. It helps to blot out background noise which I find distracting. I can quite happily dis-attend the music because its under my control.

When we were kids and we first got a TV it was only put on in the evening. If a visitor arrived my mother immediately turned it off, or turned the sound down. Too bad if it was something I was watching. She believed it was very rude to have the TV on when visitors arrived (even if they were unexpected) as you were not paying due attention to them.

Redhead56 Sat 02-Sept-23 15:49:56

I spend most of my day concocting recipes it's an obsession. If it's nice I am in the sun house or pottering in the garden. In the sun house or garden there is always a recipe book to be found.
I watch the BBC six o'clock news and Northwest tonight and maybe later watch something I recorded. Mortimer and Whitehouse is a favourite at the moment and period dramas.
There's plenty of time on horrid winter days and nights to watch more TV for me.

Shinamae Sat 02-Sept-23 15:53:36

I watch far too much TV…. (And make no apology for it.) 😜🤓😁

StacyAnna Sat 02-Sept-23 15:57:34

TV never on in the daytime. Sometimes switched on around 8pm til about 10, but some nights no TV at all. Love reading, listen to music or the radio……

Primrose53 Sat 02-Sept-23 16:03:03

Watch the morning news on TV in bed. Never have it on during day unless I am ironing. Some evenings there is such rubbish on we don’t turn it on at all.

Ailidh Sat 02-Sept-23 16:05:30

I put it on in the afternoon until I go to bed. I always turn it off if someone calls round.

I watch very little live TV, so I'm usually watching a recording or a stream, so I don't miss anything. Not that it would matter if I did, guests first!!

crazyH Sat 02-Sept-23 16:05:54

My TV is on all day - it’s company, more than anything else 😫

BlueBelle Sat 02-Sept-23 16:08:56

It’s on when I m in the house mostly mid afternoon onwards

Grandma70s Sat 02-Sept-23 16:11:37

I am more or less housebound so I have TV on a lot. If there’s nothing better, I watch BBC news. I like documentaries and factual programmes, not interested in soap operas. I love good comedy when there is any.

Glamdram Sat 02-Sept-23 16:18:49

No TV on all day over here. Too busy doing stuff.Except we watch Netflix in the evening thats all

silverlining48 Sat 02-Sept-23 17:16:35

Listen to the radio all day and only out the tv on fir the 6 pm news and then choose what to watch. Switch off after late news. Bed. And repeat 🔁…..

sodapop Sat 02-Sept-23 17:27:08

I have the radio on during the day then the TV late afternoon and evening. Of course if we have guests the TV is switched off. When I was young I was only allowed to switch on the TV for specific programmes. There were some good radio shows on in those days as well.

biglouis Sat 02-Sept-23 17:27:53

I dont have a TV in the bedroom and dont keep a phone in their either. Bedrooms are for sleeping. However I do have a radio (which sends me to sleep) and will take a mobile only if/when expecting an important call.

eddiecat78 Sat 02-Sept-23 17:28:41

My father refused to watch tele before the 6pm as a matter of principle - which exasperated me when he was constantly complaining of being bored in his carehome and I knew there were history programmes on in the afternoon that he would have enjoyed

luluaugust Sat 02-Sept-23 17:36:04

We usually watch the news at lunchtime and then late afternoon followed by mid evening. In the winter it is sometimes on a bit more

Ziplok Sat 02-Sept-23 17:50:35

No, it’s never on all day for the sake of it. Put it on when there’s something we want to watch, otherwise it stays switched off. Electricity costs enough as it is.

CanadianGran Sat 02-Sept-23 18:14:15

Ours is on all day. DH is a sports fan, so it seems there is always a baseball game somewhere (or hockey, football, golf, etc.) He potters about the house all day and most of the time I will walk into the room with a sports game on and DH nowhere to be found. He even has a TV in his garden shed that is always on!

I will turn it to the radio channel, so the music goes through the TV speakers.

ginny Sat 02-Sept-23 18:15:21

We tend to just have it on for particular programmes .If DH has sport on I’ll go off and do something elsewhere.
I couldn’t bear to have it on in the background all day. Same with the radio. I like to hear myself think.

Oreo Sat 02-Sept-23 18:18:16

Shinamae

I watch far too much TV…. (And make no apology for it.) 😜🤓😁

😄
I’d like to watch more but with work, childcare, housework to be done I don’t get to see much.
DP puts it on the moment he gets in from work.

MrsKen33 Sat 02-Sept-23 18:32:09

We very rarely have it on during the day and don’t watch much ordinary TV now. Iplayer and Netflix in the evening, or just read.

Sara1954 Sat 02-Sept-23 19:05:21

My television doesn’t go on much, I will be watching Strictly, and I sometimes watch a police drama, but I can’t stand it as background noise.
My husband on the other hand, turns his on the minute he gets in from work, and it stays on till he goes to bed, whether he’s watching it or not.
One reason downsizing would be difficult.

M0nica Sat 02-Sept-23 19:49:38

If someone came in and stole mine I probably wouldn't notice.

AskAlice Sat 02-Sept-23 19:58:28

I much prefer to have Boom Radio playing as background noise during the day- wonderful music from my Yoof! Don't tend to watch TV until around 8pm and then I cherry-pick from all the available programmes on mainsteam TV, Netflix, Prime, Freeview. DH watches much more TV than me during the day, but then I'm busy doing other things that interest me more than him, like sewing, gardening, reading etc.

Fleurpepper Sat 02-Sept-23 20:05:02

biglouis

I dont have a TV in the bedroom and dont keep a phone in their either. Bedrooms are for sleeping. However I do have a radio (which sends me to sleep) and will take a mobile only if/when expecting an important call.

This 100%. No TV, radio, or any disturbing artificial lights - dark and cool, with windows open.

Doodledog Sat 02-Sept-23 21:02:07

eddiecat78

My father refused to watch tele before the 6pm as a matter of principle - which exasperated me when he was constantly complaining of being bored in his carehome and I knew there were history programmes on in the afternoon that he would have enjoyed

I don't understand people making principles out of (to me) pointless things, such as getting dressed first thing and not watching TV before a self-imposed time. My mum is a bit that way - she won't stay up to watch something she'd enjoy as she 'has to get up' in the morning, even though she has no appointments and lives alone. Each to their own, obviously, but as I see it there are enough obligations in life without making our own.

I don't have the TV on unless I'm watching it, but will sometimes flick through and look for something to watch, which I didn't do before I retired - when I was working I only put it on if I knew I wanted to watch something. I have more time now, so if I'm doing nothing I will seek out a film or series to watch.

I enjoy a series binge, too, and will happily sit and watch several episodes back to back if I feel like it. That's so much easier now that there are so many channels available. I'm currently watching Daisy Jones and the Six (Amazon) and enjoying it. I follow Coronation Street, but don't watch a lot of live TV otherwise - I mainly watch catch-up or stream things as I fancy seeing them. I also much prefer to see a whole series in one go, and feel irritated when channels don't put all the episodes on their players at the start grin.

It would go off if visitors arrived, but very few people 'drop in', so that's not really an issue.

Lomo123 Sat 02-Sept-23 21:10:33

On for the news in the morning, then radio. Nothing would get done in the house if it was on!.