zlacker

Who has 4-5 hrs a day to watch television? ..or am I completely out of touch?

>>seemaz+(OP)
_actively_ watch? Probably not many. Having it on as background noise however? 5 hours is pretty easy

>>seemaz+(OP)
watch, or leave running as background noise …

>>hprota+U
Any recommendations for shows that make good background noise? I wish they had more concerts.

>>edude0+T
Is that still a thing with young people? I associate leaving the TV on in the background as an older generation thing.

>>colord+Yk
I'm middle aged. This kind of background noise sounds terrible to me.

Maybe I just grew up in a quiet place.

>>seemaz+(OP)
According to historical Nielsen data[1] from 1991 to 2009: most Americans.

Even back to 1950, for per household data, it was above 4 hours.

[1] https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2009/average-tv-viewing-for...

>>dguest+Sl
There are people who like to hear other humans blathering on all around them. Then there are sane people.

We're outnumbered.

>>Tempes+V7
Happy british baking children! I dont know what its called but it is on netflix and they are indeed happy, british and they bake. Or just put on Asianometry if you need to focus a bit more. I must have been through his back log a dozen times at this point. There is something about that mans voice that helps relax and focus like nothing else

>>seemaz+(OP)
Children, sadly.

>>dguest+Sl
John Von Neumann liked to do math with the TV on as background noise. Genius.

>>dguest+Sl
It is terrible, yet quite some people rather have that distracting noise, than hear their own thoughts.

For some it is just the illusion of having more people around them, though.

>>colord+Yk
I mean I use youtube lets plays or twitch streams for that, but yes its still a thing.

>>dguest+Sl
When you have permanent background noise in the form of Tinnitus already it's an improvement.

>>Brybry+4q
Thats per household, not per person. That's different. And households also tended to get smaller.

>>colord+Yk
If Millennial still = young then yeah, YT or something in background on TV, doing something on laptop (dev, or photo editing or other) and then occasionally phone over laptop as well to reply to chats and stuff.

I would kill for some decent high res wide fov AR glasses.

>>dguest+Sl
I grew up being accustomed to having the TV as background noise but stopped watching it when I moved out. Now, when I visit my parents, it's honestly quite difficult for me to focus on conversation - there's a machine in the corner making deliberately attention-grabbing sights and sounds. So I think your experience is normal & I empathise with the generation that complained about TV ruining family life.

>>Tempes+V7
the ones i see most often are: The Office, Futurama, Simpsons, Friends, Brooklyn 99, How It's Made (my favourite)

kids these days mostly use youtube or twitch for background noise i think

>>seemaz+(OP)
Families sharing an internet connection. Kids watch 1 o 2 hours each, mom and dad another hour each.

>>dguest+Sl
Same and same and same, but I know exactly why I won't leave the telly on - I'm very susceptible. It grabs me. Even though I have no interest in ads or even 95% of programming. It's not a pleasant feeling.

>>colord+Yk
It's a normie thing coping with unbearable ringing emptiness of mind. My sister and niece (7yo) do it.

>>hprota+U
Shouldn't audio (radio) suffice for that?

>>panick+lJ
The 1991 data and on was 4+ hours per person (older than 2). 7-8 hours per household.

They didn't have per person for the 1950 to 1990 data, only household (pdf in the link).

>>Tempes+V7
For me it depends on what I'm doing. During working hours I have Soma FM playing at a low volume. Otherwise I'll probably have cooking videos or history documentaries playing as the background noise.

>>Goblin+RK
"What's a radio?" the kids ask.

>>fennec+qJ
Millennials are currently in their late 20s to early 40s.

>>dr_dsh+6A
I heard all those stories about Von Neumann working like that. According to a biography, his wife once designated a room as his office and he became very angry about that since it was too quiet for him to work there.

Personally I need almost complete silence in order to get anything done, his abilities in this regard always fascinated me.

>>jimmy7+AI1
It's just a different kind of environmental requirement.

It's useful for some people to have recognisable sounds going on while they work, so they have something to latch their focus if they lose it for a second. Whether that be music, or every seinfeld episode on a shuffled loop on the TV.

I have found it useful in the past to listen through every song I have on shuffle while I read, which was nice when I took a few-seconds break every couple of pages and came across a song I wouldn't have picked out otherwise. Alt-tabbing out of a podcast or something completely wrecks my focus on both for some reason though.

>>Brybry+4q
2022 data from the BLS: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t11A.htm

Men spent 3 hours a day watching TV, and women 2.5 hours. But TV time is lower (around 2 hrs/day) from ages 20-44, then increases again after 45 and peaks at 75 years old at nearly 5 hours a day.

Households without kids watch more TV, which surprised me.

>>solard+HG2
That's a nice find. I think BLS leisure time data is from the American Time Use Survey [1] which I think is asking something similar to this questionnaire [2] on page 22.

I'm not sure that's saying household time. For example, when they survey a household it wasn't clear to me if they survey everyone in the household or just one person. If it's one person then it sounds like they collect how that one person (age 15+) spent their own time and if there were kids in their household.

So then it'd be accurate to say that individuals in households without kids watch more TV as a singular activity (the survey doesn't allow simultaneous activities).

In comparison Nielsen used TV viewing diaries and automated data collection meters. You could have the TV on in the background while doing chores and it would still count.

It's interesting that the 2009 ATUS survey [3] had a 2.82 hour/person average because that's fairly different from the Nielsen data (4 hours 49 minutes/person).

I wonder if this difference is people underreporting in ATUS or Nielsen overreporting or a factor of differences in limitations in ATUS (no simultaneous activities allowed, 15+ age limitation) or Nielsen.

[1] https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/atus/data.htm

[2] https://www.bls.gov/tus/questionnaires/tuquestionnaire.pdf

[3] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/atus_06222010.pdf

>>colord+Yk
sure, it's just Critical Role playing on the YT app on their tv, rather than some cable channel.

>>jimmy7+AI1
I actually prefer to work in a cafe setting, where there is a good amount of non-directed background noise; no one talking to me, but just to each other.

If it's dead quiet, I become hyper-alert to noises, to the point I can't concentrate on working.