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It's probably even worse if you add in WoW...

RymRym
edited September 2009 in Everything Else
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  • Kate MonsterKate Monster
    edited September 2009
    8 hours a day?! That is insane. If I am home sick or occasionally marathon a show, then sure. However, 8 hours a day, every day is just incredible. When do people have time to work, cook, sleep, run errands, engage in any other hobby, read, etc. when they spend that much time watching TV? I like watching TV and even I wouldn't enjoy watching that much of it.
    Post edited by Kate Monster on
  • FunfetusFunfetus
    How can you even watch 8 hours of TV a day? I mean, you sleep for 8 hours, work for 8 hours, maybe you commute for two hours -- that doesn't even leave 8 hours. You've gotta be losing sleep and literally doing nothing else to watch that much TV.
  • loltsundereloltsundere
    edited September 2009
    And these numbers make even LESS sense considering all of the reprehensible crap on television nowadays.

    I don't even have a TV that does anything besides DVDs and games, and even then it's an average 2 hours a day at MOST.

    Honestly, losing access to cable and analog TV was a blessing. Didn't take me more than a day or two to realize I didn't miss it at all.
    Post edited by loltsundere on
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    I guess it depends on what you define as "watching." My TV is pretty much on all the time when I'm at home, but it is often just background noise, or I'm just listening to it while I am doing something else.
  • AprecheApreche
    How can you even watch 8 hours of TV a day? I mean, you sleep for 8 hours, work for 8 hours, maybe you commute for two hours -- that doesn't even leave 8 hours. You've gotta be losing sleep and literally doing nothing else to watch that much TV.
    Remember, this is the average. There are plenty of people like Rym and myself who watch zero. That means we are balanced out by people who do nothing but watch TV.

    I think the people who are throwing off the average are the unemployed adults, or anyone else who works from home or stays home all day. They're watching the morning shows, the daytime TV, and the prime time, and maybe even the late night. Also throwing off the average are old people like my grandma without hobbies. She spends most of her time watching any TV show that involves police, detectives, and/or courts.
  • gomidoggomidog
    edited September 2009
    Oh, good Lord. Who are these people?

    I get antsy if I spend more than 3 or four hours in front of a screen. It is necessary for work, but I look forward to lunch. I can't imagine watching TV all day every day. If occasionally I spend a Saturday where I goof off on the computer for six or seven hours, I feel bleh, like I have eaten too much food, but instead have done too much Youtube and forum. Plus, that is a fairly rare occurrence. This is a DAILY AVERAGE! Whoa!
    We can't just blame it on the bored old people, because Japan and Norway and the other countries have more old people than we do.
    Are the housewives just eating bonbons and watching soaps like people accuse them of? Are the kids not studying or going outside?
    Maybe if the stay at home men and ladies watching all that TV walked to the green grocer and bakery everyday, purchased good vegetables and bread, and went home to cook a healthy meal they would be less fat. Maybe if the kids went outside and climbed trees and read books they would get better grades.

    The thing I worry about is that even if TV dies as a technology, computer just replaces it as entertainment. Computer use is complicated because it is a tool I use to do all my professional work and a few of my chores (such as paying bills, ordering necessary housewares, etc.), but it can just as easily be used as a way to turn off your brain and sit around doing nothing. At least I can choose when and what I watch. Still...

    In short: Dude...country fail.

    edit:
    unemployed adults, or anyone else who works from home or stays home all day.
    Then they should be working-from-home got-dammit! Even when I had the swine flu I work-worked for at least 6 hours a day which was more than I randomly interneted.
    Besides, if I was unemployed I would be going around everywhere drawing people and hiking and stuff. I cannot live in a vacuum, with entertainment being fed to me. I have to be making something, too.
    Post edited by gomidog on
  • loltsundereloltsundere
    I spend a Saturday when I goof off on the computer for six or seven hours, I feel bleh, like I have eaten too much food, but instead have done too much Youtube and forum.
    I feel the EXACT same way when I do that. All gross and almost depressed with myself.

    Here's another suggestion - how about turning it off at dinner time and actually talking with each other?
  • theknoxinatortheknoxinator
    I would be interested to know what the sample is for this. Number? Demographics? Or is it just information taken from Nielsen?

    In any case, it is pretty disgusting how much TV people watch. Once I broke the habit of watching TV, I honestly get uncomfortable, like I have to get away from it, whenever I'm around TV these days. True that I have replaced that with various things like games, movies, streaming media, podcasts, etc., but even then, if I have the opportunity to go do something outside with friends, I always prefer that over staying in. The difference between the US and everyone else is just staggering though.
  • RymRym
    I cannot live in a vacuum, with entertainment being fed to me. I have to be making something, too.
    I have a sad feeling that this spark is one of the primary differences between the productive minority and the TV-watching masses.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    I watch hardly any TV. If they used the mean average, somebody is watching more than 8 hours. I'm shocked.

    Did the OECD get these statistics from an advocacy group? It seems really hard to believe.

    And what the heck is so good about Greek television? Or are reruns of Saved By the Bell really addictive to the Greeks?

    And don't forget... 2007 was a good year for TV. Britney Spears shaved her head, Lindsey Lohan got arrested for DWI, and Paris Hilton went to jail. The E! Network must have been the reason these stats are so high.

    What's really sad is that 2007 was the year of the writer's strike in the U.S.
  • gomidoggomidog
    edited September 2009
    And what the heck is so good about Greek television?
    Attack of the Giant Moussaka!

    (It's really a movie!)
    Post edited by gomidog on
  • AprecheApreche
    edited September 2009
    24 hour news networks are also probably throwing off the average a bit. Whenever I go to get an oil change at Valvoline there is a TV with news on all day long.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • gomidoggomidog
    Ah! That could be part of it! TVs are in bars and airports and all over the place.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited September 2009
    Shouldn't the title of this thread be "It's probably worse if you include video games..".

    I'm getting a strong feeling that this is one of those studies that's had a spin put on it by the media to make it a better story.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • gomidoggomidog
    Still, Americans do watch too dang much TV, regardless of this study.
    They are also fat and stupid from grade inflation.

    And this is all true because I see it with my eyes.
  • WyattWyatt
    You guys are over reacting. All this graph proves is that their isn't anything good to watch in other countries. Be happy you live in a country with such fine television programs such as: Mad T.V., ESPN 8, Fox News, and what ever the hell is on the USA Network (except Wings). *This Troll brought to you Mom's Old Fashion Robot Oil.

    I probably watch more British shows then the British do... That's weird.
  • RymRym
    You guys are over reacting. All this graph proves is that their isn't anything good to watch in other countries. Be happy you live in a country with such fine television programs such as: Mad T.V., ESPN 8, Fox News, and what ever the hell is on the USA Network (except Wings).
    8/10. That was a troll worthy of Fark. I'm proud of you.
  • Li_AkahiLi_Akahi
    edited September 2009
    ESPN 8
    The ocho? That channel is full of only high-quality programming! Where else are you going to see atomic underwater basket weaving?
    Post edited by Li_Akahi on
  • WalkerWalker
    I wonder how they took this survey. There's no mention of their methods in the article.
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    edited September 2009
    I cannot live in a vacuum, with entertainment being fed to me. I have to be making something, too.
    I have a sad feeling that this spark is one of the primary differences between the productive minority and the TV-watching masses.
    This is exactly fucking why WoW has taken over so many lives! It all makes sense! The productive types scratch that productive itch by playing WoW, because it makes them feel productive.
    Post edited by Vhdblood on
  • gomidoggomidog
    But you aren't actually producing anything! It just feels like working at something, but it doesn't do anything!
  • GeoGeo
    And what the heck is so good about Greek television?
    Attack of the Giant Moussaka!

    (It's really a movie!)
    Ah yeah! That reminds of those Turkish unlicensed movies they make, such as Turkish Superman.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Yea, I wonder if they count video games in there. I mean some of those days back when I was a kid playing stuff like FFIII I would log insane amounts of time.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    That reminds of those Turkish unlicensed movies they make, such as Turkish Superman.
  • Kate MonsterKate Monster
    edited September 2009
    I think there are some AMAZING shows on television (Dexter, True Blood, Glee, Mad Men, Project Runway, 30 Rock, Monk, Heroes, etc.) and a lot of okay shows (Bing Bang Theory, Warehouse 13, Chuck, Psych, Burn Notice, etc.), but I don't sit and watch it all day long. I usually miss most of these shows as they come out and hulu/download them when it is convenient for me (when I am doing a project in the house or on the occasional Sunday when I just want to watch TV, read, and/or watch movies).
    I think the numbers are being thrown off a bit by the fact it is the average "household". The kids may come home and watch a couple of hours of cartoons, the folks may watch an hour of news and a couple hours of shows (before or after work) and perhaps multiple TVs may be on at the same time (so even though two people are watching an hour show at the same time on two different sets, it may count as 2 hours). I have no clue how people could watch that much TV on a daily basis without factoring in all of that.

    As for calling all Americans fat, lazy, TV addicted idiots... I am sorry, but it simply isn't the case. While there is that element - it isn't the entire population. For those that would turn their noses down at their fellow countrymen, I wonder how much they are doing to help combat the ignorance that leads to these behaviors besides derision.
    Post edited by Kate Monster on
  • NuriNuri
    I wonder if they take into account people who are doing other things while watching TV. My roommate puts on the TV while she reads. I like to knit while watching things. Occasionally we will put something on while we eat. People don't have to watch TV to the exclusion of all else.

    Still though...8 hours is a shit-ton of TV. I don't even think I have enough good shows to watch to do that every day, even if I did have time.
  • RailithRailith
    Does this count video games? The only actual TV I watch is sports, the news, and sometimes a new episode of a cartoon I like.
  • gomidoggomidog
    edited September 2009
    As for calling all Americans fat, lazy, TV addicted idiots... I am sorry, but it simply isn't the case. While there is that element - it isn't the entire population. For those that would turn their noses down at their fellow countrymen, I wonder how much they are doing to help combat the ignorance that leads to these behaviors besides derision.
    But there is an element of that! I see the stereotype proven all the time! It makes me frustrated because I am an American and I am not that, and neither are many, many of the people in this area. However, I was in the grocery store, looking at the racks of tabloids and watching fat indignant ladies bitch at each other, and I became very depressed for my nation. They exist! I see them on the news! They make me mad, because they make me look bad! They are like these women who conform to sexist stereotypes, or the gaijin who is a complete jackass to Japanese people. I feel like they are making it harder for those of use who try to break out of that image.
    Don't confuse what I say for Nineless's "You are stupid because you are an American!" BS. However, fatness and poor education/study habits/anti-intellectualism is a real problem here and it makes me mad. It especially ticks me off because these are caused mostly by PEOPLE NOT MAKING AN EFFORT! Basically, I combat the American stereotype by NOT BEING ONE OF THESE PEOPLE!

    In short, I do not hate Americans because they are Americans, but I am sometimes frustrated by the group because of some facets of its population. It's like when I see racist white people, and I am uncomfortable to be part of an assumed group with them.
    Post edited by gomidog on
  • AndrewAndrew
    But there is an element of that! I see the stereotype proven all the time! It makes me frustrated because I am an American and I am not that, and neither are many, many of the people in this area. However, I was in the grocery store, looking at the racks of tabloids and watching fat indignant ladies bitch at each other, and I became very depressed for my nation. They exist! I see them on the news! They make me mad, because they make me look bad! They are like these women who conform to sexist stereotypes. I feel like they are making it harder for those of use who try to break out of that image.
    Don't confuse what I say for Nineless's "You are stupid because you are an American!" BS. However, fatness and poor education/study habits/anti-intellectualism is a real problem here and it makes me mad. It especially ticks me off because these are caused mostly by PEOPLE NOT MAKING AN EFFORT! Basically, I combat the American stereotype by NOT BEING ONE OF THESE PEOPLE!
    Sounds like confirmation bias to me...
  • gomidoggomidog
    Perhaps. I was ranting.
    However, aren't fatness and anti-intellectualism a problem in America, and doesn't it tick you off?
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