Watching More than 25 Hours of Television Per Week

For better or worse, television has become our primary medium of communication. According to the Nielsen Corporation, the TV is turned on over 6 hours and 47 minutes in the average household. The average American watches over 4 hours a day. That comes out to 28 hours of TV a week, or two months of uninterrupted television watching a year. As a medium, television is built around the skillful manipulation of images, sanitizing and simplifying complex issues in the process. It can define one's reality, while allowing people to escape their everyday concerns. You've seen the responses to this item on this list. There's a reason why people use television for these purposes. It speaks in the language of familiar, comfortable cliches and exciting images. It's format (news programs, sitcoms, reality shows, etc.) is predictable, providing a mass visual experience that everyone can identify with. It creates a false sense of intimacy with celebrities and other elite figures like acto... Read more

This has nothing to do with class, and a lot to do with having low intellectual discernment powers when it comes to your entertainment options. I haven't had cable or satellite for about five years now, and don't miss it at all. If I want to watch a ball game, I'll drop into the local pub, with or without some buddies. As regards entertainment, if someone recommends a show to me, I'll rent it, and if I like it enough I might buy it. When it comes to news, and current affairs I prefer newspapers, periodicals, and a large range of websites than watching the meat puppet anchors on television. I have no desire to see any reality show, celebrity gossip show, or the other trash that North Americans like amusing themselves to death with. Have I ever seen some of it? Sure, occasionally at a friend's house, or in a clip on the internet. Personally, I'd rather watch a good and well loved movie for the fifty third time than watch five minutes of most of the stuff on television.

I’m always running into snotty people who, among many other things, love to tell you how rarely they watch TV. Yet, so often these are the same people who will chime into conversations about this or that show obviously keenly aware of what is currently on TV. As for me – I am happily unburdened by time and I watch when I feel like it often switching it on when I’m doodling around the house doing other things. Funny thing - I didn’t realize there was a quota. But, as I said, I don’t feel compelled to keep track. I think people who do are probably intellectual posers/climbers and should look into having the cobs removed from their asses.

Just what everybody wants, to sit around the house watching reruns of reruns of reruns. Actually I think it's kind of sad to think that a person don't have anything else to do in life than to sit in front of the tube all day.

That's not low class, that's called "not having a life."

Just means you like the glowing lights and pretty colors.

I would think that the lower class watches a lot more television than other people. Those who are blue collar/working class probably don't watch as much because they are putting in their time on the job. People who watch this much TV are probably either so rich that they don't have to work, or poor because they don't get off their couch.

This has some questions to be sure, but many of us slide over the line during a week. If you watch a national news show morning and evening weekly, that is seven hours. The local news and sports scene adds seven hours. You might catch a talking head show and that adds 5 hours. We are already at 19 hours and we didn't do entertainment yet. I realize that you can cut back the current affairs, but most Americans, who don't live in caves, try to keep track of what is occurring.