5 ms·

Some elderly people who live alone like the TV on for company - in many cases they aren't even watching it properly, they just have it on in the background to f

by m-i-l 7y ago

Some elderly people who live alone like the TV on for company - in many cases they aren't even watching it properly, they just have it on in the background to feel less lonely, like there are other people in the house with them. The article even alludes to this albeit in negative terms "this includes time spent engaged in other activities while the television is blaring in the background". But it is a very different pattern from being "screen-obsessed" and "waste hours ... fritter on chat-shows and repeats of soaps". I think the author could benefit from showing a little more sympathy towards people who have circumstances different from their own.

watwut 7y ago
Yes, it is valid strategy. Not only elderly do it. I have seen women who cared for children to do it too. Otherwise there is too much silence and nothing interesting going on whole day, it helps to keep sanity. Morning tv programs and soap operas are designed especially for people like that.
- fuzz4lyfe 7y ago
  If you have a family and a small house having the TV on can provide some much needed privacy that you do not have in a dead silent house. A lot of it may be habit from having kids, something a good number of younger journalists can't relate to.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  I've done it as a man too.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
buboard 7y ago
That's how TV worked (for those who remember the TV days). In most slow/quiet/boring places there was a tv in the background .
fredley 7y ago
When I have a few days alone at home for whatever reason I'll usually leave the radio (BBC Radio 4) on in the background, it definitely makes a difference.
neltnerb 7y ago
We mostly got the grandparents on facebook because they kept complaining about not getting photos in the mail anymore. This give them the ability to see the photos of the grandkids and great grandkids in the system that their kids and grandkids actually use. Of course I'm more than a little nervous about facebook radicalization and scams, but we made sure she does things like not use her real photo and luckily my aunt that lives nearby is very tech-savvy and paranoid. But unfortunately facebook seems to be the best option for helping more isolated elderly people connect with their families.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- lonelappde 7y ago
  I know Google is gets criticism, but if you want to share photos with grandparents, Google Photos is well designed for that purpose and avoids many of Facebook's problems.
- otras 7y ago
  Preface: this is going to sound like an advertisement, but I promise I'm not connected in any way. I just like the idea. Have you heard of NanaGram? (https://nanagram.co/ https://nanagram.co/). It's a service that regularly mails physical copies of photos to someone you choose, and it's one of the most "of course that should be a product" products that I've seen recently.
  - diminoten 7y ago
    It's a winner of an idea, because Facebook lets us work around the real goal of grandparents when they ask us for regular updates; attention. Giving our elderly family members ways of passively observing us defeats their goal of wanting us to talk to them, but a NanaGram is a specific, actionable gift that demonstrates this abstract, "Well they must be thinking of me!" concept that they can then extrapolate however they need.
    - aacook 7y ago
vinbreau 7y ago
Or they were conditioned to this as the normal state. I grew up in a home with three TVs: living room, parent's bedroom, my bedroom. The TV in the living room was on 24 hours a day. It only went off if we left the house. My father was an insomniac and so it stayed on all night too. The one in their bedroom was on most of the time. It usually only went off at night when my father moved to the couch in the living room to let my mother sleep. For years after I moved out I had to have a TV on at all times or else the place I was in felt empty and too quiet. When I realized this about myself I cut cable out of my life and can barely stand the TV now. When we visit my mom, it's always on, and it's always on FOX. My father sat in front of it every day until he died of dementia. My mother can't break the habit now. Even when we visit she keeps it on and occasionally watches it instead of engaging with us and is making it very hard to visit.

by m-i-l 7y ago

watwut 7y ago

Yes, it is valid strategy. Not only elderly do it. I have seen women who cared for children to do it too. Otherwise there is too much silence and nothing interesting going on whole day, it helps to keep sanity. Morning tv programs and soap operas are designed especially for people like that.

fuzz4lyfe 7y ago
If you have a family and a small house having the TV on can provide some much needed privacy that you do not have in a dead silent house. A lot of it may be habit from having kids, something a good number of younger journalists can't relate to.
lonelappde 7y ago
I've done it as a man too.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

buboard 7y ago

That's how TV worked (for those who remember the TV days). In most slow/quiet/boring places there was a tv in the background .

fredley 7y ago

When I have a few days alone at home for whatever reason I'll usually leave the radio (BBC Radio 4) on in the background, it definitely makes a difference.

neltnerb 7y ago

We mostly got the grandparents on facebook because they kept complaining about not getting photos in the mail anymore. This give them the ability to see the photos of the grandkids and great grandkids in the system that their kids and grandkids actually use. Of course I'm more than a little nervous about facebook radicalization and scams, but we made sure she does things like not use her real photo and luckily my aunt that lives nearby is very tech-savvy and paranoid. But unfortunately facebook seems to be the best option for helping more isolated elderly people connect with their families.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lonelappde 7y ago
I know Google is gets criticism, but if you want to share photos with grandparents, Google Photos is well designed for that purpose and avoids many of Facebook's problems.
otras 7y ago
Preface: this is going to sound like an advertisement, but I promise I'm not connected in any way. I just like the idea. Have you heard of NanaGram? (https://nanagram.co/ https://nanagram.co/). It's a service that regularly mails physical copies of photos to someone you choose, and it's one of the most "of course that should be a product" products that I've seen recently.
- diminoten 7y ago
  It's a winner of an idea, because Facebook lets us work around the real goal of grandparents when they ask us for regular updates; attention. Giving our elderly family members ways of passively observing us defeats their goal of wanting us to talk to them, but a NanaGram is a specific, actionable gift that demonstrates this abstract, "Well they must be thinking of me!" concept that they can then extrapolate however they need.
  - aacook 7y ago

vinbreau 7y ago

Or they were conditioned to this as the normal state. I grew up in a home with three TVs: living room, parent's bedroom, my bedroom. The TV in the living room was on 24 hours a day. It only went off if we left the house. My father was an insomniac and so it stayed on all night too. The one in their bedroom was on most of the time. It usually only went off at night when my father moved to the couch in the living room to let my mother sleep. For years after I moved out I had to have a TV on at all times or else the place I was in felt empty and too quiet. When I realized this about myself I cut cable out of my life and can barely stand the TV now. When we visit my mom, it's always on, and it's always on FOX. My father sat in front of it every day until he died of dementia. My mother can't break the habit now. Even when we visit she keeps it on and occasionally watches it instead of engaging with us and is making it very hard to visit.