Do you use your phone/tablet while watching TV/Movies?

[Elbata]

So, you want her not to look at her gadget, while you both look at the other gadget together?

Must say, we do live in different times. While eating out, wife will be looking at her phone, and I, mine. There certainly has been a transformation. Our phones can qualify as an extension of our brains.

A friend, school principal, has a child that can't talk and deal with the world in a somewhat normal manner. The child was given an iPad at a very early age. His fingers and hands are always in a position of manipulating the iPad and can only grunt, not able to speak coherently.

 

[SheitlQueen]

I do the same thing because I lose interest in the TV. I always keep the sound off on the tablet when playing games though.

 

[Midpack]

I think of you go to a movie or are having sex or eating dinner it is annoying. But just hanging out at home I don’t see a problem.

Maybe she is bored by the mindless TV and is putting up with it by doing other things while you enjoy the movie.

Pretty much what we think. We don’t pay much attention to our iPhones when out and about and it can be rude then, but at home it’s not unusual for one of us to be using an iPad while the other is watching TV. Sometimes we’re looking up something related to what’s on TV, sometimes there’s live voting or tweeting going on, but sometimes one of us is just less interested in what on TV. And these days our “TV viewing” is about 50:50 network TV and YouTube - which are often shorter duration than the typical 30-60 or more minutes of network TV. If she’s watching a 5 minute video that I don’t care about, I may pick up my iPad for 5 minutes.

There’s nothing worth watching on live network TV at least half the time IMO. We don’t leave the TV on for background (noise) very often, we shut it off. We don’t enjoy the mindless escapism many programs feature.

Times [-]are[/-] have changed...

 

[CaptTom]

That's not an issue for us, we never watch commercials. I record TV shows on my computer, then use a program called Comskip to remove the commercials from the recordings. So half hour shows end up being about 20 minutes, and hour shows end up being about 45 minutes.

Thanks, I'll look into Comskip! For anything I watch alone, I always use the laptop anyway. With various ad blockers, I almost never see commercials.

As for watching together, it's not that either of us need to be "connected" to anything else. I'm just as likely to be playing solitaire. The point is, the drivel which passes for TV these days just doesn't require full attention.

I suspect it's a sort of positive feedback loop. The producers assume that some viewers are doing something else, with the TV on almost as background noise. So they over-emphasize and constantly repeat any important bits, just to be sure everyone's following along. Anyone paying attention finds that too distracting, or all the repetition gets boring, so they find something else to do.

I am, however, with you if you consider using a cell phone in the movie theater rude!

 

[gwraigty]

I agree with mountainsoft and JustCurious on this.

When I was a kid, I'd sometimes sit in the living room next to a family member on the sofa while the TV was on. I wasn't interested in the program, but I didn't want to be alone in my room at the moment. So, I'd read a book. That's entirely different from the glare of a screen in the corner of someone's eyes, and it's as close to a nearly silent activity as you can get.

When my 24 year old daughter and I are watching a program together, she'll browse on her phone during commercials, but put it aside when the program starts again. That's the way to do it.

I'd have a hard time being as restrained as you, mountainsoft, after awhile. Your feelings count, too. FWIW, years ago when I was still single, I had the bad habit of coming home to my grandparents after being out all day, and I'd start jabbering about the day. My grandparents did not remain silent. I got yelled at for interrupting their TV program. It probably took me longer to learn my lesson than it should have, but when I got tired of being yelled at, I got the connection, and I stopped doing it. It didn't affect our relationship negatively in the long term and we were all happier.

Even now, I try hard not to just start talking without paying attention to what my intended audience is doing. No talking when my husband is watching the news, for sure. He won't yell at me, but he'll tell me about it. And that's OK.

 

[HFWR]

Usually, the tv is on for a specific reason. It’s rarely on “just because”, so when it’s on I’m paying attention.

 

[JustCurious]

So, you want her not to look at her gadget, while you both look at the other gadget together?

Yes. First, I do not categorize my widescreen HDTV with 5.1 digital sound as a "gadget." But more importantly, when watching a good movie or quality tv show there is a certain element of allowing yourself to become immersed in the characters and the story and the settings/locations that enhances the enjoyment. If I am watching a good movie or tv show I sometimes find myself really getting lost in the story and connecting with the characters and I lose track of time to the point where an hour show sometimes seems to fly by. If someone is distracting me or showing me a cat video on youtube it mentally pulls me out of that immersive experience and makes the show or movie less enjoyable.

 

[Helen]

I don't really like watching movies but my wife does so I usually surf the net while the movie is on. I'd rather not have the TV on at all but that would be selfish of me to request it.

 

[mountainsoft]

there is absolutely nothing on TV that DW and I watch together. Our interests are completely different. She likes fictional programs, mainly network dramas, Netflix/Amazon originals, and cheesy movies like on the Hallmark channel. I like thoughtful documentaries on science, history, technology, etc, as well as YouTube channels related to my hobbies and interests (music, woodworking, cooking, DIY).

My wife and I are interested in a lot of the same shows. We both enjoy drama, comedy, and Sci-Fi movies (well, some of them), and home building/remodeling TV shows. She enjoys Hallmark types of shows, I'm not as interested but I watch them with her. She's not as interested in my woodworking, DIY, science, and financial shows so I tend to watch them on my own when she's not around.

I don't mind if she's doing her own thing on a tablet if I'm watching one of my science shows or something. It only bothers me when it's a movie or TV show she says she enjoys. Or if I'm sitting through a show that doesn't interest me and she's not even paying attention to it.

 

[mountainsoft]

Usually, the tv is on for a specific reason. It’s rarely on “just because”, so when it’s on I’m paying attention.

Yep, same here. I usually watch some YouTube videos or something in the morning while I'm eating breakfast. Then the first 20 minutes of news at lunch (just till I see the weather report). Sometimes I try to catch the national news around 5:30/6:00pm in the evening, but it's not something I do routinely. Finally, we watch about 90-120 minutes of TV in the evening (shows take less time to watch without commercials). The rest of the day the TV is turned off. Other than news we never watch live TV, everything is prerecorded.

I sometimes watch a bit more TV on weekends. It's usually to catch up on longer documentaries or something that I don't have time during the week to watch. But again, I only do that if I'm not busy with other projects.

The point is, when I do take time to watch TV, I only watch things that are interesting, and I want to focus on what I'm watching. If a show is boring to me, I'll pick something else. I have a backlog of hundreds of shows I've recorded, as well as YouTube and Netflix. So there's no reason to sit through something I have no interest in.

 

[GenXguy]

Why would the distance from home matter? Are you saying that if you lived further from home you would bring your cell phone to work?

Absolutely. Why would that be surprising? One of the guys in my dept. drives an hour to work every day - over 50 miles. So, I would bring my cell phone with me on that long of a drive, just as he does.

The few times I've brought my phone to work, such as if I'm expecting an important call, I don't play with it all day like so many other people do.

 

[Ronstar]

I’m usually surfing online on my iPad while watching tv, but usually not during hockey or football games.

 

[GenXguy]

That's not an issue for us, we never watch commercials. I record TV shows on my computer, then use a program called Comskip to remove the commercials from the recordings. So half hour shows end up being about 20 minutes, and hour shows end up being about 45 minutes.

I used to use Comskip with my SageTV HTPC many years back. If I remember correctly, I had to wait until the show completed, and then comskip processed it, then I could watch it with Comskip skipping commercials. I had some issues with it skipping part of the show once in a while. The show "Lost" specifically comes to mind. They would have these flashbacks from the past, and Comskip would jump over some/part of those as if they were commercials, so I stopped using it. Of course, that was over 10 years ago, and I haven't tried it since. My programmable jump forward buttons work pretty well though.

There was an alternative called ShowAnalyzer that some SageTV users liked, but I never tried that. Looks like that one is history.

 

[Qs Laptop]

That's not an issue for us, we never watch commercials. I record TV shows on my computer, then use a program called Comskip to remove the commercials from the recordings. So half hour shows end up being about 20 minutes, and hour shows end up being about 45 minutes.

+100

 

[davebarnes]

When we watch house porn, I am stalking the “victims” as soon as I can.

 

[mountainsoft]

I used to use Comskip with my SageTV HTPC many years back. If I remember correctly, I had to wait until the show completed, and then comskip processed it, then I could watch it with Comskip skipping commercials. I had some issues with it skipping part of the show once in a while. The show "Lost" specifically comes to mind. They would have these flashbacks from the past, and Comskip would jump over some/part of those as if they were commercials, so I stopped using it. Of course, that was over 10 years ago, and I haven't tried it since. My programmable jump forward buttons work pretty well though.

I record shows with a Hauppauge Quad-HD tuner card using NextPVR. When shows are finished recording, I have a batch file that adds them to a showlist. During the night I have a custom program that processes the shows I recorded during the day, removing the commercials, converting the format, and renaming the file.

Yeah, on some rare occasions it will cut part of the actual show, other times it will still leave in some commercials. Neither happens often enough that it bothers me.