STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

RyanJ · Coach

How much tv as a kid?

halleybird · Hermes

this is interesting. I don't remember many time restrictions on TV, but I do remember that I wasn't allowed to watch MTV (I had to sneak to my friend's house to watch Beavis & Butthead). But I wasn't that interested in it -- I maybe watched an hour per day? I am not one of those people who can just sit and watch TV without doing something else.

My husband watched tons of TV as a kid, and still does. But I don't think it was a bad thing for him at all. He watched tons of Discovery Channel, and to this day he can spout off all sorts of random facts and theories about space or buildings or cars (his favorite subjects). He hated reading, and still does, so it was actually a good thing for him.

jacL · Coach

I watched probably about two hours a day of tv, and I think that is a lot--what are kids doing that they watch over four hours of tv?!

I also grew up in the city, in an area where my mother did not let me play outside by myself, and lived with my working mother and brother only. After a long day of work and keeping up the house, all my mom wanted to do herself was watch tv.

I got a tv in my room when I was in second grade, but we didn't get cable until I was almost 16, so my mom didn't have to censor much.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

hmmm, when I was really young (maybe under 10) we didn't have cable so there was never anything to watch. So on a normal day, maybe an hour- and that was usually with my parents right before bed. The coby show or something like that.

Then, Mom decided TV was the root of all evil and got rid of it. No TV at all until I was a Jr. in High School. Which sucked cause I had a homework assignment once to time how much of a 30 minute show was taken up with commercials, and I couldn't do it. I got an F because the teacher wouldn't believe that I didn't have a TV.

We got TV back after that, but I don't remember watchign very much. By that time I was so busy with afterschool activities and homework that I probably just didn't have time! I was in all honors/AP classes did theater, was on the tennis team, and had 3 hour dance classes 3 times a week. I think that half hour of free time that I had before collapsing into bed was usually spent talking on the phone to my BF.

laken1 · Hermes

I said 1-2 hours. When we got home from school we could watch Tom & Jerry (30 min) then we had to do our homework, then outside to play. As a family we watched some shows, I would say maybe 2 sitcoms? Ones that come to mind are Mama's Family, Dukes of Hazzard, Great American Hero, Three's Company, Golden Girls...that kind of thing. Then there was the cool Friday night line up - Love Boat & Fantasy Island.

Ok. Did I date myself well enough or what???? Come on 30 somethings, you know you remember!

That being said - one of the things I admire most about my sister's parenting is that she won't let her girls sit in front of the tv for hours. They have a few shows they can watch on the weekends, but she mostly makes them "go play" outside in the yard or in their play room. I just think it's so much better for their imaginations....

Bastet · Kate Spade

When I was really little, I watched Duck Tales and She-ra after school, and that was pretty much it, I had friends in the neighborhood and we played instead of watching TV. I got up (ugh! why?!?) early on weekends to watch some cartoons, but that was about it. I never had a TV in my bedroom. When I was in high school, I was too busy to watch TV for the most part, though I probably still caught a few hours a week.

Like halleybird I wasn't allowed to watch MTV. My mom blocked it the second she realized that I liked Guns N' Roses, who she decided were evil and corrupting influences. However, she didn't realize that parental blockout could easily be circumvented by unplugging the cable box from the tv and then reconnecting it. I suspect that if they had told me not to watch MTV or limited my viewing time to less than 30 mins a day, I would have did what they said. But I interpreted the parental blockout as a challenge.

Maddie · Coach

I think I watched maybe 2 hours a week when I was younger and I mean through middle school. My parents were super strict.

zeitgeist4 · Gucci

My brother and I weren't really limited, as far as I can remember. And I seriously don't remember how much we used to watch! We didn't get cable till I was in 7th grade, so probably not all that much!

NCshopper · Hermes

I remember coming home from school as a kid, doing my homework, and then going outside to PLAY!!!!! It was the best! I'd only watch like an hour or so of tv a day, and it was usually watching something with my parents that we could all enjoy.

luckylily · Gucci

My sister and I mostly played outside. I do remember that there were two back to back episodes of Scooby Do on at 4:30 and 5, and we would come inside to watch those before dinner. I was obsessed with Scooby - I still love watching the old Scooby cartoons.

Other than that, we didn't watch much. I don't even remember wanting to watch a lot of tv. We only had one tv in the house, and my parents didn't get cable until after I'd gone to college. I hated it, I thought I was really missing out because we didn't have cable.