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Television Cellphones Displays United States Entertainment Technology

Why Do 88% of Americans Use a Second Screen While Watching TV? (arstechnica.com) 138

Posted by BeauHD from the distracted-from-distraction-by-distraction dept.
According to TV metrics company Nielsen, a whopping 88% of Americans stare at screens while staring at other screens. Nate Anderson from Ars Technica discovered the stat while combing through Mary Meeker's annual "Internet Trends" report: My attitude, when watching TV, is that a show you pay attention to precludes the use of phone or laptop; if you're using another screen, you're not actually watching the show. Pick better shows to watch, people! And then watch them! [...] I got to thinking about the ways in which we use television, and not all of them involve watching dark prestige dramas with 80+ Metacritic scores. Perhaps you're watching (ugh) live TV, either because you are a masochist or you love sports. (If you are watching baseball, perhaps it's both!) Picking up a smartphone during commercial breaks is arguably better than being bombarded with the consumerism of late-stage capitalism.

Say you use your TV not as a way to consume compelling crafted content, but as background noise that helps you relax. (I highly recommend Sunday afternoon golf for this purpose.) Tooling around on a laptop while the TV plays in the background is now not quite so odd. Or perhaps you watch TV simply as a way to kill time. Perhaps you're in pain, or recovering from illness, or simply bored out of your mind. The goal is not necessarily to direct your full and undivided attention to the screen; it is to get through the day until something better comes along. Using a second screen here, too, makes sense. [...] Still, I can't shake the feeling that the majority of time spent using one digital device while another displays video content nearby is low-quality time, where we aren't really paying attention to what's on either screen and so are using the planet's resources, cluttering our lives with extra noise, and reinforcing our slavish devotions to screens for little to no benefit... Do you ever find yourself browsing your phone while watching TV? If so, can it be explained by one of Nate's reasonings?
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Why Do 88% of Americans Use a Second Screen While Watching TV? More

Why Do 88% of Americans Use a Second Screen While Watching TV?

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  • Smartphone addicts. (Score:3)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Thursday December 26, 2019 @06:09PM (#59560094) Journal
    Just sayin'.

  • When the wife and I (Score:5, Interesting)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Thursday December 26, 2019 @06:09PM (#59560096)
    are watching "our" TV shows. I can check in on(no sound) the game.

    Just my 2 cents ;)

    • are watching "our" TV shows. I can check in on(no sound) the game.

      My situation is similar. My spouse wants me to sit and watch movies with her.

      She gets upset if I leave. But she is okay with me silently using my phone or laptop.

      It is a great time to catch up on email, browse Wikipedia, or post on Slashdot.

      • That sounds bleak. Considered couples counseling perhaps?

        She's basically holding you hostage at that point -- Imagine the uproar if the genders were reversed!

        • Re:When the wife and I (Score:5, Funny)

          by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday December 26, 2019 @07:56PM (#59560370)

          That sounds bleak. Considered couples counseling perhaps?

          Reliable Wifi is cheaper than counselling.

          She's basically holding you hostage at that point

          All relationships have tradeoffs. For instance, in terms of physical attractiveness, she is a 9 and I am a weak 4. So I don't have a lot of leverage.

          • ... she is a 9 and I am a weak 4.

            I learnt early in life that everyone has baggage. Not to be insensitive: When I see a man 'punching above his weight' with women, I don't ask what he has, to get such a woman. I ask, "what's her problem?", requiring her to settle.

            ... I don't have a lot of leverage.

            Obviously, she can choose to leave anytime: The question is, can she, after years of marriage, find a better (or equal) partner? And, has she calculated the answer to that question?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by cusco ( 717999 )

              Oh, hell yes she can. I've had (younger and much better looking) guys tell me to my face that if I ever screw up they'll be waiting in line to take my place.

              My job is to keep the girl happy, and it's a task that I not only enjoy but seem to be good at. So far it's worked for 30+ years.

        • Re:When the wife and I (Score:5, Insightful)

          by blindseer ( 891256 ) <blindseer@noSPAm.earthlink.net> on Thursday December 26, 2019 @09:30PM (#59560576)

          That sounds bleak. Considered couples counseling perhaps?

          This doesn't sound bleak at all to me. It sounds like a healthy relationship, and I see this often.

          She's basically holding you hostage at that point -- Imagine the uproar if the genders were reversed!

          If the genders were reversed then this might be unhealthy. That's because men and women are different. It's this thinking that gender is just a social construct imposed on society that is unhealthy. Men and women are different, they should therefore be treated differently and have different expectations of behavior. It is natural for a woman to want their husband to watch TV with them. It is also natural for the man in this situation to sit there and not pay much attention to the TV. The man may instead read a newspaper, take a nap, or quietly watch his own screen on a laptop, smart phone, or portable TV.

          Men don't often ask a wife to watch TV with them, but they might have an expectation that if he wants to watch sports or a war documentary that the wife might sit next to him and work on puzzles out of a book or newspaper, do some kitting or fold laundry, or sit quietly with her own screen (perhaps with headphones on) to watch something more interesting to her.

          I'm sure some people will be upset on my gender stereotypes. Here's the thing about stereotypes, there is some truth in them or else they would not be recognized as stereotypes. Men and women are different, this means different expectations on healthy behavior.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by lsllll ( 830002 )

            The only part of your argument I agree with is that men and women are different. Not in this scenario, however. The objective of sitting by each other and watching a show is not just so that you're physically near each other. The objective is to watch the show and then potentially discuss what you're just seen, however brief it may be. Sitting next to your wife and reading a newspaper while she watches a movie is very equivalent to her just laying on the bed and letting you fuck her. It's called a rela

          • I'll confess, I've never given it a moment's thought, but you've exactly nailed my television relationship with my wife. There are only a handful of shows we actually watch together - everything else we either watch separately, or "together" as you describe. I'll add in reference to the original article, I often do things on my tablet or computer while watching even programs I would say I enjoy because they're so slow that they can't hold my entire attention. Rare is the TV show that requires even half m

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by pnutjam ( 523990 )
              True, many shows have significant filler. My wife and i both find ourselves looking at our phones or discussing other things.

              That doesn't mean we aren't paying attention and don't often discuss the plot details or pause and rewind to catch something particularly engrossing.
              Pick smarter women and they can multitask.
          • Comment removed based on user account deletion

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by hawk ( 1151 )

              We always made sure that there were cars and such for our girls.

              The first two never touched them.

              One day, I noticed the next pair, twins, playing with them, and called my wife over.

              And then we got close enough to hear:

              "This is the mommy truck!", to which the other held up another and announced, "this is the baby truck!"

              At which point, we threw in the towel . . .

              hawk

          • The rule of thumb in the social sciences:

            • Sex is nature--the hardwired differences which will transcend cultures because they're biologically embedded in there--hardware- or firmware-level stuff, basically.
            • Gender is nurture--the social constructs which are produced by society, which are not fully cross-cultural and are, in many ways, optional. This would be software-level.

            What you actually have is an interaction between the two, and the use of two different terms was supposed to make it easier to discuss b

  • Small Screen is more personal and compelling (Score:3)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday December 26, 2019 @06:23PM (#59560122)

    I don't know if this is a general answer, but it feels like it- I think for most people, what they are doing on the smaller screen is simply a lot more interesting.

    I personally don't use a phone much watching movies or TV, because if I didn't want to watch it that much why even start?

    But my wife spends a lot of her time when we have a movie or TV show on, just playing a game or reading a book on her phone - because the movie/TV show generally is just not interesting enough to pay full time attention to.

    Honestly I don't see anything wrong with it, other than occasionally having to back up what we were watching because she has missed something she needed to see visually but was not looking at...

    For something much shorter, like YouTube videos, she'll generally watch the whole thing instead of turning the phone - because those videos are much more to the point and not boring to her.

  • With eating, you get full.

    With information, the more you have access to, the more exceptional the information you seek out is. You don't get full - but get bored with the taste of the SAME information.

    It's like the old rule, where 90+% of every group of media is crap - you're always only going to find that 10-% to be worth the effort of consuming in the end.

    That's the internet too - 31 million+ youtube channels, and nothing on, so to speak.

    So, you find a show to watch, but have a electronic or audio book t

    • I'm curious -- so how old would you say these "Boomers" are that you are saying "OK" to? So far, I haven't run into anyone who has used the term correctly. I thought that us Gen X'ers invented that sentiment 30 or so years ago, but I see now that 13 year olds are using it on 22 year olds. Fascinating stuff.

    • With information, the more you have access to, the more exceptional the information you seek out is. You don't get full - but get bored with the taste of the SAME information.

      That's why we give little screens as gifts, and no matter how reluctantly turn to them even as we recover from using screens in other contexts. The same as we've always used stories and daydreams as we go away from the stories of our day tasks - now we just have more portable and sharable kinds of daydreams.

      You're misrepresenting how people are using these devices. When someone's on their phone while a movie is playing, it's the opposite of what you're saying - they're ignoring the new for another hit of the same: Facebook, news feeds, sports scores, chats, or whatever else. It's because of mobile devices that people get into that inertial loop of check one thing, then another, then another, then back to the first. You really think phones are the "daydreams" of the modern times? They're the very thing that

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jbengt ( 874751 )

      But for now, it adds up to the old having more tools to crap over the hopes of the young.

      Who hurt you so bad? Maybe you should consider getting some counseling.

  • Why do people like to multitask?

    • It's not multitasking. It's a symptom of ones inability to concentrate. Time and again I'm behind someone at a red light who doesn't move when the light turns green because they're on their phone. We hear and see stories of people running or falling into things because they're on their phone. Just this morning there was a story on /. about making electric buses noisier because people are more interested in their phone than their surroundings.

      These people can't do either of their activities with any comp

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Matheus ( 586080 )

        Counterpoint: You're wrong.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fazig ( 2909523 )
        What are you talking about?
        This is about people sitting at home, staring at another screen while the TV is running in the background.

        It's weird, but in some cases this kind of background noise helps people to actually focus on what they're doing by keeping their mind active. Sitting and working in silence can cause your mind to wander if the activity that you have to do is not that stimulating to begin with. That's one reason why many people listen to the radio or let the TV run in the background when do

        • I suppose over the time people have gotten used to this constant auditory stimulation in their environment and can't go easily without it any more [...]

          It's called white noise. What works for people as white noise varies--raw white noise for some people can be pretty annoying--but it actually doesn't as much provide constant auditory stimulation as a smoother baseline level that is easier to ignore than absolute silence (not wired to handle it) or random noises (keeps grabbing the attention). As long as it's pretty much all the same, the brain will happily ignore it.

          Which is also why somebody who goes at length in a monotone tends to end up being ignored

        • I did this as a teenager well before phones. I would be playing a movie I'd seen a hundred times on my TV for background noise or I would look over at a scene every so often between gaming on my PC.

          You had plenty of time to play Everquest and watch a movie at the same time. I would also read while playing Everquest as well. Sometimes, the book was so engrossing I would have to hurry up and use my Wizard's mana up on a quad kite just so I could get back to my book.

          Good times.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fazig ( 2909523 )
            Exactly.
            For example long before mobile phones or other handheld electronics took over our daily lives, people have been reading news papers or magazines while the TV or radio was running. Maybe it wasn't them who turned on the TV or radio, but someone else, but they were still doing it, getting used to it.

            I remember playing with my Gameboy or LEGOs in the early 90's while my parents watched TV in the same room. The behaviour then most likely carried over to sitting in front of the PC while the TV was run

      • Sounds like that driver's concentration is fine. They just weren't concentrating on the thing you wanted. You sound selfish.

  • Why you think engineers have at least 3?

  • just one screen, two different tabs. I have a computer hooked up to my tv and am currently watching the time I was reincarnated as a slime. I am typing this post between episodes. It is like this all the time for me. I do a bit of surfin, read emails or whatever between shows, during slow parts or whatever.

    I am currently wearing the amazon echo frames that will automatically read phone notifications and emails to me as they arrive. so no, I am not of the 88 percent. I have my own category.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      How do you like the Echo frames? I need to get new glasses soon and was wondering if they're worth bothering with.

  • The only time I've done it, is when I leave the news on TV and go to my computer while the commercials are playing. I usually forget to go back to the TV so it winds up running for 30 minutes or more while I'm doing other things. I don't think I ever really spend time really split between two devices, unless I'm doing something that requires it - like fiddling with an app on the phone while looking up instructions on the PC, as I did when I installed my smart plugs (pretty sure even God himself couldn't h

  • Maybe turn off all screens when posting on /. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by az-saguaro ( 1231754 ) on Thursday December 26, 2019 @06:39PM (#59560166)

    You watch things your way, I'll watch things my way.

    The speculative and specious reasoning that the article runs through evidently does not cover all possibilities about people's lives, obligations, work styles, and preferences.

    With reasoning like that, even one screen might be too much distraction.

    Yet another way someone has found to try and tell others how to live their lives.

    • Exactly. I binged watched DS9, Babylon 5 and SG1 through college while working on homework. Sometimes my 'other screen' was an engineering notepad, sometimes it was a laptop.

    • 1 screens, 2 screens, 10 screens, who cares? I, for one, hate having a TV on with a phone and a laptop. But, my wife does, and I'm OK with that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by J-1000 ( 869558 )

      I question the value of the question. It's not at all specific. What does it mean that 88% of people "use a second digital device while watching TV"? That would include people who used their device for 5 seconds, and also people who barely looked up from it. And what does "use" mean? Does receiving a text to your watch and glancing at it count? Without a lot more detail it's almost worse than knowing nothing at all.

      I didn't read the huge slideshow, so maybe there's more detail somewhere. But it peeves me to

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Calydor ( 739835 )

        I don't use my phone, but I watch a lot of stuff on the main PC and tend to tab out during quieter scenes, when characters are just talking and exposing plot, to quickly check who the hell that actor is I recognize but can't place and stuff like that. So basically I enhance my viewing experience with additional information instead of doing other things entirely.

      • But it peeves me to think people presumably draw conclusions (and definitely write articles) based on bad data.

        Welcome to why we're having major problems with the body of lit--because of publish-or-perish, there's strong selection pressures to come up with conclusions that can get published regardless of the quality of data you have and how well it actually fits the conclusion.

        Honestly, I think preregistration is a good solution, especially if the process is set up to allow you get & use feedback on your design to improve it before you move forward--to me, it's a way to remove a need to worry about getting 'inte

  • I watch House Hunters on HGTV.
    I stalk the "contestants".
    It keeps me from getting annoyed about the repetitive nature of each episode.

  • gone are the days of great tv, breaking bad was the last series I really paid attention to ...

  • during the talky parts of The Hulk TV show. TV's boring 88% of the time, and I mostly watch it to kill said time.

  • Even with many forms of entertainment, I like to look up stuff on my cell phone related to what I am watching while I am watching it. But is the material is really engrossing, I will not do that. No problem.

    And many things - like any sort of informational programming - does not demand full attention anyway. If I was doing bills, or working on some project (cooking, fixing something perhaps, sorting things) it would be similar but "not a screen". Rather like the "on the Internet" scare admonition in which ev

    • Even with many forms of entertainment, I like to look up stuff on my cell phone related to what I am watching while I am watching it. But is the material is really engrossing, I will not do that. No problem.

      This.

      I do this when watching some show on an old solved mystery. They try to hook you in on how odd this situation was, then try to hold on to you while they unfold the mystery as how the investigators saw it. I can't do that, I will always search the internet on what happened in the end, and then I might stick around for the story.

      Does anyone else remember the Columbo TV specials? They didn't leave the audience in any kind of mystery on what happened, they showed that up front. The interesting part of

  • >"Do you ever find yourself browsing your phone while watching TV?"

    No. Never. When I am watching TV, I am watching TV. If there is some rare reason I have to mess with a phone or anything else, I will pause the TV. If the show is so bad as to not pay attention to it, then why watch it?

    Music is different, however- I will read, use the computer, do chores, whatever, while listening to music.

  • Define "watching"

    I grew up in the 50s and 60s, The TV was on all day
    Sometimes it was watched, sometimes it was background noise, sometimes it was ignored, but it was always on
    It was the first thing turned on in the morning and the last thing turned off at night

    Today, I turn it on when I have a specific thing to watch. If it's worth watching, I pay attention. If it's not, I turn it off

    • Yes, I had the same experience. Wife is only a little younger than I, and she grew up in the same kind of environment. I think the difference is how we reacted to our childhood as adults. I'm like you (bravo, by the way), I only turn on the TV to watch something, and I'll sit down and actually Watch it. If wife just has it on for noise I'll go in a different room and work on the laptop or read a book.

      • I do this but for my dogs so they'll have something to listen to when alone.

        • I do this but for my dogs so they'll have something to listen to when alone.

          I tried leaving reruns of Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way on the TV while away from home, and it didn't help At All.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jbengt ( 874751 )

      I grew up in the 50s and 60s, The TV was on all day

      That was not my experience at all, growing up in the late 50s thru the early 70s. When I was a young child, I was not allowed to watch more than an hour of TV a day, with some exceptions, like when the Olympics were on.
      Still, when I was older, I would often read the newspaper while watching TV, and I'm sure my grandparents would read while listening to the radio, so this two "screens" thing does not seem to be new at all.

  • I follow my investments on my computer while watching daytime TV. It works for me.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      I follow my investments on my computer while watching daytime TV. It works for me.

      Make millions working from home with this one easy trick!

  • I've found that I'm most productive with 3 screens, 6 virtual desktops, and activities. I have different backgrounds and slightly different desktop configurations for the activities which helps denote differences.

    If media is super engaging: you need notes, and a browser window to fact check. With just television, you can't even trust the "facts" put forth by the highest levels of leadership these days. Those who don't, at the very least, Google to fact check phone will fall for BS eventually.

  • Not background noise (Score:3)

    by roc97007 ( 608802 ) on Thursday December 26, 2019 @08:06PM (#59560408) Journal

    I definitely do not have the TV on for background noise. I find it distracting and makes it more difficult to do whatever I needed to do that TV is background for. When I have the TV on, it's to specifically watch something, and I pay attention to the dialog. I also do not put on a movie, watch the pretty effects and explosions, and then "visit" with everyone in the room during quiet dialog points. If you're going to watch something, Watch It. If you're going to visit, I'm fine with that, turn off the TV and we'll visit.

    Wife has a friend who does this. She will watch a show during the loud parts, and then start talking about what her son is doing or her husband's new job or when the cat got out last week and they took forever to find it, during the quiet parts where everyone else in the room is trying to hear the dialog. It drives me crazy.

    I understand, she's probably lonely or needs to talk out some issues. I'm more than ok with that. So (I'm usually the one in charge of the remotes, as wife never really bothered to learn how to use them) I'll turn off the film, but as soon as I do that she'll stop talking. "Why'd you do that?" "It looked like you wanted to talk." "Oh, I was just sayin'. Go ahead and turn it back on." If I press the issue, she'll say something like "I didn't mean to bother you" which is a clear sign that things are going to get huffy. So I turn the movie back on, and she immediately continues where she left off, the car sometimes won't start and they think it's the battery, we're going to try replacing it next week and the crows have been eating the berries and crapping all over the car, and blah-de-blah-de-blah.

    Wife does crochet or needlepoint when something is playing, which means she has the klieg light on that's sitting over her shoulder, which reflects off the screen. I see a big white ball in the middle of the screen, with things maybe happening in the periphery. But at least I can hear the dialog.

    But this isn't all bad. It's helped wean me off TV. I have projects that need doing around the house, and novels to read, and new stuff to learn, and without TV in my life I have time to do all of that.

    • My wife's family does the thing you describe of talking over movies / generally not paying full attention. I hate it too, but that's just how they watch things :/. Its created a funny situation where I often ask my wife "have you seen this" and she'll say yes, so I ask "what's one plot point that occurred during the entire movie" and she'll have nothing, lol. I just treat that as a round about way of saying "no I haven't seen that", and we can watch it again.

      • My wife's family does the thing you describe of talking over movies / generally not paying full attention. I hate it too, but that's just how they watch things :/. Its created a funny situation where I often ask my wife "have you seen this" and she'll say yes, so I ask "what's one plot point that occurred during the entire movie" and she'll have nothing, lol. I just treat that as a round about way of saying "no I haven't seen that", and we can watch it again.

        ...and then she can, not see it again. I commend you for not making a scene. I try really hard not to fuss about it. I will back up the film to try to catch key dialog. Sometimes I have to do it several times. Sometimes I have to get up and stand closer to the speakers. (Turning the volume up to hear the dialog over the chatter is apparently considered rude.)

        I think this phenomenon is why action films tend to not have a lot of dialog, and what they have is pretty much one-liners, and now that I think

  • Maybe these people are lonely?

    Personally if I am going to watch, I'm with someone and we both enjoy the same thing. It sucks doing it alone unless it's a very personal thing like a niche program that you appreciate more than most.

    Other than that maybe they don't realize how much they depend on the type of stimulation they get from whatever they do on a phone. I find it takes away from the experience and I rob myself of the type of curiosity one might have about the thing they're engaged with. If I'm constan

  • For me the small screen the the primary, reading or just surfing. With the TV on usually a sports event and the volume way down. If I notice a sportscasters voice increasing quite a bit in volume, then I sometimes look at the TV to see what happened. Or if it is the final couple of minutes in a close game, then I might put myself into watch the TV mode. I will have the small screen in a secondary role if I have a movie on and if the movie is really worth watching then I will put the small screen down and wa

  • I'm watching Stand Up Guys as I post. When I started, Al Pacino was dancing. Now they just stole a car. It's a good movie, I'm enjoying it. If you're tracking the time, you'll note that I've spent a lot of time between sentences. I've spent a lot more reading. Minutes pass, I rad a sentence here, I read a sentence there. I click a thing and more minutes have passed. I'm giving 90% of my focus to the movie. In bits and pieces, I read and write. My wife says something, and we pause the movie and talk.

    Screen 1

  • So... They prop a smaller screen in front and below a larger one? Or do they train their eyes to watch one each?

    Stupid phraseology.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Typically mute the "news" while listening to npr and browsing the web. probably not good but ca la vie
     

  • In the classical use of the phrase. TFS begs the question. It never considers that watching TV is the primary purpose. It's not. Just like a restaurant with a TV playing music videos the TV is quite often a secondary item. Background noise to the household.

  • There's quite a few scenarios where you'll have the TV on, be actively listening, but only want to glance periodically at the screen:
    -The news
    -Stand up or late night comedy
    -Interviews
    -Documentaries (or really anything narration-heavy)

    Things that need slightly longer glances:
    -scripted comedies [particularly ones heavy on sight gags]
    -slow paced dramas

    Things that you really should put down the phone and pay full attention:
    -Anything SFX heavy
    -Shows with large amounts of on-location shooting (more visually stimu

  • Because the PuTTY devs are unemphatic whiners who refuse to implement window transparency. Thus, we need two screens, in order to stimulate the brain hemisphere that's coding in Emacs, and the other hemisphere that's watching films. https://www.chiark.greenend.or... [greenend.org.uk]

  • I just got done watching the first season of Netflix's The Witcher. I knew nothing of this world coming in so I found myself looking up various things as I watched the show for a more in depth understanding.

    That said, when I do it, I am watching the show alone and I pause it to read things. So I'm not really watching two screens at all. But that's not what browsing metrics would say.

    • Slightly offtopic: I binge-watched The Witcher having played a little of The Witcher III, so I wasn't totally lost, but...

      What stood out to me is that Geralt is a game warden at best, and more like the local dog catcher. Why is the local dog catcher anyone's destiny, or involved with the fate of a kingdom? I found it hilarious and couldn't quite stop making fun on them for it, because it never actually got given a rationale in this season.

  • Boomers (Score:3)

    by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Friday December 27, 2019 @12:30AM (#59560864) Homepage

    The one thing I've noticed is lots of boomers seem to find comfort in having the television on pretty much all waking hours of the day. It's usually sports or news and no one is watching. It just is. So, as they go about their days, they end up on multiple screens.

    The younger generations do this too, but it doesn't seem as common, and it's more likely to be a guide channel, or a travel/cooking shows.

  • Most tasks don't take my full attention. Neither does most entertainment. I'm speaking here as a coder and as a former director of a substantial film festival.

    That's not to say that there aren't some of either tasks or entertainments where I have to give it my all. But when my wife and I sit down to watch some moderately entertaining whodunit, I can listen and glance and get as much out of it as if I stared. I'm really there for the shared experience with my wife. And she's also deeply annoyed that it looks

  • My attitude, when watching TV, is that a show you pay attention to precludes the use of phone or laptop; if you're using another screen, you're not actually watching the show. Pick better shows to watch, people! And then watch them!

    Sorry grandpa, but this is how it works now - people leave the TV on in the background while they're doing other things. Deal with it. I hope you don't get so upset at people who don't sit motionless and stare at their radios the whole time they're on, although you will if you

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jbengt ( 874751 )

      Sorry grandpa, but this is how it works now . . .

      Sorry sonny, but it worked that way for generations. It's just that now there are screens where there used to be books, magazines, radios, music, etc.

  • *Of course* I'm not going to read the article, but I find most series and movies too boring to spend 100% of my attention on. Mostly I just watch them in the right half of my screen (with the left half dedicated to something else, like browing or email or even work).

  • I discovered long ago that most TV (including films) is possible to follow just by listening, with just occasional attention to the visuals.

    The only significant problem is doing something mentally demanding on the other screen, like gaming or programming, makes it difficult remembering what you 'watched' in detail. The sort of things you do on a phone or tablet aren't that demanding and tbh 90% of TV is so undemanding it wouldn't matter anyway.

  • During unavoidable adverts, intros, FBI warnings (that I wouldn't have to sit thorough if I had stolen the video) and a variety of other garbage.

    During boring parts of shows. While some shows grab the attention the entire way through, others have very slow bits (at least for me).

    Multitasking during modestly boring programs. If the data rate from the video is too low, I might as well do work on my cell as well.

    I wonder when we will see eye tracking software to make sure that you are looking at the TV du

  • For many Americans, TV degenerated into background noise long ago. They'd get up and there first thing they'd do is switch on the TV. No matter what program was on, the TV had to be on. Then it'd stay on until the last person went to bed at night. For some reason, Americans can't stand silence. (yes, I know, I'm generalizing)
    Having the TV on while watching more noise on your phone is just the logical progression of this.

    Personally, I can't stand this, and will only switch on the TV if there's a specific pro

  • The TV only plays what I selected 50% of the time, due to commercials. And then, the actual content is typically less than halfway interesting.

    There is research that says having the TV (or radio) on in the background makes people feel less lonely. You don't have to be looking at it to get that effect. You can look at something more interesting.

  • is how watching TV was described 50 years ago. Seems like this person is complaining about how some people prefer to fill their time, because they don't like filling time that way. If you don't like it, don't do it. Let those others do as they like.

    Constantly complaining about what others do is "low quality".

  • ... and when I was a kid, I often peeked at a book while watching TV. So what?

    • That's how it started. I'd read during the commercial break, and if the book was interesting, I was slow to put it down, especially if the show was not that good.

      Of course, with DVRs and Netflix, I seldom have "commercial breaks", but I might still reach for my Kindle if the show has a slow part (most of them do).

  • I'm surprised no one else seems to do this. When watching a show, I'll see an actor, often in a minor role, and realize I've seen them in something else. I'll search for the show and look up the cast, then track down the character and see what else the actor has been in. Sometimes I'll do the same thing when I recognize a particular directing style, and I'll look up the director. It just connects things for me. I guess this is multitasking in a sense, but it's related to what I'm watching. I find it increas

  • "I highly recommend Sunday afternoon golf for this purpose."

    Has the voting closed for "Biggest Elitist Douchebag" awards for 2019?

    "Pick better shows to watch, people!"

    Don't tell me how to spend my time, author!

    "41 percent of Americans are busy messaging 'friends/family about content they are watching.' And can it be good for us?"

    Um... wasn't it just a few years ago that everyone was worried about people sitting alone watching TV and not communicating with other humans?

    Seriously, this is the shittiest articl

  • Well, more or less. The big screen is for playing a game, the little screen (hooked up to a home theater audio system) is for playing streams or MythTV (I get more TV from antenna than I can watch) or a disc. And even then it usually stays idle while I listen to radio, since playing a game just takes too much attention for anything more than TV news. Radio is great when you're doing something that takes up your eye attention. And then I have a laptop for doing web stuff. And a second screen on the game comp

  • It's obviously to relieve your eyeballs from the deluge of drug ads on TV these days for every obscure condition despite the fact that the viewers aren't qualified to diagnose those conditions let alone prescribe the drug for it.

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

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