Are you a channel surfer or a single-track viewer?
@lordwarwizard (35747)
Singapore
March 15, 2007 1:47pm CST
What are we discussing this time? Announcing... the ubiquitous TELEVISION! If I could bold this word and make it jump at you like an inflated balloon, I would. :P
Nowadays, there is a television in pretty much every house. Not always, but quite. I won't delve into the obvious reasons why people watch TV programs. Instead, I like to take a peek into your watching habits.
When I am in front of the TV, I like to stay focused on the program. It might be a daily show I am following, or simply a program I found while surfing the channels. Yet practically without fail, once I decide on which program to watch, I WILL WATCH IT. This means that I will not be playing with the remote control and switching to another channel every 2 min.
I am the odd one out in my family for this since all the rest are what I term "channel surfers". They switch channel every min or so, and I find it distracting and irritating. I am a proud "single-track viewer". Hey, I am one faithful guy, alright? Once I decide on a program, I like to stay committed to the end. Then again, I understand that there is no right or wrong here. Your watching habit is just a matter of preference, and neither will get you tossed into jail. :P
So which category of people do you belong to? Are you a channel surfer or a single-track viewer? Or do you belong to another category I have yet to come across? What do you think are your reasons for behaving this way? Do share your thoughts. ;-)
25 people like this
88 responses
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
15 Mar 07
Im not a channel surfer but my husband is and I hate it. I like to watch a show and leave it on that channel. When a commercial comes on he will then start surfing the channels again. So I decieded I wont even watch tv with him anymore I watch it in my bedroom. And all is good.LOL
5 people like this
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
16 Mar 07
I do the same thing too. If I'm watching a program and during the commercials my husband changes the channel, most often when he puts it back to my program I've missed about 2 minutes of it. I get very annoyed, then I huff and puff off to the bedroom to watch it there LOL.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
16 Mar 07
Hey maddysmommy, I know exactly what you mean. This has happened to me enough times too. Even if it is just a "mere" 2 min, it seems I have missed a lot!
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160713)
• United States
15 Mar 07
Okay, so this is like a survey type question, coke or pepsi. I am a faithful viewer, or more likely listener, while I do something else,like myLot, or cook or whatever. I will pick one thing and stay there. I almost never really watch, just listen.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
15 Mar 07
If you can find me an orange julie, I would have that too. :P
3 people like this
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
16 Mar 07
I like to turn the tv up loud so I can hear it while I'm working in the kitchen on dinner, whatever..
1 person likes this
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
15 Mar 07
I pretty much watch one thing at a time. We only surf sometimes to find something. My father is also a surfer and I do not like it anyway, since we are there for a visit not the television.
I think people are too short in the attention span department. Not a good thing. Doesn't help that there is often not much any good for watching anyway.
5 people like this
@greengal (4286)
• United States
15 Mar 07
Grr my hubby is a sure channel surfer and that annoys me no end! I am a single track viewer too wiz and love to stick to one show, I tend to switch channels only if the commercial is too boring or annoying..lol Otherwise it's one channel till the end. My hubby flips the channel as soon as the commercial is on and I have to remind him to go back to what we were watching. The whole day I get to watch tv(which I don't since I'm on mylot all the time)and when he gets back home in the evening he claims its his tv time and not to interrupt.So even if shows I like are on he won't let me watch them. While having dinner he flips a dozen times and goes several times form the first to the last channel before settling with something. I go mad instantly! lol I wish I could just freeze it at one channel.
4 people like this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
15 Mar 07
Goodness. Your hubby reminds me of my dad, and you, my mum. In their habits of course! :P
3 people like this
@trinidadvelasco (11401)
• Philippines
15 Mar 07
For me, it is better to watch one show until it is over. I share that same feeling of getting irritated when the channel is switched time and again. I cannot fully grasp whatever is it that I am watching without sufficient focus. What's the point of watching a program when you I cannot understand anything out of it? I leave the room or do something fruitful, if a member of my family will do this because this channel surfing really makes me angry.
@kaplya (1578)
• India
15 Mar 07
i m a channel surfer! i don't see any point in viewing one single channel at a time even if i m really watching a program i only wait for the break to change the channel!:)it's just a habit with me, i m so much obssessed with it that sometimes i even forgot what i was really watching!i think the reason for my doing so is related to my tendency to grab as many things as i can in the short time(which i learnt during my school years when i would read my classbooks only some weeks before my exams;)) my brother is like u who would fix himself on one channel even if it's the break time!!!how annoying!!!!;)
4 people like this
@dnatureofdtrain (5273)
• Janesville, Wisconsin
24 May 07
I too, like to stay focused on one program, but if the program loses my attention and no one else is watching it then I'll surf till I find one that holds my attention...
I can not stand people who constantly channel surf drives me crazy...
I also am a single track viewer, when I sit down to watch something I intend to watch from credit to credit, and mock all the commericals in between and judge them on if they were selling to me personally or not.. Most of the times.. none of them make me want to buy anything.
I think I stare at the guide and remote control longer than anything else, as I basically do a replay of the Osbournes stuck on the weather channel episode. Takes me for every to figure out that thing. Direct TV with 20 some buttons..
and 100 some settings it's like.. huh?
- DNatureofDTrain
@dnatureofdtrain (5273)
• Janesville, Wisconsin
26 May 07
Shh... That my secret occupation lol... Sometimes I am very focused.. But I very rarely watch TV, because it can not hold my focus, unless it is animals, music, or Trains :D ... or religion... anh phooey I missed that Ozzy Osbourne thing I wanted to watch.. oh well..
- DNatureofDTrain
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
24 May 07
Very focused, aren't you? A necessary trait of a shaman? :P
1 person likes this
@brckoba (795)
• United States
15 Mar 07
I must admit that I'm s sinner! LOL I like to surf the channels when I'm watching a program. I don't do it all the time though. I only like to channel surf when there is nothing good on TV, but when a show I like I don't even want to blink!
2 people like this
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
1 Apr 07
Most decidedly I'm with you on this one!
In fact, it is ONE of the reasons I don't watch TV. I don't think there is anything on TV that captures my attention as a "must see" but sometimes I will sit and watch a movie or a documentary just to sit with my husband.
However, he is a channel-surfer. He likes to switch around during commercials. I can't stand seeing bits and pieces of a number of things and so often he gets back to the program we're watching after it has re-started. I'm afraid I now tell him that if he wants me to sit and watch something, the remote is ONLY used for volume control.
1 person likes this
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
2 Apr 07
I do enjoy quiz shows but my husband doesn't. There are no shows on TV currently which I wish to watch, but occasionally there is an old movie. I suppose the whole point is that I would rather keep doing the voluntary work I do at my computer. I really enjoy writing materials and programs for children's ministry and lesson materials for teens and adults.
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
2 Apr 07
Woohoo Cloudwatcher, FINALLY you are with me on something. :P
And there is not a single program that you like? There are programs in practically every genre. I want to think you can find something you enjoy if you try hard enough.
@smacksman (6053)
•
15 Mar 07
Not a big problem in our household as we only have four channels. Even then, my wife sometimes drives me mad switching channels which drives me to watch on another TV.
@jbones32103 (717)
• United States
4 May 07
Since I stay very busy, usually my tv doesn't get turned on at all until I'm ready for bed. Then most of the time, I watch one movie and pass out from doing so much during the day. I'm just not a big tv watcher. My children usually watch tv more than I. They put it on cartoon network and never change the channel unless they want to put in a movie. Tv. to me, is over rated.
1 person likes this
@jbones32103 (717)
• United States
5 May 07
No they don't because of me forgetting to say they hardly get to watch it. When they get home from school, they eat a snack, do homework, and do all their chores. Then they go outside until dinner time. After dinner, they take a shower. They go to bed at eight so the only time the older children watch tv is after everything is done. They get maybe one to two hours only a day. The baby,who is three, sometimes watches his educational videos during the day. He gets the most tv time because he knows his numbers, letters, shapes, and colors because of it. We are just not a tv family. We would rather do something outside.
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
7 May 07
Let them watch all they want for a month and they will tell you they don't want to watch it anymore. :P
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
3 May 07
When there is only one show I want to see , I stay on the channel and watch the show. But this time of year with a good movie on one channel and NHL playoffs on the other, I surf.Back in the day I would stay on one channel all day. I saw the soaps, the local news and their primetime line up. But now I have so many channels and so many choices, I watch two and maybe three shows at once.When I got The NHL package, I saw 5 yes 5 hockey games at once!
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
4 May 07
What I need is a media room with at least 6-8 T.V.'s on the wall like the scene in Taxi.
@Rexy_leigh (1189)
• Philippines
15 Mar 07
Count me in as one of those "channel surfers" you hate.. lol and my boyfriend shares the same sentiments as you coz we often have lil arguments when it comes to "who's gonna take charge of the remote control" thiny... I just don't like it when he sticks with those TV channels he likes, mostly science channels...well, am done with bunch of science books during my school days and I didn't like them..so why would i choose them on the TV where in fact I can get some more interesting stuffs aside from that? so, if am alone I go surf and surf and surf..lol
but when my boyfriend is around, I cut it down a bit.. :P
@kris_02ph (564)
• Philippines
15 Mar 07
i am a channel surfer and at the same time a single-track viewer. i channel surf during commercial breaks, but i always make sure to go back to the program that i am currently watching. i stay tuned in especially when i am watching my favorite show. when there's nothing good on tv, i channel surf until i got an interesting show to watch. :)
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
7 May 07
My hubby drives me insane when he is flipping throught the channels like that. Drives me so batty I rarely watch television with him because I cannot stand to get interested in something and have him constantly flipping those channels. I have always been told I have a one track mind...So that is also how I like my televsion.
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
7 May 07
I hate it too when someone keeps flipping the channel. When this happens, I just removed myself to another TV or do something else - silent protest. :P
@inked4life (4224)
• United States
4 May 07
I am a big channel surfer... we have the deluxe package with Direct TV and I will roll up and down all 200+ channels and not be able to find anything I like. Drives the wife absolutely nuts...she always says "Why don't you just use the guide?" I usually always end up on one of the movie channels watching a flick that I've seen a hundred times already even though it is halfway throug....another thing that drives my beautiful wife crazy...LOL
1 person likes this
@stormygrl (761)
• United States
5 May 07
I'm usually a single track viewer but sometimes go back and forth between two channels unless I record one. My husband constantlys channel surfs and it is VERY irritating and I don't watch tv with him.
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
7 May 07
Wow. The selected program must feel very lucky. :P
1 person likes this
@kynni204 (2031)
• United States
27 Apr 07
Pretty much if I turn on the tv to watch a certain program. That's what I want to watch. Now the radio on the other hand I am contantly flipping the station. ( There re certain parts of songs I like.) Some songs are awful with a good section)...lol
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
27 Apr 07
So you actually check out what's showing even turning it on.
@castleghost (1304)
• United States
7 May 07
I don't channel surfer. When I am watching a program the channel doesn't get changed. I want to make sure that I get to see the whole program. When you channel surfer you take a risk of missing part of the program. I watch Tv dramas like Law & Order. I wouldn't want to miss something and not know whats going onn.
1 person likes this
