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This year we've spent 2 weekends at friend's houses.
Both times the telly has stayed on and it really kills any chance of conversation.
If we have people visit the telly only begrudgingly gets turned on once we've asked them if there is anything they would like to watch.
Hopefully they say no.
What's the rule in your house?
Depends on the guest. If the guest is boring, telly stays on 🙂
But yeah, most of the time telly goes off.
i don't have guests 😉
Telly very definitely off for guests, unless it's agreed that's what we want to do - usually Rugby or a movie if they are staying with us. But, otherwise, it's just plain rude to have the TV on if you have visitors.
Telly off always, my mum even takes it to the extreme that she hides the remotes for the projector and hangs a picture where the screen projects on to really make it an effort to switch it on! (Unless the F1 is on then it WILL be on for 2 hours on Saturday and 3.5 hours on Sunday)
Our time is generally spent in the kitchen diner if we have folks round, as I'll be cooking/serving drinks, patio doors open for kids in the garden, and we only have a TV in the living area, so not an issue really.
We only have a telly in the East wing.
And no one goes into the East wing.
We receive visitors in the Drawing Room.
Afterwards, brandy and cigars in the billiard room for the chaps, the ladies retire to the library
There is no TV in any of these rooms. The media suite is off limits to the public.
The English don't know how to socialise unless they are in the pub getting drunk or at home in front of the TV.
We are an anti-social, reserved nation, I blame the weather and Protestantism.
15 minutes and nobody Boasting about not having a TV and not needing one because reading is better.
Standards are slipping 😉
We generally wouldn't have the TV on with visitors unless it was for something specific that everyone wanted.
My father in law leaves the TV on when we visit them...so when they make the effort to visit us I make a big point of 'Right TV OFF' when they arrive.
If you don't feel comfortable going "hey, do you mind if we turn this off?", they're not your friends.
Personally I'd switch it off with an app on my phone.
With company, telly only goes on for major sporting events such as 6N, World Cup etc. And then it's on mute unless it's really important.
We don't have a TV and prefer to read aloud to our guests.
Depends on how long they are staying.
We have guests who refuse to watch TV, but only after having demanded to see a current licence.
TV off when guests are in. We only watch an hour a night os so, if that.
When we're round at other peoples' houses, I will ask to turn it off. We're there to talk, not watch the damn thing. Pubs with the box on annoy me too - unless there's a specific event on, TV is a real conversation-killer.
We don't have a TV and prefer to read aloud to our guests.
That's better. Thanks 😆
I insist on gathering around the upright piano and singing hymns and songs of good fortune when we doth haveth guests
Posting just to satisfy nealglover 😉
I don't have a TV, not a new idea either as i'm 45 and never owned a TV, I still get plenty of guests popping in at all hours though but as i've only got 1 chair in my 12ftsq living room it's a case of plonk of your arse against something such as my large roller cabinet full bike tools, bike stand/ park tool table, my large roller cabinet full of my car tools (at the moment), cheap ikea table and my computer/active monitors/subwoofer on a studio desk set-up. Doesn't really leave room for anything else - my mates do have rather nicer/larger/huge! houses so all socialising is done round at their homes and the TV is never on
we play Hot Boiled beans, Poor Pussy and Throwing up Lights 🙂
We don't have a tv in the bedroom so it's not an issue.
We entertain our 'guests' in other ways.
Only TV we ever have on when we have guests is music tv for background noise.
In reply to Percy (not sure if serious).
We receive visitors in the Drawing Room.Afterwards, brandy and cigars in the billiard room for the chaps, the ladies retire to the library
Crazy, just plain wrong. The ladies shouldn't be retiring to the library, they should be withdrawing to ... oh never mind.
Pearls before swine.
🙄
We always put on an extravagant theatre production when we have guests. Normally Shakespeare, but we occasionally do West Side Story or Cats.
For the OP - we'd switch the telly off unless it was something we'd all talked about watching (e.g. a movie).
With all the pause/instant record/catch-up facilities now available I can't understand why the "hosts" wouldn't want to wath their programme uninterrupted either.
We're the same as nobeerinthefridge above.
Except we have beer in the fridge!
I won't open the door to guests if there's something good on the TV, like LoD.
Me and my guests watch porn dvds. TV is better than computer screen for this, I'm sure you'll agree.
(note: back in the erm, 80s I think, this did actually happen when the girlfriend and I visited some new friends. Hard core. Porn. On the telly. It was a fun evening)
We always put on an extravagant theatre production when we have guests. Normally Shakespeare, but we occasionally do West Side Story or Cats.
We're currently having a full size replica of the Starlight Express set put into our second lounge. Guests will be given a pair of roller skates and asked to partake of the performance.
We have some 'friends' who we've stopped visiting as they have a 50+" TV in the lounge that is always on full blast - normally on something really mindless too. It's impossible to ignore and means that everyone ends up not talking and just sitting around watching dross.
reply to Percy (not sure if serious).
Not sure if Percy.
The ladies shouldn't be retiring to the library, they should be withdrawing to ... oh never mind.
Yeah, I know. But our library consists of 140 copies of Fifty Shades of Grey and a dog eared edition of the People's Friend from 1978.
The chicks dig it. After that the Drawing Room holds no appeal.
I don't really watch the TV (just netflix episodes while I'm ironing or something), my girlfriend doesn't either. So it's weird when we go to people's house (like our parents') and the tv is always on. Very distracting.
I block ads in my browser (STW - I buy your magazine) and don't listen to the radio so I am not really exposed to intrusive advertising - it's quite a shock when you hear it. People at work talk about new adverts they like?
OFF!
Why the hell would you want the telly turned on when people come round - presumably to socialise with you?
My parents turn the sound down bit when I arrive and if I'm telling them something about their Grandchildren but something 'exciting' happens (like three counters dropping on "Tipping Point"), they look over my shoulder to see what's going on. Needless to say I don't care for it much and they now think I'm a rubbish son, because I don't go round there much... Personally I think it's just plain rude.
The only time the TV is on is when friends come round to specifically watch TV - 6 Nations, Super Bowl, and the Royal Wedding were the last times I can think of.
With the facility to pause and replay TV, or catch up on various iPlayer type apps, why the hell would you want to continue to watch TV when someone takes the time to visit you? Unless of course they're not bothered if you're there or not...
Oh Dear. I'm probably adopted and have been written out of the will.
Normally Shakespeare, but we occasionally do West Side Story or Cats.
Shakespeare or Cats then. (Sorry)
I have been known to turn the TV off when the wife [i]is[/i] watching something. Guests have no chance.
I was always brought up that TV goes off when guests arrive, wife's the same.
We were invited round to some in laws for afternoon tea last year (they're old-money posh, we're not). The old boy is an arrogant git and watched the grand prix in the living room (full volume) while he had 6 guests round in the same room. It was just bizarre and felt off the scale rude / uncomfortable at the time.
the ladies retire to the library
You damn fool man, leaving ladies unsupervised in the presence of books from whence they might pick up all sorts of dreadful notions! And what if they were to stumble upon your "artistic prints collection" why no amount of smelling salts could promise a full recovery.
It's the height of bad manners to leave the TV on when you have visitors. It says you've something more interesting to do than talk to them.
Depends on the friend....and reason for visit.
With really close friends (ones you just drop in or visa versa randomlya nd totally unannounced) I'd not be fussy either way.... but if it was coming round for a social event that's different.
gets changed over to chromecast and google music, or youtube(which everyone can usually control.)
Our guests bring their instruments and we play wind quintets.
It's an extension of people who seem to live with the TV on in the background the entire time. Wake up, turn telly on, leave it on until go to bed. Repeat. It's not so much that it's the centre of attention, just on in the corner with the channel changed from time to time. Sometimes with separate music on in the same room. Weird.
I have been to perchypanther's house as a guest.
All we did was play naked twister. 😕
I have been to perchypanther's house as a guest.
All we did was play naked twister.
I have a special version with five colours on it.....Left foot purple
The old boy is an arrogant git and watched the grand prix in the living room (full volume) while he had 6 guests round in the same room. It was just bizarre and felt off the scale rude / uncomfortable at the time.
Were you at my dads? This is the sort of thing he'd do. If you speak in the same room he'd turn up the volume further. I go there a few times a year as I live a few hours away and it's always the same. I then get whinged at because "I never visit him or my mum". I see little point if it's to sit and watch 15 to 1 in silence.
I watch a fair bit of telly, stuff that I record then catch up over several evenings, but I tend to set aside Thursday Friday and Saturday evenings just for music before I go to the pub, which is Friday and Saturday, but after 10pm.
Should I ever have guests around, as most of them are very musically orientated then the telly would be off by default and the audio system on, with Remote selected on the pad so people can either just have a random shuffle selection or pick out albums they likely haven't heard before.
And we'd talk lots and drink beer, which we always do when we do meet up.
As it happens I couldn't be arsed to have the telly on tonight so I'm listening to four new albums I picked up on Sunday - Mark Lanagan Band, The Shins, Feist and Aimee Mann; enjoying what I'm hearing so far, stuff the telly.
As a vet I've often gone out to do house calls and had to ask people to turn the telly off as I'm trying to listen to their poor animals chest or have a conversation about treatment options. Some people just never seem to turn it off.
Then there are the enormous wall mounted TVs that I reckon you would have to move your head to be able to see the whole screen as the sofa is so close to it.
Don't ask what you find under people's beds when retrieving the escaping cat.
sometimes gets to that point in my house too, my living room is pretty much a music room, guitars, pianos, djembes all over the shop. I'm sure my neighbours are impressed at 5 am! 😆slowoldman - Member
Our guests bring their instruments and we play wind quintets.
My Grandad on his 80th birthday with all the family there put the telly on, wore headphones, and got pissed watching horse racing while we all 'mingled' LEGEND
Cbeebies goes on if our guests start playing up.
People at work talk about new adverts they like?
You are John Spartan and I claim my 5 credits.