Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: TV in the common house - scheduling

[Chris ScottHanson (cscotthanson]

As usual, Sharon, you have made another wonderful contribution here.  Thanks to 
everyone who has responded.

Chris ScottHanson
(206) 601-7802

> On Oct 28, 2015, at 11:53 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] 
> sharonvillines.com> wrote
> 
>> On Oct 27, 2015, at 5:11 PM, Chris ScottHanson <cscotthanson [at] mac.com> 
>> wrote:
> 
>> We are thinking about putting a TV in our common house (cable TV came with 
>> our central business high speed internet connection) for special events, 
>> etc.   We’re talking about only allowing it to be used per a previously 
>> approved schedule, which would be reviewed and approved periodically by the 
>> "TV committee".  The idea is to avoid temptation to just go in there and 
>> channel surf, etc.
> 
> We have three TVs— living room, exercise room, and game room where teens have 
> priority (the Wii). The living room and game room can be reserved on the 
> community  calendar. The living room is usually reserved for PBS series like 
> Downton Abby and HBO programs. We don’t have anyone who just hangs out there. 
> 
> Children have not been a problem at all with the exception of 8-9 year old 
> twins who would sneak in at any opportunity. Their single parent asked that 
> we  lock the room when they were home from school. There were objections 
> based on not wanting any doors locked unless it was really important. Brain 
> damage is unlikely to be the result of sneaking in to watch cartoons. We 
> agreed to lock the room on an occasional basis. His concern was that he 
> didn’t want the boys to believe that they didn’t have to make plans of their 
> own because they could just watch TV.
> 
> We do have parental controls on the sets. Adults can find the settings on the 
> members website and turn them off.
> 
> We move the living room TV to the dining room for major events like the 
> Superbowl, political debates, inaugurations, Movie Madness (one to two movies 
> a day from Christmas to New Years Eve), showing vacation slides, fireworks, 
> etc. But now we are also planning to get a projector and screen for the 
> Dining Room.
> 
> Meetings move if people want to watch an episode in a series on TV in the 
> living room, but we also have a DVR so programs can be recorded easily. 
> People record documentaries, for example, and schedule a time to watch it 
> later. Documentaries seem to be shown at inconvenient times.
> 
> Sometimes when we have a boring event in the dining room, a movie is 
> scheduled for kids in the living room.
> 
> HOWEVER, we had a long evolution:
> 
> 1. Year one, Condition of move-in. NO TV IN THE CH NO MATTER WHAT. THE NUMBER 
> ONE CAUSE OF THE DECLINE AND TOTAL CORRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN MIND. _THE_ 
> CAUSE OF OBESITY.
> 
> 2. 2-3 years later — Donated TV for “special events” and DVD movies.
> 
> 3. 1 year later— the interested members paid for cable TV themselves. (Not 
> everyone had TV at home and some had TV but no cable.)
> 
> 4. 2-3 years later — Cable TV included in the operating budget.
> 
> 5. 3-4 years later — Large flat screen TV purchase out of capital improvement 
> funds for the living room and a smaller flat screen for the Game Room plus a 
> Wii and other things kids use on TVs. (The game room was also locked until 
> recently so teens had to ask for the key.)
> 
> 6. 2 years later — medium size flat screen in exercise room.
> 
> Now we have flat screens, cable, DVD and VHS players everywhere. A DVR in the 
> living room. We have also installed an antenna so all the units have better 
> TV reception. We live next to train tracks. (I missed the ending of A Good 
> Wife for over a year when I decided I didn’t need cable.)
> 
> So it took a long evolution to get to the current state and was helped very 
> much by new people moving in and thinking we were very odd. New people can 
> get lots of things done because they have not a clue what arguments have been 
> had against what they see as perfectly normal.
> 
> There has been no decline in intelligence, no one hanging out watching TV all 
> day (except on snow days), no change in fitness or weight control (not that 
> everyone is a slim jim but they never were), and our children’s growth has 
> not been stunted. We are still a cohousing community, self-managed, and hold 
> increasingly more community meals. We even drink coffee.
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
> 
>