Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Television (was Teen room advice request)

[emccourt (emccourt]

Don't know if we will be able to afford it in the end, but we are certainly 
planning to have a big TV for videos, sporting events, etc.  We have programmed 
for a full media center, but of course it will be vulnerable to cuts when 
construction bids come in. During the common house programming workshop, 
virtually every small group came up with watching movies and cultural and 
sporting events together as activities that would occur in the common house.  
This requires a fairly large screen (could be projected) and a good sound 
system.

--eileen
Oak Creek Commons
Cohousing in Paso Robles, CA


cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org wrote:
> Yes, I think that's an important part of it, Sharon.

On another note, many communities don't allow TV in the CH. We have had a TV
in the teen room for most of the time we have lived here, but without cable.
Since we don't get reception here, it has meant that we only watch the
occasional movie.

Since the teen room is up a flight of stairs, it is not accessible. So we
are on the brink of deciding to get a TV for downstairs. IMO, communities
get way too uptight about having TV in the CH. Most of us have one at home,
so what's the big deal? Wouldn't it be less isolating if watching TV were a
group activity? Especially on big days like the Superbowl, when we want to
watch TV together, we have to crowd into someone's house.

What are some reasons people have decided to ban the TV from their
commonhouses? What impact has it had on commonhouse use? What mitigation
and/or rules do you have to govern use?

I think new groups and old should discuss this issue. It probably has more
impact than most people think on the use of the commonhouse and the tenor of
the community.

--
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California

tamgoddess [at] home.com
http://members.home.net/southsideparkcohousing

----------
>From: Sharon Villines 
>To: 
>Subject: Re: [C-L]_Teen room advice request
>Date: Tue, May 29, 2001, 1:13 PM
>

>> The current teens grew up in the community, and are a more
>> integrated part of it. They also don't object nearly as strongly as their
>> older peers did to the adults using the room, as we now do occasionally.
> --snip-- If they don't want to be a part of the
>> community, they should not have a room devoted to their use.
>
> This is an interesting point -- that the teens need to see themselves as
> participants in the larger community in order to ask and expect to reap the
> benefits of it. Use of a room should be granted on the same basis as other
> rooms. Teen members should be treated as other members with special
> interests would be. Teens use other rooms and others will occasionally use
> theirs. Rooms have primary purposes but when needed by the community they
> are temporarily used for something else.
>
> Sharon
> --
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
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