I was wondering if I’m the only one that has his wife/spouse/girlfriend watching TV all time. And when they are watching TV its impossible to communicate with them. They are stuck. Anyone got experience with this nationwide syndrome? What can be done against it or is it a good thing? 
Its especially annoying when going on a vacation together.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. 
I would have thought that the average Westerner would be used to this. Obsessive TV is abuse is, after all, endemic in the West.
I’m glad to see you’re the kind of person who finds this bizarre and unnatural. :bravo:
There is no TV. Aehem …
Actually it’s not a Taiwanese thing but rather common in lot’s of places in Asia - you are invited to, say, a friends house and the first thing they do is switch on the TV (if it’s not already on) “to entertain you” … 
Dude. I have noticed this. BUT with it always freaking raining what else is there to do? Reading chinese is hard, so I don’t blame them for not wanting to do that. And California Fitness is noisy. So yeah, nothing to do but watch tv.
Excuses! Its not always freaking raining (at least where I live). 
It also brings me to a social question. What did Taiwanese do before they could all afford a TV?
I see one answer so far only:
Happy New Year in any case. I’ll probably watch it on TV.
It’s definitely not a Chinese problem. When I watch TV I’m totally glued and you really have to get my attention to tell me anything. Same when I’m reading a book or anything else like that.
I don’t think the Taiwanese watch attention obsessively. They are just watching it waiting for something decent to come on.
They will be waiting a very long time.
Wonder if there are some statistics, I agree the Taiwanese watch more than their share of television. In fact I see it as a form of narcissism.
They need a healthier obsession. BTW What size is that bra…
My TV is one literally every second my grandmother is up. Then again she can’t really do much of anything else but I’m so sick of Animal Planet’s Funniest Home Videos!!!
walk down my street and I just see family after family doing some monotonous work in front of a TV…
…ah taiwan
I don’t have a TV and only my Taipei friends comment/complain when they come to stay - maybe we just do things differently in the countryside My neighbour has an enormous video projector but they only use it for ‘movie nights’ with friends. I don’t remember them ever having the TV on apart from this. If anyone comes to stay we talk, laugh, go hiking and generally have a great time with No TV Required.
The roommate in my first temporary Taipei apartment was a travel journalist and watched maybe one/two hours a week of Discovery tops. House was full of books - she was a really good find. My second Taipei roommate watched a lot of TV but no more than I remember anyone doing so back in the UK.
Maybe you need to find some things for her to do?
I was a TV addict in the UK, but there is little here to watch, unless you wanna see “The Rock” again. If anyone is up for a “The Rock” quoting comp I could whip you with one hand behind my back. “I shit you not.” (Harris to soldiers as they land on the rock!) I also watched about 5 hours of American Casino yesterday. I was shocked that Michael Tata died of a drug overdose! So I think I understand why people watch so much telly, cos it is easier than making other entertainment. I have pitifully fallen in with MrsHill and have started watching the T.V. dramas here. For Tom it is a good way to learn Taiwanese! Isn’t anyone else watching the drama unfold between ‘William’ ‘Sophie’ and some hunk? Channel 39. Sophia has some kind of blood disease. William falls into speaking English at times, cos he was educated in Singapore. (Like poor Sophie can understand him!) It’s terrible, and addictive! 
What I don’t understand is the thing Puiwaihin, and my love have in common. TV is on, you can’t hear a damn thing. That is plain weirdo-weirdness, which scientifically proven to be 100% annoying to rational humans. My ears are always alert. This sparks the debate, ‘Tom you don’t focus hard enough/ Lady Tom you are a weirdo.’ Always a classic, never leads to sex, when will I learn.
I need the gym, my brain needs a filter! Never thought I’d say that!
[quote=“SuchAFob”]
They will be waiting a very long time.[/quote]
They even wait in company offices and small shops… one time I was in a pharmacy, wanted to pay, and had to wait for the advertisment to show up until I got attention. Luckily advertisment is frequent
I hate it I hate it I hate it!
Always the same 10 actors in 100 TV shows, if over the next one starts! Same actors, same acting. Grimassing faces and crying and kneefalls and crawling and…
always the bride in white marriage dress will be humilated, beaten up, kidnapped, forced to drink whisky and then be rescued by a taxi driver, who happens to be the lost twin brother of the evil chieftain …
Well done. A Taiwanese friend of ours told my wife and I that ‘No one would want to be your child, because you don’t have a TV, and you have to climb stairs’ (we live on the 4th floor of an apartment building with no elevator). She was joking of course, but only just.
I haven’t had a TV for around 12 years, and never missed it. I believe it’s one of modern society’s greatest curses. We have one now, because it came with the apartment, but it’s almost never on. My wife is from the US, and used to work in the movie industry, so she has a liking for the TV which I don’t.
Mind you, here she watches about 10% of the TV she used to in New York. It’s either the movies on cable, or DVDs.
[quote=“bob_honest”]I hate it I hate it I hate it!
Always the same 10 actors in 100 TV shows, if over the next one starts! Same actors, same acting. Grimassing faces and crying and kneefalls and crawling and…
always the bride in white marriage dress will be humilated, beaten up, kidnapped, forced to drink whisky and then be rescued by a taxi driver, who happens to be the lost twin brother of the evil chieftain …[/quote]
Don’t forget the guns. Someone legally has to pull out a gun every ten minutes in a Taiwanese drama. Also, women have to shout and rant and then never apologise. I am also fond of the way they show you what is going to happen after the break, before the break. If you get my meaning. Classic.
And what about the dramatic music playing (DA DA DA! da da da DA DA DA!) when absolutely nothing is happening onscreen.
You could try turning off the TV … or getting a new girlfriend …
who will turn on the TV during every spare moment 
From what I’ve seen in the ‘Dating And Relationships’ forum, this is very true to life. 
Television, Drug of the Free
by Disposable Heroes of Hipocrisy (Michael Franti, 1991)
One nation under god has turned into
one nation under the influence of one drug
(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., it satellite links
our united states of unconsciousness
apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
the methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there’s nothing worth watching
T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent
of our nation reads books daily
why most people think Central America means Kansas
socialism means unamerican
and apartheid is a new headache remedy
absorbed in its world it’s so hard to find us
it shapes our mind the most
maybe the mother of our nation
should remind us that we’re sitting too close to…
(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V. is the stomping ground
for political candidates
where bears in the woods
are chased by grecian formula’d bald eagles
T.V. is mechanized politic’s
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by enironmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special
it’s the perpetuation of the two-party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
where sound bite politics are served
to the fastfood culture
where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
race baiting is the way to get elected
Willie Horton or will he not get elected on…
(chorus)
Televison, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., is it the reflector or the director
does it imitate us or do we imitate it
because a child watches 1500 murders
before he’s twelve years old
and we wonder how we’ve created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than abhor the horror
T.V. is the place where armchair generals
and quarterbacks can experience first hand
the excitement of video warfare
as the themesong is sung in the background
sugar sweet sitcoms that leave us with
a bad actor taste while pop stars metamorphosize
into soda pop stars you saw the video
you heard the soundtrack
well now go buy the soft drink
well, the only cola that I support
is a union C.O.L.A. (cost of living allowance) on…
(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
Back again, “new and improved”
we return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
beer and car commmercials
CNNESPNABCTNT but mostly B.S.
where oxymoronic language like
“virtually spotless” “fresh frozen”
light yet filling" and
“military intelligence” have become standard
T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like “recession” to “necessary downturn”
“crude oil” on a beach to “mousse”
“civilian death” to “collateral damages”
and being killed by your own army
is now called “friendly fire”
T.V. is the place where the pursuit of
happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
where toothpaste and cars
have become sex objects
where imagination is sucked out of children
by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse
that would create a cripple
on…
(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation