TV - how do you watch yours?

Times are a changing. There has always been a choice of what to watch on TV, but it’s recently got a whole lot bigger. Choosing what to watch no longer has to be a case of flicking through the few available channels to see what’s on. You can watch TV anywhere, all day, all night, out and about, whatever you like, whenever you like.

With this in mind, we asked you how you watch TV now. Do you take advantage of the variety now available, and are you using your smartphones and tablets to watch? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of viewing ‘on demand’?

This may come as no surprise, but the biggest advantage to you of viewing on demand is to avoid the ads! In fact, some of you are pre-recording what you want to watch specifically for this reason. 1234 says “I have taken to recording virtually everything and watching when I want, partly for convenience but mainly because the amount of ads has reached ridiculous levels and I just can’t be bothered watching live anymore.” Other advantages of TV on demand and on the move are the ability to entertain children on long trips, downloading content to watch while away from home, ‘binge watching’ TV shows all in one go, and not having to wait until the next one, and catching up on missed episodes.

And then there are the disadvantages to viewing on demand. Well, what used to be free now has to be paid for, for example if bought through iTunes, and if it’s not, it’s still not free in that it uses up data allowance. GKS says “I did it once to watch a 1 hour programme and used up my entire monthly 1 gigabyte allowance in one go!”

So how about viewing on different devices? Although useful sometimes, on the whole, you think iPads and smart phones are too small, and spoil the viewing experience. According to Coco “it does not make common sense to me to ruin one’s eyes watching entertainment on teeny little screens when the alternatives are so much more enjoyable.” You would rather watch TV on a TV!