<p>My senior daughter took a TV we bought her with a built in DVD player to school her freshman year. Since other roommates were bringing the sofa, mircrowave and mini refrigerator, we felt we should contribute SOMETHING! We never worried about HER watching the TV too much, the problem came when her roommates watched it nearly nonstop at all hours of the day. She lives in a suite type room that has a rather large living room. The roommates watched it morning, noon and night with the volume rather loud. D didn't take it back sophomore year, but another roommate brought one (!?!?!?!). By junior year she had the guts to set some guidelines about TV usage in the room while someone else was studying!!</p>
<p>DD has the smallest and cheapest TV that they sell at Target. She says it's nice to occasionally come back from class and catch an old show. DS only had a tv in his dorm one year (roommate brought it) and seldom watched it. He never had one in any of his undergrad apartments, and he doesn't have one now in grad school.</p>
<p>My kids (as well as mom and dad) are big TV watchers. The TV in the den is almost always on. There are shows we watch as a family and shows that the kids watch without mom and dad. Both kids have TV's with DVD players and TIVO at school. With TIVO they can record what shows they watch and watch them when they have the free time. My kids are excellent students and watching TV has not affected their grades. As a matter of fact, my daughter has the TV on when she is doing written work, but not studying. </p>
<p>The boys like to be able to see all the games on TV and I would much rather he watch in his apartment than hang in a bar! The girls love to have movie nights and also save shows until they can watch together. </p>
<p>As you can see, I have no problem with a TV at college!!</p>
<p>I must be an old fogy, because I think it's a terrible idea for a college student to have a TV in his or her room. I don't believe that it will make the typical student more social, but is rather likely to have the opposite effect. For me, the supreme pleasure of college was sitting around talking with my roommates about all kinds of heavy stuff until late at night. I think it would be sad to replace that with the boob tube.</p>
<p>Mine didn't ask and we didn't volunteer one. But he did tell his Dad that he is the only one on his floor without a TV. He doesn't mind since he has a friend with a 42 inch with surround sound and XBOX live. The TV in the common room never gets used since so many of the kids have TV's that are much nicer then the one in the common room.
His first night in the dorm one of the kids with a TV invited all the kids who had moved in for that session of orientation over to watch a movie. It was a great ice breaker for those who had moved in early. Many of his friends are those that he first met that evening.</p>
<p>My d doesn't have a TV--she felt that it might be a distraction this year (she's a freshman). Also, she's in a quad and the only place for a TV would be in a common room that they all share. None of her roommates brought one either.</p>
<p>Unlike the other "boys" in my family, S1 is not too much of a TV watcher. In high school I'd occasionally find him in front of the TV vegging on History channel or something similar but he's always been more of a book reader. ...he's also not too much of a "gamer", isn't addicted to his iPod, has always had a job and doesn't watch sports on TV so I did send a TV without even giving it a second thought. He's in a pretty remote small town, and I'm not sure what he's doing for his news, plus I imagine when he's between the hiking/biking/tennis season and the ski season, it must get pretty quiet... so I sent a small 13" with him, although come to think of it, he can get even more current news and entertainment on a laptop....I'm showing my age. Now S2 can plunk in front of a TV and totally zone out for hours on end and listen to his iPod simultaneously and S3 loves his gaming and his iPod video -- I won't send a TV to college with either of them when the time comes.</p>
<p>i am amazed by the responses of people who don't want their children to have tv's... or for children who think tv's are a distraction.. honestly... far more hours are wasted on the intenet when you are in college... you might want to re-think letting them have a computer and make sure they use the computer labs, which is the same thing as a tv in a common room.</p>
<p>and movie watching on a laptop ususally doesn't work out too well because you can't do other things while doing it, plus you are limited to the screen size.</p>
<p>we had a 20 inch tv at school and that seemed okay for a movie watching tv. my tv at home is a 27 inch widescreen.</p>
<p>fendergirl is right. Having a big TV in my room borught people in to watch TV and movies with me and my roommate freshman year and those great discussions we had often came after that weeks episode of House or watching some crazy movie someone got on Netflix.</p>
<p>I don't know, I'm glad my parents don't exercise even 1/5 the control some parents are alluding to here.</p>
<p>My Ds common room had a huge flat screen TV. She also has and adaptor thing on her laptop so she can watch TV on it if she wants.</p>
<p>S and roommate (both engineering sophomores) have a TV. I think it is mostly used to watch sporting events that aren't universally interesting enough to be watched in the lounge--both are from out of state (different states). I haven't noticed that S is suffering in either the academic or social arenas. He learned early last year that he had to be disciplined about his studies. But he is glad he can watch (and suffer with!)the Tigers and the Wolverines.</p>
<p>All 3 of mine had TVs in their dorm rooms. Oldest didn't have a common room with his dorm. D. loves movies and on weekends she and friends often rented movies and watched in the room--much cheaper than going out to shows. Youngest has been addicted to morning news and ESPN for years now. I don't think having the TVs hurt any of them socially, nor their gpa. Were they necessary? Probably not, but I would have a hard time without one--can't miss news or the weather channel.</p>
<p>If you child has a lap top, or IPOD...they have access to several TV shows.</p>
<p>All 3 of mine did/do without owning TV's in college. They never had any in their bedrooms when growing up. We all liked to watch movies as a family, after and not during meals (we kept it out of the kitchen and dining areas). That's more what they like to do still; rent a movie that's carefully chosen, and gather to watch it on purpose. </p>
<p>In college, S1 enjoyed watching movies on his computer screen with one or two others in his room, or as a date evening. TV itself still isn't a big part of his life, but when he graduated college and moved into a furnished apartment with Cable, he enjoyed watching Jon Stewart every night, then Steve Colbert on Comedy Central. So did I, and sometimes we'd email each other about it. It was often sharp and funny. </p>
<p>In college, D avoided the TV even when it played in the floor lounge. Actually I wish she would watch a bit of news sometimes but she dodges it all.</p>
<p>S2 majors in Film and Media Studies (=TV) as a Screenwriting Major, yet was wary when his roommate unpacked a huge TV in their dorm room "for games." Now he mentions that the 3 roommates bond and relax to films some evenings. He doesn't watch any broadcast TV shows regularly still. Maybe he'll write them someday, who knows, but so far he favors movies to TV. I think TV writing is getting better and better, and wouldn't rule out any medium.</p>
<p>Honestly I'm more concerned about my own TV habit than theirs! H and I use it to fall asleep, which isn't good. Recently I started a monthly book group to regenerate my reading habit, and that's helping a lot. On TV, my kids have better discipline than I do.</p>
<p>Both of mine have tv's although they never had them in their bedrooms at home. D1 has it to watch Grey's Anatomy and the other didn't ever get the cable hooked up. She uses it for DVD's with friends.</p>
<p>Younger has a TV- in the lounge of his dorm and at his fraternity (where he currently spends half his life). Older has a TV in a house that he shares with 2 other guys. NOTHING compares to our TV at home, though, so the TV situation at college is not a distraction.</p>
<p>S is junior and this year his roommate brought a tv "to watch the Lions games." S has now turned room into a Steeler heaven and roommate is wishing he'd left it at home.</p>
<p>We never had a tv when the kids were small - nothing against it perse - we were just cheap. It worked out well since none of them seems to be too interested in it now (excepting those Steeler games, of course).</p>
<p>both Ds have them at school, but not at home in their rooms. D1 is a public relations major, and with some of her introductory news writing classes, they would occasionally have to watch specific news shows as a class assignment. So even though VCRs are becoming outdated, she also has one in case she needs to record something while out.</p>
<p>D2's roommate provided the TV and DVD player since we provided the window AC unit. D2 probably spends more time on her computer than watching TV, except now for Sundays when she watches football. I swear someone brainwashed her - she never watched sports before college... now she'll watch it alone (if no one else is around) in her room. Oh, and of course, Grey's Anatomy; I think there's a huge party planned in her dorm for tomorrow night's premiere.</p>
<p>D has a tv tuner for her laptop. serves her needs to catch House every week, and the software lets her use her hard drive as a DVR. Cost only about $70 at Best Buy.</p>
<p>my Ds roommate has a tv, and I offered to pay for cable if they wanted, and they both said no...they like going down the hall to the big tv, or to other rooms, so</p>