<p>I'm an incoming freshman, so I'm not sure of college etiquette or what is considered (un)reasonable yet. I just got my roommate/housing yesterday, and we haven't contacted each other yet. Anyway, I've always known I didn't want a TV in the room-- I find the background noise from TVs really irritating, even if I'm just chilling and not trying to study. I've also heard horror stories from friends about roommates who blast them 24/7. Our house is very small, and there's a big TV with cable in it right below us that anyone can use, so she definitely would be able to watch that.</p>
<p>However, I don't want to be the roommate from hell or anything, and I'm not sure if it would be reasonable to ask my roommate not to bring a TV. I'm pretty sure I'm overthinking this, but I just don't want to start off on the wrong foot or anything.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s reasonable to blatantly ask your roommate to not bring a tv. However, it’s definitely a common thing to set some boundaries-- no tv during homework, etc. I guess you could say something like “so do we want a tv in the room? Personally I don’t really need one, it could be distracting” but if she wants to bring it, it’s her right. Just establish some etiquette and you should be good to go.</p>
<p>What do you mean by house? You’re not in a dorm?</p>
<p>While I think you should share your concerns about having a television with your roommate, I believe it is unreasonable to tell your roommate that they can’t bring a TV. I don’t think that’s your decision to make; your decision deals with reasonable volume levels, and not whether it’s in the room.</p>
<p>If my roommate didn’t want a TV, I think we’d have a problem. That’s how I spend time with my girlfriend and best friend across the country (through Xbox). </p>
<p>You need to come up with a compromise if she wants TV.</p>
<p>I wont really use mine because I watch netflix and hulu all the time with headphones, but my roommate has an xbox that he wants to take. It’s just compromises.</p>
<p>It is really unreasonable to tell her not to bring a TV. Although, feel free to set rules of quiet time. </p>
<p>If it is still too distracting, just pop in your headphones, go to the library, or something to get you out of the dorm and to quiet place. Last resort is always an RA.</p>
<p>Besides, dorms have paper-thin walls and everyone is loud. I’m sure a TV that is down low won’t be much compared to the utter chaos going on around the dorm. Lol</p>
<p>@luke8ball yeah we live in “houses” not “dorms” at my school. they’re made up equally of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and you live in the same one all 4 years. so house community’s a pretty big part of life here i guess.</p>
<p>and thanks for the advice guys! i really appreciate it (:</p>
<p>Most schools today use some sort of roommate pact that lays these things out. Headphones are not unreasonable. Both of my kids’ schools resolved all this by not having any tv reception reachable in any rooms. Kids go down to the common rooms. They survive without daily tv.</p>
<p>I meant headphones for the tv watcher. She has a certain responsibility not to be the roommate from hell. My kids, btw, watch on the web, with earplugs. I don’t see an issue with letting her know, now, that you like a quiet room, diplomatically, of course.</p>
<p>Your roommate might not want/have a TV to bring either, mine didn’t. Just say that you don’t have a TV to bring and are fine without having one and ask her what she has to bring. I personally wouldn’t tell her that I hate TV straight out, I would get a bad first impression from that. That’s something to tell a bit later, like after she says she’s bringing a TV.</p>
<p>I would ask about her tv watching habits. She may have her absolute favorite shows that she looks forward to each week for stress relief. Like, Big Bang Theory or such. If you know when she is most likely to want to watch, you can also modify your schedule a little bit and maybe even enjoy watching with her to just relax. If it seems like she watches constantly, then, that’s an issue to work out. I don’t think it’s reasonable to say “absolutely no tv allowed” since she is paying for the room too. I used to like to watch the national news each night, and that’s NOT what people in the common room were watching, so I really needed my TV. When the space shuttle blew up, we were watching it live, and everyone wound up in my tiny double.(1986-Mt. Holyoke) Sometimes, tv can serve to connect you to the rest of the world – even with computers, etc.</p>
<p>Well if your roommate brings a TV than let her. It’s pretty unreasonable to say that you don’t want a TV in the room, because after all it his part her room as well. Additionally there is no way you will always be in your room, and your roommate can always watch TV while you are away.</p>
<p>Just set up some sort of roommate agreement outlining what is too late, what is too loud, and when is the wrong time. I’m sure she will understand that sort of compromise. I brought a decent sized TV to my dorm and as it turns out I almost never used it. Although it was my best friend when I was hungover and that was usually the extent of my TV watching.</p>
<p>I don’t watch TV. All I do is watch boxing. But for the boxing fights, I can just download them after they happened, and watch them on my computer. Then I have my favorite movies downloaded in my PC already. In the end, I do not need a TV to watch cable tv, just need one for my PS3. My favorite show, I bought the DVD/Blu-Ray set[Smallville], so i’m set with that.</p>
<p>Now as for gaming, I have a PS3 and play a few months a year. Like I haven’t used my PS3 since April this year. I only follow 4-5 series of games, Resident Evil, Borderlands, MLB The Show, NBA 2K and Fight Night. I also listen to everything through my headphones.</p>
<p>I agree with every one though, you can’t make your roommate a prisoner. Might as well tell her she can only eat bread and water, and have 1 hour recess, and come back to her cell before 9PM. She’s coming to college, not bootcamp. Lol i’m kidding, but be nicer about your no-tv policy.</p>
<p>I think it’s unreasonable.
Your reasons, however, are not unreasonable. You can always talk it over at school— when should be designated quiet times, or speak up if it’s at a ridiculously loud volume. You can also suggest the usage of headphones. I know if I wanted to watch tv late into the night and my room mate wanted to sleep, I could plug headphones into my tv, and turn it away so it didn’t light up her side of the room.</p>
<p>Funny how so many posters are pro-tv, even suggesting OP could be unreasonable. Not everyone studies on such a fixed schedule that you can agree on exact tv times. There’s also exam-prep week, times when a big paper is due- or a kid is just tired. </p>
<p>I don’t see a problem if roomie just wants to watch, say, some show at a certain time each week. That’s a compromise. But, why suggest open-ended and that if OP doesn’t like that or other sorts of noise or distractions, she should buy headphones or head for the library or elsewhere? </p>
<p>I’d guess that when OP filled out her preference forms, before dorm assignments, that she listed quiet. Most colleges try to match based on preferences and quiet is, ime, one of the more important. This may never be a big issue between them.</p>
<p>My S1 and his roomie had different styles of studying/relaxing/socializing in the room.</p>
<p>They agreed to alternate weeks as to who had priority in use of the room…whether to study, socialize or whatever, and the other person that week could go elsewhere to socialize or study. They also agreed that after midnight on class nights, no guests/music/tv/lights etc…if one wanted to work with lights on after midnight, there’s a study lounge on the floor; headphones for music, etc.</p>
<p>This worked very well for them. A lot of the time they would both study in the room, or play X Box or whatever. The only time conflict would sometimes arise would be if one wanted to have friends over for video games and the other wanted to study etc. This was a fair way of deciding between the two.</p>
<p>Actually, it worked very well for them…roomie was the best man at my son’s wedding.</p>
<p>I’m going to half disagree with the majority of people here. I think it’s completely fine to request (or ask politely) that the roommate not bring a tv, but it is unreasonable to demand that she not bring one. </p>
<p>In other words, I don’t think there’s any harm in politely asking - just be prepared for a potential “no” and to let it go (and then create boundaries when you get to school).</p>
<p>I agree with Johnson181, I made the same request about my roomie not bringing a microwave, I didn’t want the room to smell like whatever we cooked in there, and there was one easily accessible in the floor kitchenette. If you have a decent reason to request it and she DOESN’T have a good reason to buy/bring one, then she’ll probably be fine with that. If she does have a good reason, like the poster earlier saying something about keeping in touch with friends through xbox live, then you can work it out.</p>
<p>I like the idea of alternating weeks. I’ve never thought of that before. That would also be a great idea if you and your roomie both have significant others…</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this issue is something that would have been best addressed before rooming assignments, but since we’re in the present, you should definitely ask her and give your reasons. If she still wants to bring one, you’ll just have to deal with it and try to establish rules and whatnot. I despise television blaring in the background, but being on good terms with my roommates is more important to me, especially in the long run.</p>
<p>And what if the other roommate was was offended by a Obama Hope poster, rainbow flag, Che Guevara poster (because the kid prob has no idea who Che Guevara really was), pot leaf poster or other left of center decorations? Should he or she take those down too? Or should the offended roommate “embrace diversity”?</p>
<p>OP’s question was about noise and, presumably, that sort of distraction. Can’t turn your back on noise. “Fair” works both ways. A nice roomie who wanted a tv in a Smith dorm should be smart enough to be sensitive about it.<br>
Plenty of guys might bring a tv to watch sports- not usually a headphones activity. So, would anyone suggest that every time a game is on, the distracted roommate should put on headphones or leave? Or that the sports kid discusses the plans, sometimes goes elsewhere- a friend’s room or the common area?</p>