<p>Nobody has said that OP is unreasonable for not liking to have TV on all the time, or for being annoyed by the background noise TV thing. People have said that it is unreasonable to say that she should be able to prevent her roommate from bringing a TV (which she doesn’t seem to assume she can to, to be clear). It’s not quite the same as a microwave and smells, because smells linger. Noise does not. Her roommate could have a TV and have it on every single minute that she was alone in the room, and it wouldn’t affect OP at all.</p>
<p>I think I’d just ask if she’s planning to bring a TV and say that I wasn’t, and prefer not to have one on most of the time. If she does bring a TV, then you can discuss volume, times she watches, etc. I will note that I watched less TV in college than at probably any other time in my life. So even if roommate brings a TV and thinks she will watch it a fair amount, she may not. Mind you, I didn’t have a TV in my room freshman year. But we had a TV in the common room, and hardly anyone ever watched it. I got a small TV when a friend upgraded sophomore year and kept it throughout college but I watched it maybe 2 hours a week… </p>
<p>I guess my point there is, don’t borrow trouble. Certainly, if she’s bringing a TV, say that you prefer not to have it on all the time when you’re around. But I think it might be best to sort of state some general preferences, and maybe say that in a couple of weeks you can discuss how things are working and if there need to be some more detailed agreements (shows she always wants to watch, etc.)–as opposed to spending a whole lot of energy debating what she thinks she’ll do and how often you think you’ll be in the room when she’s watching, you know? Wait until you see what issues actually arise.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s reasonable. People expect to be able to have a TV. However, I think it would be fine to ask if they would use headphones.</p>
<p>I think it is unreasonable to ask them not to bring one or to ask that someone not bring a microwave (common area ones tend to be disgusting).
She has every right to bring a tv as she’s paying for half the room, too. Just because they bring a tv doesn’t mean it’ll be on all the time. The OP is assuming that without any sort of evidence.</p>
<p>And I don’t know how your room is set up, but in my experience, you’d have to sit pretty close to a television set to have headphones connected. A lot closer than a lot of people are comfortable with. </p>
<p>Just go in with an open mind. It is very likely you’ll have a roommate agreement and you can work issues out with volume and stuff there. Don’t go in with any sort if demands this early.</p>
<p>I still think it’s a good idea to express a PREFERENCE prior to school beginning. </p>
<p>If the roommate really wants one, she’ll bring one, and she has a right to. </p>
<p>But it could be something she’s on the fence about, or maybe while she’s out school shopping she’ll see a decent one cheap at Goodwill and think “hey why not?”. Or she has an idea that if she brings it your room will be some fun social gathering place which it seems like you would not want.</p>
<p>As of now, express preferences, don’t enforce rules. Knowing ahead of time what you want your dorm environment to be like can be helpful.</p>
<p>Everyone usually thinks about the “tv” problem in college. Good thing is that my tv watching has reduced probably by 70-80% in college, there’s just no time or need for watching it. My roomie had one but turned it on like twice maybe?! Before college he was a hardcore tv watcher.</p>