For years our elder has been addicted to her television set. It is on almost 24/7. It lulls her to sleep at night and wakes her up in the morning. It drives everyone else insane.
Her Shows: Aside from a few mid afternoon shows, our elder watches movies. I have literally heard her watch the exact same movie every day for several days running. From what I understand, this is normal operating procedure. Some of the caregivers can quote the movies now.
If, by chance, we miss Her Shows, she gets upset. There have been shows that I’ve felt that way about, but not many and we can record them. So can she. She just doesn’t. It might have something to do with learning all the steps to record and then playback the shows or it could simply be that she doesn’t want to.
Payback: I’ve written about this before, but it is one of her most favorite methods of showing her displeasure with someone…particularly someone who might want to sleep. She will crank the volume and leave it on all night long. It is annoying but it reaches a lot further than the intended victim.
Ear Plugs: As the usual intended victim, I have acquired ear plugs. My tasks when I am with her do not include being on call at night, so I use them. If someone is reading this and rubbing their hands together thinking it’s a good ploy…just remember…ear plugs. It won’t bother your victim.
Sleeping with it on: This is a seriously bad habit. It makes it harder for deep sleep and it muffles other sounds that might be important. It is hard to live alone and the television does seem like a companion, but it isn’t a wise choice when sleeping.
Dueling Remotes: Our elder is put out with her overnight caregiver. It is over the remote control and the television volume. Our elder has taken to sleeping with the remote clutched in her hand. Removing it would wake her up (apparently went there/did that). She was at a loss for handling it until it was pointed out that the sun room remote operates the television in our elder’s room as well.
It probably isn’t funny to the two combatants, but I can’t help but see the humor in it. Our elder cranks the volume and nods off, content. The caregiver comes in, sees she’s asleep and uses remote number two to lower the volume. Fairly soon, our elder wakes up and the process is repeated.
I am not a really television oriented person. I didn’t develop the habit as a child and now that I’m an adult I don’t find much on I want to watch. Watching the TV Wars does amuse me…as long as I can get some sleep.