What make elderly retired people do this?

Question

I know of multiple, elderly retired people who do the following. They waste their time sitting in front of the TV all day long. They watch Jerry Springer, Divorce Court, Cheaters, and other trash programs. They believe every thing they see on these programs. What's worse is that they start thinking that this is how everyone lives. If anyone tries to change the channel or provide them with positive reading material they get upset. What's up with this bitter, old people thing?

My, my, my but I have made some people very ANGRY...

Yes, elderly people do have the right to watch what they please, but why do these particular people choose to watch such angry garbage? They complain that no one comes to visit. When someone does come to visit all they want to do is rant and rave about all the terrible people they saw on TV.

I don't change the channel while someone is watching TV. I do make suggestions like, "There's a good movie on channel 25. Would you like to watch it?" The reply is usually smething like, "No! I want to see which one of these eight homeless crack addicts fathered a child with a 12 year old."

These programs make these people angry to the point of yelling at the TV. The question is, why would someone choose to do something so upsetting?

isotope2007 - You are so transparent!

This is not a general question about ALL old people. This is a SPECIFIC question about a few old people. I know a lot more old people who remain active than those who sit and watch TV all day.

I have no idea who Kieth Olbermann is.

Answer 1

I would bet they were bitter young people too...

Answer 2

"They waste their time sitting in front of the TV all day long. They watch Jerry Springer, Divorce Court, Cheaters, and other trash programs. They believe every thing they see on these programs. What's worse is that they start thinking that this is how everyone lives. If anyone tries to change the channel or provide them with positive reading material they get upset.'



---------------- I know many people who do the above. What's up with these lazy, bitter teens/kids/young people thing?
.........there, applies to bitter teens/kids/young people thing just as well, doesn't it?lol!

(Note:Older people can do what they want - they can go off their rockers, waste their lives, etc if they so choose it - they have earned the right to do so. If you think they should do better, try your better than best to encourage them - don't blame them.)

Answer 3

Oh my! You do not understand the elderly, do you? Many elderly people grew up in a time when TV and the media were considered to be absolutely accurate. The naivety of the generation you speak of was enormous. Check out the game show scandals of the 1950s. People actually thought the people playing the games were smart. They were devastated to learn that contestants were given answers to boost ratings. Look at politicians. No on thought a politician was really crooked, until Nixon came along. When a person gets to a certain age, they mentally revert back to this time in their lives.
Another thing. Elderly people have trouble concentrating. Reading a book may be beyond their ability now. Elderly people are lonely too. How often do you spend with an elderly person. Put yourself in their shoes. Suppose you could never leave your home again, and people came to see you on Sunday and never any other time. You begin to feel the TV is your family and friends.
Tell you what..... next time your retired elderly relative wants to spend all their time in front of the TV, take them for a ride in the car, take them shopping, read a story TO THEM, show them a DVD of a movie they loved when they were young, SPEND TIME WITH THEM. Show them you love them, they will come around.

Answer 4

A lot of old people watch a lot of TV because sitting is the only thing that doesn't make them hurt. Trash programs are fun and don't you really find that just about all shows are trash but then who wants to improve their mind all the time. Changing the channel is rude when anyone has been watching something. Maybe the bitter thing is just that you are a pain in the *ss.

Answer 5

I'd like to point out that ALL of us aren't sitting in front of trash TV all day. I am on the computer for a few minutes, taking a break from housecleaning. I have very limited mobility and am in chronic pain but I keep moving every day. I can only work about 10 minutes until I have to rest. Then it's back to work....or play! I love to fish and have a friend who makes it possible for me to go at least once or twice a week. I help my daughter watch her 6 children and various foster kids. I cook; I read; I write letters; I'm writing a book; I mentor a young man; I crochet blankets for children's hospitals; I make chemo caps; I tutor children with special needs.
Perhaps those people who waste their day sitting have no family or friends who want to spend time with them. Don't be so quick to judge. You will not always be young. But I've noticed it's the bitter young people who become the bitter old people.

Answer 6

the place I stay, firefighters can no longer paintings previous 50 years previous because of the trials and actual demands of the activity. yet, i think of this is in all risk extra of a union settlement situation than an truthfully regulation. this is not in all risk an elderly situation. additionally, after age 80, all and sundry has to take a using attempt so as to renew their license. in the event that they are able to force exact, they get renewed. however the determination is often as much as a plenty youthful individual and that individual could desire to decide in basic terms because of the fact a individual is previous. As a senior citizen, i don't experience that I actual have been discriminated against, yet maximum discrimination occurs at paintings, and thank God, i'm freed from that burden. on the turn section, there could desire to be age obstacles in some professions and elected places of work. medical doctors, dentists, politicians, etc. and there could desire to be age obstacles on truck drivers, bus drivers, etc.

Answer 7

How could you possibly believe that Jerry Springer, Divorce Court, and Cheaters are anything but the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Everything I read in the Daily Inquirer is true, absolutely true, and nothing but the truth. Wrestling on TV is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Now, I suspect you are a Kieth Olbermann fan.... (so am I, when I want it straight with sarcasm, I head there, and love the count down of worse, worser, and worst.
If I want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as described in section one above, I tune to FOX news...now there is a fine piece of fiction!
Or perhaps you suggest that we watch, in a continuous loop, endless reruns of SVU, Law and Order, CSI, CSI-Miami, CSI-NYC....take your pic! (pick???) What would you suggest watching on TV...the Simpsons?

Answer 8

What I find really annoying is all those young people who do the following. They waste their time sitting in front of their computer all day long. They do nothing with their lives but surf the internet looking for people to bash, they believe this makes them important and smart. If anyone tries to tell them to change their lives and stop being such cowards and get off their fat butts and face the real world instead of hiding behind their really dumb nicknames and closed doors they get upset. Whats with these bitter nasty young people? Dont they have lives?

Talk about pathetic people. Thank God there are some nice young people in the world and not just these twisted pathetic lonely cowardly scuzzbags - I feel really sorry for their parents.

Answer 9

It keeps their minds active and it is none of your business to begin with. When my late father was in the hospital before he passed, he went without his news, or game shows or his newspaper and he started talking about really crazy stuff. My brother thought he was senile and I knew that it was because his brain wasn't having any stimulation so I turned the tv on so that he could watch his shows and he had a paper and his thinking cleared up and he was back to his oldself mentally speaking. He didn't get upset about not having his shows or anything but I saw what happened to him when he didn't, if you want that to happen, fine, don't let them watch tv and they will be vegetables for sure, think about it.

Answer 10

As long as they aren't doing anything illegal how others live their life is none of my business. For all you know the old folks may be very lonely, and watching TV, even stupid shows, is one way to cope with loneliness.It gives them a human connection, even it is not a real one. And it sure beats drinking, playing the slots, or abusing prescription drugs, which many oldsters do. If you were old and alone, ill or disabled, or had relatives who rarely contacted you, you would want to distract yourself just as they do.

Answer 11

Well, you seem to be living up to the identity you have assumed. Why can't you leave them alone, let them be, instead of trying to get in their way? Interact more with your peer group, you should find enjoyment there, it will take your mind off such minor things. Elderly people have EARNED the right to live their lives the way they want to, the way you will earn one day.