Hey there, for some reason every time I’ve seen a room of a American teenager/young adult (say who’s between 15 and 25) in some videos it kinda looked the same with mainly just a bed and maybe a very small TV (like just max 30″).
It looked like their rooms were mainly used as a bedroom for sleeping and without much entertaining stuff to do.
Isn’t that a thing for teens in the US to have more stuff like a bigger flat-screen TV (about 45″ to 80″) for better enjoying Netflix Shows, YouTube, playing games on consoles/PC etc. or do you just have one in the familys living room?
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I’d say the smaller tv (around 30” like you said) is much more common for a bedroom, typically you’ll only find a bigger tv in the living room
Where are you seeing these kids bedrooms?
I’ve had a television in my bedroom since I was like 5 years old, but there’s other stuff in my room to do. I’ve never seen a teenagers or young adults bedroom with just a bed and TV.
So 15 – 25 is a huge age range which is like can’t even drive yet to already served four years in the military and completed three years of college age.
My kids are 5 and 7 and have a 50 inch.
I’m just amused by the premise of a 30 inch TV being small. When I was a a kid, the TV in my living room was 32 inches, and the TV in my bedroom was 13 inches. And I had to walk to school uphill both ways in the snow.
Edit: I think the 32” was a high school era upgrade. It was 24” before that, and that one had no remote. The 24 incher stayed in service as the NES/SNES TV in a play room before coming with me to college. Don’t need a remote if you’re only watching channel 3!
Yes
My high school graduation present in 1995 was a 21 inch TV and a high end VCR
Neither of my kids have a TV in their room. It’s too easy for them to turn it on after bedtime
15 and 17. 50 ‘ Samsung’s. They purchased them not us
Giant TVs are cheaper than ever. Entry level 4Ks go as low as $200~$300. The main reason behind this is that smart TVs have built in advertising, which creates long term revenue for the manufacturer and therefore subsidizes the cost of the tv. Whereas back then 100% of the profits were from the upfront purchase. Any teenager working a minimum wage job could buy themselves a low end 50” LED 4K after a few checks.
Also that’s a huge age range, by 25 someone could have a decent entry level position making a $40,000~$60,000 salary.
My kids each have a tv in their rooms and I think they’re about 40 inches. They don’t use them at all. My husband thought they would want them and there was a good sale (and one was free). I got a tv for my 12 birthday and it was either 19 or 21 inches and I had it through my early twenties.
I didn’t have a TV in my room growing up. One of my brother’s did. I didn’t seem to need one
When my youngin’ was a teenager, from 13-18, she had a 32″ TV until we upgraded our TV. Then she got a 42″. Not because we bought it for her, but because we bought ourselves a new one.
She’s 22 now. She has the same 42″ TV. I can’t say what she’ll have at 25, a lot will change between now and then, I’m sure. I’d guess the same TV until it stops working, though. She’s pretty pragmatic like that.
I’d say it’s pretty common yeah. TV’s aren’t really some unheard of luxury like they were in the 50s
Back in *my* day, I was lucky to have a 9” black and white tv in my room. With three channels, no cable, uphill both ways!
My children intentionally did not have TVs in their bedrooms. As they got older and got phones, they didn’t really use them as much at bedtime. We had a couple of larger screen monitors available in more public areas of our house, but not in their bedrooms.
Ya I had tv, gaming counsels, etc in my room as a kid and teen.
I don’t now though, I keep them in my living room.
Sure if they get a job.
A 30″ TV in a bedroom-sized room is plenty big. I do think most teenagers have tvs in their bedroom, but not bigger than that.
I know quite a few kids, I can’t think of one that has a TV in their bedroom. A 15 year old is in their 2nd year of high school, a 25 year old could be married with kids of their own so this is a really weird age range…but maybe you’re from a country where multigenerational families are normal.
My 18-year-old daughter has a 15 year old plus 32″ from when her and her sister shared a room when they were little and the 17-year-old has a ten year old plus 37″ which she inherited when we upgraded the living room TV and did the whole living room to master bed to her room shuffle, previously she had a 32″ plasma. Neither has expressed an interest in something different – they are mostly on their phones.
I will say that their mom an I are a bit more frugal (due to our background) than a lot of our >$120K household income neighbors. I have seen 65″+ in some kids rooms around here which I think is ridiculous but I also live in the land of $20K+ Quinceaneras so it is what it is.
My kids are 21 and 23. I didn’t allow them to have TVs in their bedrooms growing up. It really didn’t matter though. Eventually technology caught up and they have cellphones and laptops. Same difference.
My house when I was a teen had 3 tvs and when we moved my room was bigger so I got one too, so 4. I think it just depends. Having more than one TV meant my brother and I could play video games and stay out of my parents hair lol.
My son will get whatever the old one is when we upgrade to a new one.
So I’m guessing it’ll be a 60″ or 70″. But who knows, in 13 years they may be completely different.
I have teenagers and they do not have TVs in their rooms. Bedrooms are for sleeping, not watching TV.
It’s not uncommon. Unless you’re going for something really high end, they’re not particularly expensive. Most families have more than one TV though
15 to 25 is a HUGE age range, from halfway through high school and can’t even drive yet, to well into adulthood and could have already served in the military, or graduated college AND graduate school, and generally be a functioning adult.
Are you seeing these things on TV or movies? Remember, that TV and movies aren’t real.
I’ve never heard of an American teenager having an 80 inch television in their room. A 30 inch TV is fairly typical for the things you talk about. An 80 inch TV is bigger than most families would have in their living rooms.
When I was a kid in the 80’s, I had a 10 inch black & white TV in my room, until it was upgraded to a color TV in the mid 80’s and I got a VCR for my room in the early 90’s. A 30 inch TV is certainly not small.
It’s pretty common. TVs are relatively cheap
It depends on the family’s wealth and upbringing. My wife had a television in her bedroom growing up due to wealth and her family letting her. My family was similarly well off, but we only had a television in the basement and a different room for the computer, no child was allowed a personal device until it was required for schoolwork, but it was never a television. Similar to Germany, students might get one when they are in high school/gymnasium when they start needing to write longer essays.
By 18-19 some Americans go off to Uni and there it is pretty much required that you have a computer, either a laptop or desktop will work, but a laptop makes it easier to do things out of your room.
Most students at Uni will graduate by 23, and will either move back in with parents/family, and usually maintain the level of autonomy they had at Uni and start work, or will go off on their own to find an apartment with roommates and will also have the same level of autonomy as any other adult, so they can choose to have a computer or TV in their bedrooms. For example, I’m 34 and married and we do not have a tv in our bedroom, my sister is 25 and lives with roommates, and keeps her computer in her room.
The biggest TV my family had growing up was about 32” maybe 36. Now the tv in the living room os 52”
A lot of parents don’t let their kids have TVs in their rooms at all, which I personally think is reasonable.
My cousin’s kids are teenagers and while they do have a large (probably 65″) TV hooked up to an Xbox and PlayStation, it’s in the basement, not in anyone’s room.
15-25 is a big gap. I wouldn’t say every, but I’d say it’s pretty common. Also you can get a flat screen for pretty cheap (relatively). They aren’t as expensive as they used to be but I gotta 50 inch smart tv for a couple hundred.
We don’t have a TV in any of our bedrooms.
My sisters and I had TVs as kids and teens but I don’t think they were bigger than 20”.
At this point I would say 42″ is probably standard for a bedroom television.
It’s absolutely wild just how televisions have changed since I was a kid. The first TV I had in my bedroom was a black & white hand-me-down from my grandmother. I don’t remember the size but I would guess it was 12″. A couple years later I got a 12″ color TV and VCR combo for my birthday. I don’t remember how old I was but I was in elementary school. That TV lasted me until I left for college where I bought a 27″ TV.
The downstairs TV when I left for college was a 36″ Sony Triniton that weighed like a zillion pounds. That’s an exact measurement as my dad wouldn’t pay to have it delivered when he had two sons. That was a CRT tube TV. You did have “big screen” projection TVs but those sucked and, aside from them, 36″ was actually considered a big TV.
Now I have an 86″ TV in my “TV room”. The craziest part is I’m pretty sure my parents 36″ TV was more expensive than my 86″ one **without** adjusting for inflation.
My kids don’t even have TVs in their rooms. When I was a kid, I had a 13″, which I shared with my sister.
I had a 22” that fit on a bookshelf when I was in high school. I wish I had a picture of said shelf because it turned into an entertainment center – wired my playstation 3 and 4 through it and everything. Now I have a 55” 4k in the living room and the mess of wires behind it gives me anxiety