End the remote control wars
By Sandra Beckwith

According to a survey by RCA, 65% of people who are married or in a relationship say they have disagreements with their spouse or significant other about which TV program to watch. 48% of those surveyed report having disagreements about who holds the TV remote control. 46% of women say they often complain about their husbands’ or boyfriends’ channel-surfing habits.

Since TV watching constitutes much of the “couple time” for today’s busy households, battles about what to watch add trouble. What’s a woman to do? Here are some tips:

• Learn how to use the VCR so you can tape the program you want to watch…then watch what he wants with him—or, better yet—vice versa. Shop for technology with one-touch record so you can skip steps—some on-screen program guides let you record with the touch of just one button.
• Buy a picture-within-a-picture TV so while one of you surfs, the other can still watch a program.
• Compromise and take turns so you can watch TV together. Be fair and share! Avoid splitting off to separate TVs—that reduces the time you spend together.
• Develop other common interests or hobbies so you have opportunities to do more things together than watch TV.
• Remove the batteries from the remote control when uncontrolled channel surfing gets too annoying!