I completely missed that you’d be buying your son a TV. I wouldn’t want my mom to buy me a TV. There’s no need. I already had a TV so there was no shelling out of money. Your son can get plenty by through YouTube, HBOGo, Netflix, Hulu, and streaming sites.
Back in the day, no one had a TV in their dorm room (and we went to a school with a lot of rich kids). There were lounges to watch TV in. It was considered too much of a distraction, especially if someone had a roommate.
Nowadays, there is no reason to buy a TV, you can get online subscriptions to many TV channels and watch on your laptop.
DS didn’t have one the first year. This year he built a computer and uses a TV as the monitor. However IMO most kids who end up getting distracted from homework are playing games on the computer not watching tv.
I’m going to be a freshman in college in August and I’m planning on using my laptop for entertainment. The last time I had a TV in my room was back in 5th grade, lol.
My D had a TV/DVD combo all four years at school. She admits that she didn’t watch or use it often. However, she did use it sometimes in connection with her computer (she use the cable that connect her laptop to the TV screen and would read or do papers looking at the larger TV screen.) School offered free cable and every so often they would watch a movie. It did not affect her studies at all. The internet she admits was the bigger distraction. Hope this helps.
I actually did have a TV in college - a 12 inch black and white. We watched the new, hot late night show on it - David Letterman. But it was fairly unusual to have a TV.
^^ We hooked the Betamax to the big TV in the lounge to watch movie rentals because so few people had TV’s.
I’m old so there weren’t TV’s in our dorm rooms. In fact watching TV wasn’t really all that popular back then EXCEPT that everyone had to schedule their classes around watching General Hospital and the whole Luke/Laura story line.
My two sons had TV’s in their dorm rooms freshman year,mostly for watching football games on the weekends. Both moved off campus after freshman year and had TV’s in their apts/houses.
Funny, most kids at my daugthers school have TVs in their rooms. They consume a lot on their laptops but she likes the TV for Netflix.
Just curious; why is a GoPro camera unsafe? I’d never heard that before.
I can’t imagine my kids NOT having a tv in their dorm room. None of them are huge tv consumers but watching Modern Family or putting on the morning news or Mike and Mike on ESPN in the morning while getting ready is enjoyable and relaxing and NORMAL for them. I’ve had 2 finish college and they always had a tv - they did not watch it excessively - not much fun to watch American Idol with a couple of friends huddled around on a computer on their lap! And for the record, both were awesome students, with campus involvment, excellent grades and one played a D3 sport.
D2 will head off to college this fall. I absolutely support her having a tv - not a 50 inch of course, but I also think it’s healthy to get her eyes AWAY from the computer screen - hopefully doing other things besides tv but also some tv is perfectly ok. I never understand the thought they “shouldn’t they be studying?” - of course they will! But college students ARE still normal people who should kick back with something - and a 30 minute comedy or the Jimmy Fallon opening monologue is perfectly great IMO!
notelling, having had a risk-taking teenage boy, had GoPro’s been around when he was that age, I am certain he and his friends would have done something stupid just to film it. What puzzles me, though, is that the OP thinks that her son will be “safer” without one, as if teenage boys can’t make stupid and unsafe decisions perfectly well without any media around. Not to mention that there will be still be kids with cellphones to film it all. Just look at Youtube!
My older D would have used GoPro to film her ice climbing, snowshoeing and kayaking-honestly, with or without some kids take risks.
I guess controlling the money gives some parents the comfort of thinking that their kid is safer, but having raised a couple of kids who survived to adulthood despite themselves and without GoPro, I’m not so sure.
@abasket I suppose normal is relative. It has never been the cultural norm in our family. So my D not owning a TV is perfectly normal. And though I’m sure she watches all manner of network junk online, retrieving media via the internet is rapidly becoming the way to go for their generation.
Neither of my kids had TVs, but like others watched lots of media on computers. Both colleges had big screen TVs in the dorms for group watching.
@abasket, I can definitely relate to everything in your post. In my family we’ve always had TV’s. Best thing about having a TV in my dorm room was having access to BET and watching the black movies they would play on the weekends! Definitely allowed me to unwind and kick back when I needed to.
@musicamusica, I did say “NORMAL for them” (my kids). Surely each family has their own form of normal - for them. 
I had a tv in my room, but only used it as a means to “lull” me to sleep once the coursework got heavy. The only time I remember really watching was for award shows. Most of the time I plugged my laptop in for Netflix, Hulu, etc…
It’s not really needed, IMO but I guess it depends on the person.
I grew up in very much a TV family. It was on all the time when I was growing up, and I had a TV in my bedroom throughout high school. But when I went to college it never even occurred to me to bring a TV. I switched to watching shows online and ended up watching much less because the TV wasn’t on quite so often for “background noise.” Kids find it pretty easy to adapt. I still maintain that it is by no means a necessity for *anyone/i, but of course, it is a nice extra to have.
From experience, it’s much easier if you put the computer on the desk! Just kidding =D
Seriously though - none of our family has ever had a tv in a bedroom - only family areas. And it is not on all the time - in fact, I would say that most of us watch probably no more than an hour and a half or so on most days. But that hour and a half was/is enjoyed - on a regular tv screen!