10% of UK will spend 14 years in front of TV

14 years or 122,640 hours or 7,358,400 minutes or 441,504,000 seconds
14 years or 122,640 hours or 7,358,400 minutes or 441,504,000 seconds

One in ten of us in the UK will spend over 14 years in front of our televisions with more than half regularly discussing the goggle box with our family and friends.

Taking the average life expectancy of 78.7* years (we like a bit of precision), cable giant Virgin Media believes that 10 per cent of us spend the lion's share of a decade and a half as couch potatoes.

Alarmingly, the same study discovered that 70 per cent of people admit that they 'often' sit in front of the television without caring too much what is on.

Water-cooler moment?

Still, at least it gives us something to talk about, with 52 per cent of us discussing television regularly with our loved ones.

"There are currently more TV programmes than ever before, both on TV and on demand, but it seems some Brits still haven't broken free from the TV schedule, said Virgin Media's Ashley Stockwell.

"Dipping in and out of live TV and TV on demand means that no one should be watching anything for the sake of it."

But wait...

Fortunately, Virgin Media does have the answer – and you may be shocked to learn that it is in fact its own service.

"With over 4,600 hours of TV programmes at our customers' fingertips through Virgin Media's TV on demand service, telly fans can watch what they want, when they want to," adds Stockwell.

* Correct us if we're wrong but we reckon .7 of a year is 255.5 days.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.