Nonstop watching news programs. Any suggestions on redirecting her to other activities?

My Husband watched the Weather Chanel all the time (until Jeopardy came on then it was that then Wheel of Fortune)
I think it is the comfort of the repetition.
You can record anything and have it replay and it will do the same thing.
(I recorded ball games to play for my Husband when there was no game on and he would watch it like it was the first time..and in a way I guess it was)
OR
If it does not bother you and it does not upset her let it go and let her watch. If it bothers you or upsets her find another thing for her to watch that will be more pleasant.

Yep, 90yr old Momwas starting to fail, physically and mentally. All she’d watch all day was CSI, Law & order, etc. anything and everything related to those are all on one channel. Once she lost ability to figure out the remote, we put her tv on a timer. 8:30 am to 11;00 and took away the remote
pm(she needs it to fall asleep)

hallmark Xmas movie channel was perfect. All day long- happy & cheerful, beautiful scenery and easy to follow (repetitive) plots


now that channel has hallmark romance, mysteries and then The Golden Girls

I wholeheartedly recommend ending the murder/rape/serial killer stuff.

My SIL told me that years ago when she would visit her parents she would find them watching the cable company guide. At that time it would do a slow rotation and there was a voice over of local weather or advertisements. SIL asked if they would like her to put one of the programs on. They said no, what they were watching was fine. She wondered if they were hypnotized.

Needhelp, Yes, most of them! Towards the end, the part when Mother Nun is singing, my mother said "Shut up u stupid nun, you're giving me a headache" haha!

As long as the news isn't being absorbed as her reality and making her angrier, fearful or paranoid, then it's ok. My 93-yr old Mom watches "anger-tainment" news all the time and wants to rant about politics to me, and even though we share the same beliefs, it's just negative and fearful and boring so I divert our conversatiion every time she starts in.

For my elderly Aunt with advanced dementia (who recently passed) i bought her a whole bunch of old-time musicals (DVDs) with happy endings and little to no frightening or disturbing content. Many were Pixar and Disney movies. She watched with the captions on and would read the entire movie, even though she couldn't really follow the plot, she was happy in the moment. Kept her busy for hours since she physically and mentally couldn't do anything else and was becoming very angry and negative from her dementia.

ThinkingOutLoud, when my Dad was living in senior living, he always had on the 24 hour "local" news.

I tried to get him interested in the old movies on Turner Classic Movies, but he was more interested with keeping up-to-date with the news. Plus the news reminded him what day of the week, and the calendar date.

Is she living with you? If something is disturbing her, you can set parental controls to block out channels.

It’s annoying for you but it is habitual for her.

Have you tried suggesting another program for her to watch?

My mom watches The Sound of Music all day

I don’t see any problem with this if she’s happy watching them.

I think you've answered your own question, she has limited ability to remember and understand so longer programs don't work any more, the 30 second news sound bites played on repeat are something she can follow.