Nighttime Privacy: Reasons to Draw Curtains/Blinds

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The discussion revolves around the reasons people draw curtains or pull blinds down at night. Many participants express a desire for privacy, particularly single women living alone, who want to avoid advertising their presence at home. Some individuals prefer to keep their curtains open to enjoy the night sky and the darkness, while others emphasize the practical benefits of closed curtains, such as energy conservation and heat retention. There are contrasting views on the safety concerns associated with visibility at night, with some arguing that crimes are more likely to occur after dark. Additionally, participants mention the impact of urban light pollution on their ability to see the night sky, highlighting a longing for a clearer view of stars and celestial bodies. Overall, the conversation touches on themes of privacy, safety, energy efficiency, and the beauty of the natural night sky.
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Why do people draw curtains pull blinds down when it gets dark, it isn't as if you are running around in buff is it? i like to be able to see the dark, and only draw my curtains when it is cold in the bathroom an need to dress in the living room, my bathroom is down stairs.
 
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Yes I do wear nothing or next to nothing in my home at night. I wait to view the darkness when I'm away from the big city.
 
As a single woman living alone, I don't want to advertise that I am home alone. Also people don't need to see what I have inside that they might want.
 
wolram said:
Why do people draw curtains pull blinds down when it gets dark, it isn't as if you are running around in buff is it? i like to be able to see the dark, and only draw my curtains when it is cold in the bathroom an need to dress in the living room, my bathroom is down stairs.
I do run around in the buff at home. I never used to draw the curtains until my neighbors asked me to.
 
I only pull the shades in the bedroom, and only to keep it dark in the morning if I want to sleep late. If it's cold and I want to dress in the living room near the wood stove, I do. There are very few people around here, and if someone is interested enough to be peeking in my windows, I am not going to feel responsible for what they might see. Not my problem.
 
Evo said:
As a single woman living alone, I don't want to advertise that I am home alone. Also people don't need to see what I have inside that they might want.

But they could case your joint in the day just as well, not that they would, or even if there is a they, sorry if terms are out dated.
 
From a practical point of view, open windows lose a lot of radiation heat. Closed curtains radiate the IR back. Keep the energy in and the energy bill low.

See how much radiation disappears through the window:

infrared%20house_full.jpe
 
wolram said:
But they could case your joint in the day just as well, not that they would, or even if there is a they, sorry if terms are out dated.
During the day, my blinds are only drawn if I am home. Someone with their face pressed to the glass trying to look in would be noticed. At night, you can see into a room with the lights on from quite a distance.
 
Evo said:
As a single woman living alone, I don't want to advertise that I am home alone. Also people don't need to see what I have inside that they might want.
I hope Dr. Foofer and Rico, aka Fruitbat, aren't reading this.
 
  • #10
Andre said:
From a practical point of view, open windows lose a lot of radiation heat. Closed curtains radiate the IR back. Keep the energy in and the energy bill low.

See how much radiation disappears through the window:

infrared%20house_full.jpe

Screw the energy, i like the stary night :smile: humans shut out every thing that is good out side.
 
  • #11
I burn 5 cords of wood or less to heat my house, and used no heating oil last winter, aside from a short test-run to make sure that the furnace was working properly.
 
  • #12
We try to block the night out because we're afraid of the dark... duh!
 
  • #13
turbo-1 said:
I burn 5 cords of wood or less to heat my house, and used no heating oil last winter, aside from a short test-run to make sure that the furnace was working properly.
Fair play to you Turbo, people are strange when it comes to night time, i am sure most crimes are committed in day light
 
  • #14
Where I live it doesn't really get dark. I mostly draw the curtains to shut out the beautiful reddish hue of the night sky thanks to all the sodium vapor lamps.
 
  • #15
NeoDevin said:
We try to block the night out because we're afraid of the dark... duh!

Quite true , do boogy men have supper powers, nah, they are just as blind as we are at night, but you still should not walk alone in known hot spots.
 
  • #16
wolram said:
Why do people draw curtains pull blinds down when it gets dark, it isn't as if you are running around in buff is it?
Yes.
i like to be able to see the dark, and only draw my curtains when it is cold in the bathroom an need to dress in the living room, my bathroom is down stairs.
If you can see the dark, then it isn't dark. I also use curtains at night to enhance the dark...and, of course, enhance it when i wake up in the morning when it is light out as well.
 
  • #17
wolram said:
Fair play to you Turbo, people are strange when it comes to night time, i am sure most crimes are committed in day light
You're sure...ly wrong: Table 1: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/fcpu29.pdf

Crime rates are, overall, roughly double at night what they are in the day and are greater in the day in only 2 of 8 categories.

For an additional irony, there is good evidence that increased lighting at night increases crime in certain areas/ways.
 
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  • #18
I have the same problem as Nabeshin. It never gets dark here, with the exception of an accidental power outage every few years.
I also like my privacy. Our biggest window (the balcony doors) has sheers over it at all times. We can see out pretty well, but others can't see in. The bedroom windows always have the blinds down. The only unobstructed window is a large one in our dinette area. Nobody can see into it because it's in the top half of the second-story wall. Even it has a blind that we can pull down if we want to.
 
  • #19
Never gets dark .. I can see clear as daytime.
 
  • #20
Yeah i have to agree with you rootx. The disappearance of night has slipped my notice. A few years back i went camping out far from where i live now, and to be perfectly honest I've never seen the night sky for what it is. If I've never seen the night sky, then I am sure many people younger than me have never either. Just so disappointing to look out the window and see as well as i do in day instead of seeing the milky way look back at me...
 
  • #21
Blenton said:
Yeah i have to agree with you rootx. The disappearance of night has slipped my notice. A few years back i went camping out far from where i live now, and to be perfectly honest I've never seen the night sky for what it is. If I've never seen the night sky, then I am sure many people younger than me have never either. Just so disappointing to look out the window and see as well as i do in day instead of seeing the milky way look back at me...

That is amazing, i never though some people have not seen night sky.
 
  • #22
Gone are my days of night-time "in the buff"... but our lack of window covering doesn't keep our 10-yr-old from being such. We live downtown in an eighth floor apartment next to a bank that is closed at night... so people seeing in isn't really a concern (although I change in our closet or bathroom if I look out and see lights anywhere).

The biggest reasons I see to desiring window coverings is perhaps temperature control (here in TN, the sun coming in actually still can heat the place up too much in winter!) and just to block out the city lights. Our 10-yr-old has problems sleeping because of the city-lights. I sleep backwards on the bed... to avoid looking at some blinking lights at the top of another building and instead see the moon... and to keep my husband from flopping his arm over over my back (aka, I'd probably sleep backwards anyways...).

Then since we're renting, and plan to move out in another year or so, we aren't going to invest in any window-coverings.
 
  • #23
I suspect that energy costs plus the lack of evidence that lighting reduces crime will end up taking care of light pollution.
 
  • #24
russ_watters said:
I suspect that energy costs plus the lack of evidence that lighting reduces crime will end up taking care of light pollution.

It is about time some lights were turned out at night, i can see the light in the sky from a town 8 miles away ,and it is a sleepy town with nothing open past midnight.
 
  • #25
wolram said:
That is amazing, i never though some people have not seen night sky.
The first time we took our daughter out to the middle of nowhere for an weekend tent trip, I commented that it was a perfect night sky with no clouds, just the billions of stars to see.
She said 'almost, except for that one long one'. It was the first time she had seen the Milky Way. It was a wonderful night I remember fondly, spent pointing out stars and planets and satellites.
That opened my eyes to the fact that many people have never seen a night sky without some sort of man-made light being visible. A beautiful sight that I feel is unknown to too many.
 
  • #26
jimmysnyder said:
I do run around in the buff at home. I never used to draw the curtains until my neighbors asked me to.

I can vouch for that, it put me and all the other neighbours off our dinner.
 
  • #27
Where I live, I can walk out on the back deck and see the Milky Way arching overhead, and M31 is an easy naked-eye object. I would hate to lose that.
 
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