Gen X here, and we always had a conversation during meals, usually about what we all did that day. Absolutely no TV, and I was discouraged from reading at the table, even during breakfast (though we would have the radio on then to listen to traffic and weather).
My mother was either a stay-at-home mom or worked as a high school teacher, meaning she was always home in time to make dinner. From the time I was about 6 until I was in college, my father had a 2nd job, working 2 evenings a week (6-9 PM) and every other Sunday (9 AM-1 PM) filling prescriptions at our local small-town pharmacy. When Dad had to go to the other job dinner needed to be ready for him to eat in the small window when he was home.
My mother recruited me as kitchen help as soon as I was able–things like grating cheese, folding seasonings into ground beef for meatballs, etc. When I was in 12th grade, she took a night course once a week for a semester, meaning that when I got home from school at about 4:25 I had to make dinner in time for Dad to eat before going to job #2 AND watch my little sister who was 6 at the time. I’m not sure how edible the meals were, but it was great training for college and then living on my own.
We took family dinner beyond dinner. We sat around the dining room table for breakfast every morning, and on the weekends we were there for lunch, too. Grace was said at every meal, conversation was civil, and, absent excuses, we were dressed for the day, coat and tie. I miss it but lack the energy to do it all the time. Lest you think we were living the sexist 1950s dream, my father was a regular cook and did his share of dishes (along with the two boys). As a multigenerational Navy family, we ate foods from numerous countries. As staid as it usually was, weekends were fun. My father made a tower of various sandwiches or a pot of oyster stew. And of course we ate beanie-weenies, hamburgers, BLTs, Denver omelettes, Rice-A-Roni, pudding cake, and lots of other stuff. After every single dinner, there was a salad with a homemade vinaigrette or, on certain nights, coleslaw.
We had family dinner nearly every night, too, but ‘dressed’ meant a clean-ish shirt and pants/shorts! I remember one hot summer day when I was probably about 8 or 9, trying to come to the table wearing just swim trunks (which, during the summer, was just about the only thing I wore for a few years). My dad made it very clear that I was not dressed appropriately.
We didn’t have a tv anywhere near the kitchen. The TV was in the big den, not the living room. I would occasionally pull a moody teenager stunt and take my dinner to the spare bedroom next to mine, which served as a secondary den or office, and had a desk, couch and a small black and white portable tv, but tv in the era of black and white rabbit ears wasn’t the addiction that media is today - at least not in my fam. So we ate at the kitchen table every night. I have no sibs, so it wasn’t chaotic.
Same - we lived in a split level ranch - only ONE TV in the house (late 1960s, all of 1970s before I moved out) and the big butt TV (with rabbit ears and NO clicker but a very loud channel changer on the TV!) was in the family room downstairs, far away from the dining room and kitchen.
ETA: I personally still only have a single TV in my house - in my living room. I don’t need nor have I ever wanted a TV in my bedroom. Only had that when I was rooming with several people.
We never watched TV with dinner growing up, either. I was kinda shocked when my ex and I stayed with her parents in CA and the TV was on ALL THE TIME — even when nobody was watching.
We’d sit in the kitchen having lunch or dinner, and I found it so distracting I turned it off. Seconds later it was turned back on again, even though nobody was in the living room
Apparently, it’s considered “atmosphere” in some households. I hated it. Still do.
I mean… I love watching TV, as anyone who participates in the What are you watching threads can attest to — but I prefer to focus on what I’m watching, and I don’t need white noise all day long. Silence is quite alright with me
We got a TV when I was in second grade. It could be moved into the kitchen for watching the news while cooking. “Good night, Chet.” “Good night, David.” was the sign to turn it off. We got a color TV in the seventies when my father finished building it. In my own house, we had a small black and white until the nineties. Eventually we caved and now have one of those skinny 40" ones in the den. It lived in the living room for a few months, but we did not like it to be such a focal point.
We have a white noise app running at night to sortakinda drown out the krazy kats playing catch at night , or the cardinals who have made a home near our bedroom window and enthusiastically greet every morn like it’s the first one ever
Plus any city we visit. Ideally, I’d rather do without, but dead silence is hard to come by in most places.
I’m one of those old school no tv in the living room people - just art and books on the wall. In an emergency I can bring in an iPad and out it on a stand.
, or the cardinals who have made a home near our bedroom window and enthusiastically greet every morn like it’s the first one ever 
