“Despite the ongoing hot events around us, my interest in watching the news is dropping fast,” said one Saudi citizen, who did not want his name to be published.

Arab News asked a number of Saudis about their interest in following the political developments in a number of Arab countries and if they were still spending long hours glued to the television.

“I am beginning to get bored watching the continuous telecasts of political unrest and armed conflicts in some Arab countries,” said Essam Al-Haidari, a 35-year-old Saudi educationist.

He said his interest dwindled after watching coverage of the unrest in Tunisia and Egypt.

“After being glued to the TV screen when watching coverage of the events in Tunisia for 28 days and then for 18 days in Egypt, I began to lose interest in watching more of this kind of news,” he said.

Al-Haidari, however, admitted that events in Bahrain might have generated more interest than the unrest in Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Faleh Al-Harbi, a 42-year-old government employee, said with so much unrest in the region, Saudis have been talking less and less about it in their social gatherings.

“Overwhelming support for King Abdullah foiled calls for anti-government protests in the country. We are also overjoyed by the social welfare initiatives of the king. However, we found time to follow the developments in Bahrain because of our affinity with the country,” he said.

Musleh Al- Maraashli, a 38-year-old Saudi teacher, said he watched the incidents in Egypt very closely until they ended with the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak.

“After that, I followed the revolution in Libya to listen to the funny speeches of Muammar Qaddafi. One day I stayed awake until 3 a.m. to listen to his speech which was recorded,” he said.

Al-Maraashli said he is now only watching news briefs. “My television viewing does not exceed an hour these days and it is only to follow news from Libya, Yemen and Syria,” he said, adding that he spent the last two weeks mainly following news of the royal decrees.

Faisal Abdullah, a 34-year-old banker, agreed that Saudis’ interest in the trouble around them has dwindled, but said people are still watching coverage of events in Libya, Yemen, Syria and Jordan.

“The photo of a Jordanian who died of heart attack during the demonstrations made me very sad. Though the interest of Saudis has been waning, they are still watching news about the fighting in Libya and the sit-in protests in Yemen,” he said.