techknight said:

these computer monitors aren't quite old enough to have this problem but another 10 to 15 years in the future it's going to start happening. especially if they are still used a lot today as a tinkering machine.

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Thanks, techknight, for the background info. But returning to the OP's question, what is the best way to run a CRT monitor?

My understanding are that there are two failure modes: the CRT itself (requiring a CRT swap) and the associated circuitry (which is fixable, at a cost of time and parts). Manually switching on and off will increase wear and tear; but don't the AV monitors have a basic power saving function that will cause similar problems? Assuming the OP can find somebody locally to repair boards (ie replacing components subject to cycling), switching on/off would extend CRT life?