What’s On The Telly?

 

I remember the times when parents worried about the kids watching too much television. It seems like that was long ago in a past century. Things have gotten a lot more complicated since that time. Now it’s all about everybody being on their phone, even when they are walking (or driving, for God’s sake.) Or it’s about gaming! How about AV, living in some otherworldly place when you put on special glasses? What will happen to us when our SMART houses are smarter than we are?

The truth is, it’s hard to get through life these days without counting on the proper functioning of some sort of electronic device for us grown-up folks. And often, we need the help of the youngsters just to get us through the day as these devices confound us with their temper tantrums.

For myself, I am among the old-fashioned in enjoying the blessings of merely having a dear old television set. Oh yes, I have a computer, and my Bride has an Ipad. And we spend a lot of time doing all sorts of stuff with those things. We get news, (I don’t get a newspaper anymore,) and send messages, and do research, (goodbye, encyclopedias,) on these fabulous machines all the time. But I don’t do streaming, and not much You Tube. Facebook is only incidental in my life, but I carry on a lively correspondence on my machine with two hundred or so of my closest friends.

But for television, it’s an entirely different thing. We’ve learned that our machine will record the things we want to watch whenever they are broadcast. Then we can watch these gems whenever it suits us. We have even spent complete nights bingeing on our favorite collections of series. It’s hard for the movie houses to compete with that for us. Our movie-going days have seriously diminished. We can hide away without leaving our bedrooms. (Of course, they only re-opening, having benn closed for months,)

The mass audience is going in an entirely different direction, with people unhooking from cable and turning to streaming services for their favorite pastimes, available on phones and other electronic devices. Similar disruption is occurring in the music business. Downloading of music from the airwaves, Itunes, and other sources, has seriously impacted sales of albums, records and tapes. It is now difficult to find the tape and record players that were the staples of yesteryear. The Ipod and the phone jack are the universal vehicles for the moment. Young people, and some not so young, seem to be permanently divorced from the world around them. They are either listening to music, studying messages on their device, furiously thumbing replies, or in conversations with persons out of sight. We used to think people seemingly talking to themselves were off their rocker. Now it is hard to tell one from the other.

There’s no question that our lives have been changed in remarkable ways by technological advances. We keep hearing about the internet of things where all the devices in our lives will be linked, probably to our phones. We will turn things off and on with the click of a button. Security systems, visual surveillance, the kids where-abouts, our toasters and coffee pots, perhaps even our driver-less cars. And, of course, the telly! How about our clothes being wired in some way, maybe changing colors to match outfits, or warming us if the weather changes. Egad!

Exciting but scary. I remember my first days with a computer forty years ago. It was almost considered a toy, but it got serious pretty quickly. Year’s later when I was trying my hand at real estate, it was made clear to me that there was no job available for me if I couldn’t handle a computer. Now, our wee kids are playing with the darn things.

My computer still gives me the “willies”. All of a sudden it will start changing font types or sizes. Merely by moving my cursor, it takes on a life of its own, a life over which I seem to have no control. I am almost completely at its mercy. When I am totally lost, I abdicate control to my youngest offspring. He can remotely fix whatever ails me.

So that gets me back to the telly. They keep trying to totally destabilize my life, offering me all sorts of fancy alternatives, choices I’m not looking for. Along with that come a variety of devices that will do different things for me I may or may not want. I do not want them. Just one remote device please. That’s all I need in my life. And with a pandemic roaring round our ears out there, the now humble telly is a godsend!

I have become a Luddite at heart, in terror of the approaching waves of technological advance I know are coming. I welcome the marvels that are improving controls over our bodies, (and eradicating disease and some of the agonies of aging,) and the positives regarding improved control of the excesses of natural forces. We learn more of these good things every day. But I would not, repeat NOT, like my telly going the way of the tape deck and my record collection, the film camera, and photo albums.

What shall we watch tonight, Sweetie, snug in our beds?