Do you ever feel lost when people start talking about television? I know I do.People watch a lot of television and use it as a way to relate to other people.
Unplug The Signal: We are Living in an Artificially Induced State of ConsciousnessI thought internet video was going to change the way we watch television. Netflix lets me watch movies on demand. Hulu let's me watch television shows on my schedule with fewer commercials. Thanks to YouTube and similar sites, there is a glut of new content, most of it crap, but nearly all of it produced outside of the major broadcasting systems.
Heavy television watching is culturally accepted and expected in our society. In fact, the act of not watching TV can actually offend some people.
I was wrong to think that choice could supplant scheduled programing. People watch it and then can talk about it the next day. That's the point. The false connection with others.
Television is creating a culture of occupied minds- an apathetic and passive population only interested in being entertained by mindless trivia with no interest in analyzing information and instead relying on the TV for all answers.Worse: relying on TV to create a social network. Those who do not participate in the ritual have no way to communicate with those who do. I have no idea what happened on (insert show name) last night and I don't care. I used to have a few shows on my list that allowed me limited social interaction. Not anymore.
Sorry. This post doesn't give you much to talk about while you stand around the coffee machine in the break room trying to stay awake because you stayed up too late to watch (insert show name) last night.
2 comments:
Television is creating a culture of occupied minds- an apathetic and passive population only interested in being entertained by mindless trivia with no interest in analyzing information and instead relying on the TV for all answers.
That quote is kinda behind the times. I mean, said culture has already been created - and was in place no later than the late 70s, and you could argue another decade or two before that. I grew up in that culture - or rather, at it's outskirts.
Yeah, the second excerpt seems to be at odds with the first.
And I forgot that I do have one show that I will watch every new episode of. Unfortunately the new episodes air on the BBC so I have to wait until at least a few hours after show time before I can start making the preparations necessary to watch it. Even there I am too far ahead of the curve since most other fans I know wait for it to either air in the United States or come out on dvd.
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