“The
sky is falling…the
sky is falling”……so
said Chicken Little
when she heard that
analog television
was being phased out
later on this month.
Surely the world as
we know it is coming
to an end.
I think not.
Yes, I know that
unless you have a
converter or an HD
ready television you
won’t be able to
watch anything when
the whole system
gets changed over to
digital. But you
know I don’t really
care. And truth to
tell… neither do
you. I mean what
would it hurt if we
were forced to give
up watching the tube
for some period of
time? I don’t think
my life would be
negatively impacted
at all, do you?
If you are as old as
I am you can
remember life before
we had television.
My grandmother was
one of the first
people in our
neighborhood with a
set. The programming
didn’t come on until
late in the
afternoon and I can
recall going to her
house and watching
the test pattern for
about thirty minutes
before Howdy Dowdy
or something along
that line finally
appeared. I believe
all of the stations
(maybe three) signed
off with the
national anthem at
midnight. Trust me
we were not deprived
by not having twenty
four hour
programming on three
hundred or more
channels.
So to hear the media
tell us, there is a
great hue and cry
going up all across
the land because
there are not enough
cable box converters
to go around. This
means a lot of
people may have to
actually wait weeks
or months to see
wrestling or Jack
Bauer save the
world. How can the
citizens of this
country exist if
they don’t get their
daily dose of the
nightly news or ET?
Whatever that is.
No, I do not mourn
the loss of
television. In my
opinion, I think we
could do without our
daily fix for many
months, even years
without any loss to
our society or our
culture. For way too
long, we have
substituted the box
for companionship,
conversation and
communication not
only between our
spouses but our
children, friends
and parents as well.
If you have ever
visited a nursing
home, look in the
television room.
That’s where they (a
lot of the homes,
not all of them)
park the residents
and allow them to
watch mindless
programming hour
after numbing hour
instead of engaging
them in activities
to stimulate their
minds and bodies.
Parents, are we
doing our children
and grandchildren
any favors by
plunking them down
in front of the TV
when they could be
outside playing
(actual physical
exercise) or reading
a book or even
(heavens forbid)
studying their
homework?
I think not.
No, I think it would
do us all some good,
myself included to
just unplug the
thing and let it sit
for a year or so. I
doubt we would miss
anything at all. I
don’t know about
you, but there are
times where I want
to go take a bath
after watching some
of these programs.
There are other
times when I just
say to myself… ‘Why
in God’s name did I
just waste an hour
of my time watching
that garbage?’ I
could have done
something useful
…like getting some
exercise or baking a
cake. Not the best
of two worlds, but
then again you know
what I mean. Look
back at the times in
your life where you
didn’t have a
television or access
to a television. You
suffer? Were you in
pain? Didn’t you
eventually find out
who shot JR anyway?
Can’t you read the
baseball scores in
the paper? Have you
ever listened to the
radio and then
imagined a football
game as it was being
played?
Listen to me folks;
life is too short to
be a slave to a dumb
box sitting in our
houses. Like most of
us, we have hundreds
of channels that we
have to pay for, and
we watch at the most
ten or fifteen. That
is insanity.
I don’t need a
converter, but I can
tell you I am
thinking about life
btv……that’s before
television. It was a
gentler, more
peaceful time in my
life and I want it
back.
