The Trajectory of Television: A Big History of the Small Screen. 134
antdude writes "Ars Technica has a three pages article on the trajectory of TV--starting with a big history of the small screen. From the article: 'Though it's a relatively recent invention, television is a pillar of Western—and even global—culture. Even if you're that one guy who makes it a point to mention that you don't watch or even own a television, your life has inevitably been shaped by the small screen to some degree. Popular culture has its moments of being swept up in the comedies and dramas of the airwaves, and television (cable news in particular) indelibly established in the minds of the world that instant access to breaking news on faraway continents is a normal thing.'"
Re:Legal drug? (Score:5, Insightful)
Same goes for someone who's enjoying a book, gazing at a sunset, or performing any other activity which does require focus but doesn't require any other form of physical feedback. Sure, some people express emotions when reading a book, but so do most people watching TV, unless it's simply not emotive content. If you're simply calling "focusing on something" a drug, you're crazy and have an agenda.
I remember when... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm probably one of the older readers/posters here and I'll tell you why I hate TV.
Back when I was a kid, there was no TV.
People and communities were far different.
Everyone knew their neighbours and interacted with them on a daily basis.
We'd have card or board-game evenings on a Tuesday night, whereupon most everyone in the street would roll up at someone's house and enjoy a very social time together, enjoying each other's company and having fun. We kids would play out in the yard (in summer) or inside (in winter), sharing our comics and also playing games.
When Mrs Brown 5 doors down was ill, someone would go mow her lawns every weekend and the women would take turns making sure she had a nutritious meal three times a day.
Most Saturday nights the guy who lived next to us would get out his 16mm film projector and a movie would be screened on his garage door. The adults would all sit around watching and drinking beer -- while we kids also watched or just went and played ball in the yard out back.
Because of this tight bonding between neighbors, those were days when you could leave your car parked in the driveway (or on the road outside your house) with the keys in it and when folk went on vacation, they never bothered to lock their doors -- otherwise the people next door couldn't get in to water the plants while you were away.
Perhaps my glasses of retrospect are rose-tinted, but they were wonderful, carefree, crime-free days where I lived.
Then TV came along.
Once everyone had their own set, people no longer got together and socialised of an evening. Instead, they stayed in their own houses and after a few years (as some folk sold up and others moved in), it quickly became apparent that we didn't even know some of those who lived in the street.
A little later, after a few car-thefts and burglaries, people started locking their cars and doors.
You see, once the fabric of the community was torn by the isolating effect of television, most folk no longer had the close bond that once existed with the others in their neighborhood -- in fact people became anonymous. Once folk are anonymous their inhibitions tend to drop and they're far more likely to submit to temptation (such as theft or other crimes). Just look at how differently many people behave when they're on vacation in a different part of the country and you'll see the proof of that. If the people around you know who you are you tend to be far more conservative and circumspect in your behavior. Go somewhere where nobody knows you and it's easier to behave badly.
Anyway, TV has now become opiate of the masses. Far too many people spend a huge percentage of their life passively sitting in front of the box, soaking up everything that's thrown at them.
If you'd tried to describe why the Kardashians would be celebrities back when I was a kid, people would simply not understand -- and I have to admit, I still don't get it.
The best thing we could do for any nation is to switch off TV and show people that "reality" is a much better option than "reality TV".
Hell, imagine how much better off we'd all be if we spent an hour less each day watching TV and instead, used that time to improve our education, earn a little extra money -- or just spend quality time with our friends and families.
I doubt very much whether *anyone's* last words will ever be "Darn, I wish I'd spent more time watching TV".
But hey, I'm old enough to know I'm wrong more often than I'm right -- so feel free to ignore this rant :-)
John Logie Baird? BBC? (Score:2, Insightful)
An artilce about the development of television broadcasting that doesn't mention either of these?
Re:a few comments (Score:5, Insightful)
What about the CRT work of Ferdinand Braun, the Nipkow disk, the 1929 work of Francis Jenkins in the USA?
The work of Telefunken? John Logie Baird? The US/German/UK patent hunt of the 1930's?
Re:Legal drug? (Score:5, Insightful)
Watching TV does not require focus. It is the opposite. Folks who watch TV call it, "zoning out". You cannot zone out while reading a book. And, if you zoned out, staring at a picture of a sunset for 3-5 hours a day, nobody would consider that healthy and normal-- you might even be compelled to seek professional help.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm [bls.gov]
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/americans-spend-34-hours-week-watching-tv-nielsen-numbers-article-1.1162285 [nydailynews.com]
Television Importance Fading (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: I remember when... (Score:2, Insightful)
Truly sounds like a nice time but I don't know if you can blame TV for all that. For instance, the birth of cities meant there were a lot more strangers you had to deal with on a regular basis, resulting in less intimate relationships with one another.
Re:I remember when... (Score:5, Insightful)
So you had a very localized, very homogenous culture with little or no outside influences. I'm betting everyone in that neighborhood voted the same way, were suspicious of and openly hostile to new and different ways of thinking/living and 25% of the kids couldn't wait to get out of the small minded hellhole they lived in.
We tend to recall our childhood environment through the lens of a blissfully ignorant child's point of view. There was likely domestic abuse, alcoholism, racism, teen pregnancy and a variety of other social problems just on the other side of those "open doors" that was never talked about in front of the kids.
Re:I remember when... (Score:1, Insightful)