Zoneboy
05-29-2010, 11:43 PM
Link (http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=28&a=452289)
The remote control for our living room TV stopped working recently. While that probably doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface, it's a pretty good example of one of those little events in life that starts you reflecting on how much things change.
I guess it was probably just worn out from years of use, because not even a fresh set of AAA batteries was able to resuscitate our remote, and I'm sure its passing was hastened by the untold number of times it had been dropped or fallen off the couch onto the hardwood living room floor.
In any case it's kaput and had to be put down.
The other day, I walked into the room where that still remote-less TV sits and found my daughter lying on the rug in front of the TV with her toes positioned up on the entertainment center in such a way that she could change the channels and adjust the volume without having to move.
I didn't ask her, but I was pretty certain that she didn't even for a second entertain the idea of sitting on the couch to watch TV and getting up whenever the channel required changing from "Hannah Montana" to "Sponge Bob Squarepants."
On one hand I thought to myself that by using her "digit-al" remote she was displaying pretty resourceful problem solving skills, and I was surprised she hadn't sought out one of our TVs that has a functioning remote.
But on the other hand I had to laugh at just how good a metaphor the television remote control is for illustrating how much different the world I grew up in is from that in which my kids are growing up.
Now, while I realize this would be an ideal opportunity for me to launch into a rant about how much simpler and better things were in my day, that's not my intention. My intention, as is often the case in this space, is to have a little fun scrutinizing the differences between my youth and that of my kids.
From my perspective the TV remote is still relatively new technology, because I can remember growing up and having televisions that didn't have a remote control. My sisters and I were the remote. "Jeff, will you flip it to channel six please? Barney Miller is about to start."
But my kids, on the other hand, have never known television without remote controls, hence my daughter's positioning on our living room floor. To them the idea of having to actually get up off their hind quarters and physically touch the television is as foreign an idea as putting a needle onto a spinning piece of grooved vinyl to hear music play.
The first remote I remember us having when I was young had an on/off switch and channel up and down buttons. I still had to adjust the volume of the TV by hand, but to me it was the coolest thing ever.
While the function of the remote control itself hasn't changed a whole lot over the past 30 or so years, their capabilities certainly have. My kids can change the channel, adjust the volume, order and watch a movie, rewind a program or record a program; all without moving anything but a thumb.
They don't know how good they have it.
If there's any point to this at all, it's that I find interesting how technology continues to be a driving force behind generation gaps, and even though I know kids are better off reading a book, I can't help but imagine how my kid's kids will view TV and how they will change its channels.
Well, I better get going. I have to turn off my IBM Selectric typewriter, go buy a stamp and walk this thing down to the mail box so I get it submitted in time to make my deadline.
The remote control for our living room TV stopped working recently. While that probably doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface, it's a pretty good example of one of those little events in life that starts you reflecting on how much things change.
I guess it was probably just worn out from years of use, because not even a fresh set of AAA batteries was able to resuscitate our remote, and I'm sure its passing was hastened by the untold number of times it had been dropped or fallen off the couch onto the hardwood living room floor.
In any case it's kaput and had to be put down.
The other day, I walked into the room where that still remote-less TV sits and found my daughter lying on the rug in front of the TV with her toes positioned up on the entertainment center in such a way that she could change the channels and adjust the volume without having to move.
I didn't ask her, but I was pretty certain that she didn't even for a second entertain the idea of sitting on the couch to watch TV and getting up whenever the channel required changing from "Hannah Montana" to "Sponge Bob Squarepants."
On one hand I thought to myself that by using her "digit-al" remote she was displaying pretty resourceful problem solving skills, and I was surprised she hadn't sought out one of our TVs that has a functioning remote.
But on the other hand I had to laugh at just how good a metaphor the television remote control is for illustrating how much different the world I grew up in is from that in which my kids are growing up.
Now, while I realize this would be an ideal opportunity for me to launch into a rant about how much simpler and better things were in my day, that's not my intention. My intention, as is often the case in this space, is to have a little fun scrutinizing the differences between my youth and that of my kids.
From my perspective the TV remote is still relatively new technology, because I can remember growing up and having televisions that didn't have a remote control. My sisters and I were the remote. "Jeff, will you flip it to channel six please? Barney Miller is about to start."
But my kids, on the other hand, have never known television without remote controls, hence my daughter's positioning on our living room floor. To them the idea of having to actually get up off their hind quarters and physically touch the television is as foreign an idea as putting a needle onto a spinning piece of grooved vinyl to hear music play.
The first remote I remember us having when I was young had an on/off switch and channel up and down buttons. I still had to adjust the volume of the TV by hand, but to me it was the coolest thing ever.
While the function of the remote control itself hasn't changed a whole lot over the past 30 or so years, their capabilities certainly have. My kids can change the channel, adjust the volume, order and watch a movie, rewind a program or record a program; all without moving anything but a thumb.
They don't know how good they have it.
If there's any point to this at all, it's that I find interesting how technology continues to be a driving force behind generation gaps, and even though I know kids are better off reading a book, I can't help but imagine how my kid's kids will view TV and how they will change its channels.
Well, I better get going. I have to turn off my IBM Selectric typewriter, go buy a stamp and walk this thing down to the mail box so I get it submitted in time to make my deadline.