The extent to which it was taking place was likely exaggerated but we knew there were some students in our university dormitory who had arranged their class schedule to allow them to watch a particular soap opera every day. Consequently the lounge was often filled with students from 1-2 pm catching up with characters on the daytime drama that held them in its entertainment clasp. As a first year student I was unaware of the kinds of manipulations others went through to clear their schedule but, by happy accident, that block of time ended up being my lunch hour as well.
A memo from the university's PR department one day informed us that all available students were encouraged to make an appearance of their floor's balcony the following Friday at 1:30 so a picture of the building and its current inhabitants could be taken. The balconies on floors 3 & 4 (female floors) were fairly full but balconies 1 and 2 (male floors) looked quite sparse. The photographer encouraged those standing on floors 1 and 2 to go and round up some more guys, to which one of the students responded, "Are you serious? There's no way we're getting them out here. Days of Our Lives is on."
Before the days of PVRs, on-demand and on-line programming we would often have one, perhaps two, opportunities to watch a TV show. You either watched it when it was broadcast, caught it in a summer re-run or you didn't see it at all. That has changed completely. Now we can record it, watch it later from a different time zone on our satellite dish, stream it on our computer, or for added convenience even watch it on our phone.
I recognized how much my viewing habits had been impacted by technology this past February while the winter Olympics were on. Not only could I watch events by streaming them on my computer (andof coursestill working diligently on the split screen), but thanks to the Sochi app on my smartphone I was truly never out of range of the broadcast. How bad did it get? On February 20 the Canadian women's hockey team was playing in the gold medal game against the U.S. I found myself watching the screen of my phone as I walked into work, unlocking doors while never lifting my eyes, all so I wouldn't miss a single play.
Remember when we would watch a TV show and wait for the commercial in order to take a bathroom break or grab a snack. Now we simply hit the pause button and everythingsimply stops. For me. To suit my needs. I love it and thoroughly dislike it at the same time.
The convenience of these options is great but what concerns me is the message we are sending and receiving as a result. The very terminology says it all: "on-demand". I now demand when the show starts and when it stops. I decide, and there it is. Putting power in the hands of the entertainment consumer-great! Taking control over my viewing habits-great! Ensuring life is not organized by a TV schedule - great! But how quickly does a meet-my-demands mentality slip into other areas of our lives? What else do we believe we have the right to demand?
How are we guiding ourselves, our children, and those around us to react as we join a line-up to try on clothes, buy coffee or request customer service in our 'on-demand, make-it-convenient-for-me' world? How do we function in our homes, workplaces, churches or organizations if we are coming from a mindset that buys into this cultural push of "I want what I want, when I want it"?
My frustration in being unable to stream a favourite TV show on my laptop one evening was getting to be too much for my husband. After watching me repeatedly hitting the play button and muttering "whywon'tthiswork", he took the computer, found a different source for the program and calmly handed it back saying, "this should work for you now."
Demanding what we want can result in a quick journey towards impatience, annoyance, resentment, antagonism, even outrage andsadlyviolence. How much better when we take a step back and look for that creative and workable resolution that allows us to remark "this should work for all of us now."
While I appreciate the convenience of a remote control that allows me to stop, start and pause, I shouldn't ever expect the people around me to operate in the same way. It may be great for our TV technology but it's not how we as people are wired. Let's ensure the only place we live our lives on-demand is within the confines of our screens and never amidst our real-life scenes. That's my outlook
