I couldn't find the remote. I was convinced I'd looked everywhere and it was gone. Could we even turn the TV on anymore without a remote?
The average home has 2.86 TVs but only 2.5 people. Add to that the number of TV enabling devices like computers, laptops, smartphones and iPads in each house and they outnumber the people who live in those homes by a rather large margin. A selling feature in real estate today is the existence of a media room--square footage dedicated solely to the act of watching TV and movies.
So what has us so enamored? What are we watching? The Nielsen research company analyzes information collected through national and local people meters along with more than two million paper diaries audiences fill out during the sweeps period in February, May, July and November. Several years ago I was part of a similar project. I had to keep a week-long viewing log in thirty minute increments. I found myself thinking twice when I turned on the TV knowing someone would be researching what I was watching. The social scientist in me would call it response bias. The vain part of me wanted people to think I only watched PBS or educational programs on the History Channel.
Ratings tell us that among the shows in the top 10 currently are Thursday Night Football, NCIS, 60 minutes, The Big Bang Theory and Dancing with the Stars. An eclectic list to be sure.
In 1996 the United Nations General Assembly issued a proclamation declaring November 21 to be World Television Day. It read: "In recognition of the increasing impact television has on decision-making by bringing world attention to conflicts and threats to peace and security and its potential role in sharpening the focus on other major issues, including economic and social issues, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 November as World Television Day."
There have been notable occasions when the images on a TV have drawn people together into a shared experience allowing for a connectivity of emotion; John F Kennedy's funeral, the moon landing, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the attacks on September 11, 2001. It has also inspired response as images were brought into our homes that could not be ignored: famine in African nations, invasions in the Middle East, children in orphanages in Eastern Europe, and destruction in the wake of natural disasters all over the globe.
We often think of the impact of TV watching on children. Much less thought is put into how TV affects adults. We may think it doesn't, but how can that be? Was there some sort of magic line we crossed that meant what we are exposed to has no impact? The affect may be different as our abilities to understand and contextualize develops, but to say we are unaffected by what we watch is rather short sighted.
And it's why we need to give thought to what we are choosing. Sometimes, especially at the end of a particularly busy day, we may tell ourselves we want to relax, unwind and simply watch something "mindless". There is no such thing. We process 50,000 thoughts each day indicating our brains are always at work. What we put into our heads is the furthest thing from mindless.
Watching TV can be fun, entertaining, educational, informative, inspiring and motivating. There are also programs that can be demeaning, degrading, disrespectful and disheartening.
It is not just the imagination and thoughts of our children being impacted by TV--it is very much us as well. As we hold the remote in our hand we need to recognize that the choices we make don't just reflect the program we choose. More importantly, those decisions are impacting what our minds are being switched on to. That's my outlook.
