Tube Tirade

2003-05-08 - 5:55 a.m.

What would happen if I gave up television? I'd miss some shows, and I think the television I do watch now (most of it made 10 or more years ago) consists of some pretty good stuff. On the bright side, there'd be a hell of a lot less commercials in my life.

I've just been reading about how the next generation of digital television will be able to watch -us-. Apparently the big money behind television has been spending the last couple of years studying how people use remote controls, how the surf channels, what that means about them, how to make them better consumers. I guess TiVo, which allowed people to skip commercials, was a little chilling to some of the folks who make a (very fine) living off of advertising revenue, and so they're trying to stem the tide.

Already in development are technologies which will allow marketting companies to monitor how people use their remotes when watching television - everything from how they surf (men tend to rapid-fire through ads, while women, apparently, have three or four channels that they flick between. Pookie falls pretty much squarely in that first group, while I have developed my own method which combines the two), how often they use the "mute" button (I mute commercials almost reflexively - they're usually too loud), to how long they watch certain ads. Reading some of this stuff has me kind of creeped out...especially since, after 9/11, this realm of information gathering is almost completely deregulated in the US (to help find terrorists, I guess, since it takes a lot of couch potatoing to plan a plane hijacking), and I have no idea what the legalities are here in Canada. I feel like a broken record when I keep referring to 1984...

But maybe it's time I do give up television. I'd spend a lot more time reading, for example. And definitely a lot more time writing. According to White Dot it'd make me a more interesting person, and who doesn't want that?

My big concern would be whether or not I'd get my news fix, but when I think about it, -all- of my news comes from radio, print, and the internet. When I think about it further, some of the most well-informed people I know watch very little television at all.

I'm not saying that TV is bad. I think it's a very powerful tool that can be used to educate and entertain in some very constructive ways. It's a method of documenting our history, and of presentiong different viewpoints. It can show us places we've never been, and can expand our mental limits. I'm not kidding - try watching public broadcasting, and you'll see what I mean.

What I am saying is that I'm not keen on someone finding out the best way to market to me. I know enough about cognitive manipulation to know that once someone knows how to push my buttons, I'm pretty much putty. I'm tired of making rich people even richer. I don't want a television that watches me.

I guess I'm going to ditch the tube for a little while. Of course, I can't give it up before Sunday.

That's the season finale of Survivor.

Cheers,

The Magus

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