TELEVISION THEN AND NOW

My Television As Seen From My Recliner

When I was a child, I had four television channels to choose from, ABC, NBC, CBS and the Public Broadcast System. Color TV was new and we were delighted to see new shows and the actors in color. The actors spoke clearly and properly, the content was understandable, and the picture was bright enough to see the show no matter the time of day. We thought we had it all, including enough choices. Even with limited choices, as I see it now, we could easily become couch potatoes. Yet, I remember having time to read, especially in later years when my children were growing up.

The years flew by and I am now retired. Part of my entertainment has been to watch TV more often. I have a multitude of channels to watch and it appears to grow every day. I now use closed caption on my screen, not for a hearing impairment but there are times when I can’t understand a word or two and I can move my eyes down (or up) and read the words as well. Sometimes I’ve noticed that closed caption doesn’t get it either by omitting or putting in a word that doesn’t make sense. I realize that the f word is used a lot in this era but on some Netflix shows I hear the f word so much that I have to stop watching the show. What kind of intelligence is there in a person who uses six f words in a sentence (I counted)? Yes, I’m a grandmother, but come on. And I know there are many other shows to choose from and I do.

There are times every day when we must close a curtain to be able to see what’s happening on the screen and still it can be so dark that very little is visible. I’m sure I’m not the first person to notice this. It’s not just aging eyes.

Violence on our TV shows have been common for some time now. Yes, one gets used to it. Before I retired, I told one of my middle school students that the character that scared me when I was a child was the witch on the Wizard of Oz. They chuckled because they are so accustomed to seeing all kind of horrors. That can’t be good for any of us, including me.

One of my biggest problems these days is to use my time more wisely. I love to read but I don’t get a chance to do that much because of TV. Yes, that is my fault. I can be a recliner potato. Ideally, I would like to be able to cut down on the tv watching, at least more than I’m doing now, and find some other things to do. Maybe find new recipes, sewing, writing, etc. But then I also know that I will procrastinate to a certain degree. But I won’t know how successful I will be until I try, right?