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We live in an age where technological advances verge on the magical. I can flip open my cell phone and talk to anyone anywhere on the earth, (that is of course if they are awake, in my calling area and not the son who refuses to answer my calls).
I can send and receive emails at the speed of light. This means that my daughter can tattle on her husband to everyone she knows, all at the same time, and those poor Nigerian Bankers can solicit help from every schmuck who owns a PC at the push of a button.
Also I can now core and slice an apple into eight perfectly shaped wedges with one firm push. (Okay, that's actually a kitchen gadget not a technological devise, but I still think it's pretty cool.)
Other amazing advances can extend our lives and help us stay healthy. Tiny cameras assist with heart operations, medicines cure diseases we thought we'd never cure, and of course laser hair removal is a marvel in and of itself. But perhaps the biggest boon to the average American was the invention of the digital television recorder known as TiVo.
Can you envision what it would be like to go back in time and run into Benjamin Franklin the great statesman and inventor? Imagine his shock as you explained things like microwave ovens that allow people to cook nachos in a matter of minutes. Or the Mp3 player that permits its users to record more songs than they even know and watch full length movies on screens so tiny they can't see them.
And then you could tell him about TiVo.
Granted, TiVo wouldn't make a lot of sense to him at first, being that the TV hadn't yet been invented, not to mention the TV station. And the idea of having the leisure time to sit in front of a screen for hours a day watching reality shows might also seem strange to a man who had to cut his own fire wood for warmth, carry water from a well to drink and if he over did it on the beans and bacon, trot back and forth from the outhouse all night. But Franklin was a smart guy and eventually he would get the idea.
You'd go on to explain that in the twenty-first century we never miss a TV show. Even while we are sleeping, the trusty TiVo never rests, recording hours and hours of The Simpsons, Law and Order and Cooking with Emile. In fact, thanks to TiVo, we can actually record more programming than we could ever watch ourselves.
Of course technology doesn't come without a price. We are much wider and lumpier than our counterparts in the seventeen hundreds (thanks in part to the microwave nachos),and television viewing has become so addictive that many people install a TV in every room in their house, including the bathroom. But those are relatively minor inconveniences compared to TiVo Snapback Syndrome.
Never heard of TiVo Snapback Syndrome or TSS for short? Well, let me explain.
You're curled up in front of the tube scanning through the eight hundred plus channels looking for something good to watch, when at last you find it, an old mystery starring a very young Pierce Brosnan and Twiggy. Forty-five minutes into the program, and in the middle of an especially hot kiss, it happens. A small screen appears warning you that American Idol and Sponge Bob Square-pants are scheduled to record in five minutes. You must either cancel one of the aforementioned shows or be kicked off the movie.
What a moral dilemma. If you cancel Sponge Bob, then are you saying that the younger members of the family have less viewing rights than the adults? And if you cancel American Idol and some culture shaping event happens that night between Ryan Seacrest and one of the judges, will your spouse kill you for making them miss the event?
What about you and your rights as a TV viewer? Should you have to give up your moment of pleasure, just because someone else got into the proverbial TV show line before you? What happened to spontaneity and seizing the moment? Even old Benjamin would be stumped.
Yes, the world of the future does not come without a heavy price, and technology doesn't always make life easier. The deep sociological impact of our fast paced digital world makes....whoops. I just looked at the clock and I only have a forty minute window between the end of I Love Lucy and the start of While You Were Sleeping to catch last week's Wheel of Fortune, so I gotta run. Happy viewing!
About this Author
Deanne Blackhurst has been freelance writing for the past twenty-five years. She's the author of two published novels as well as numerous articles for magazines, newspapers and web content. The mother of six children, Deanne is a stay at home mom who specializes in articles about the funny side of home life. Please visit her website at [http://www.deanneblackhurst.com].
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