Horizon

If I get elected, does that mean I get a brand new car or some kind of fabulous prize? Because otherwise I think I'll pass.

Although I probably now watch about 5% of the TV I watched when I was twelve. Unless you count DVDs, in which case it's a little higher. How does watching pre-recorded material relate to broadcast or cable TV on the snob scale? I think there's a big difference, personally, even if the DVD you're watching is of a TV show.

That 5% sounds like you've got your habits under control. I don't understand why people chosen to run the world think they should also get a new car, but we can look into that for you.

We may have to let the pre-recorded material pass as long as you do not pre-record it yourself. If you can't handle missing a week of American Idol occasionally your dedication to the Party is questionable. And based on your post concerning the Dukes of Hazard it's hard to see how you'll ever make it to the Executive Committee.

Look, Bobby, people who run the world get new cars. I mean, really, get with it. How many world leaders have you met stepping into a Yugo?

It's true, though, for some reason, that it doesn't seem as bad as long as the show you are watching was recorded by someone else.

I watch precisely 0% of the TV I watched at age twelve. Your wording is a little ambiguous, though -- does this mean I'm a shoo-in candidate, or that I don't have a chance?

From the article:

Using an “Experience Sampling Method” to track people’s feelings about television, Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi found that people watching TV reported “feeling relaxed and passive,” a state that electroencephalograph studies of TV watchers have supported; viewers experience “less mental stimulation, as measured by alpha brain-wave production, during viewing than during reading.” This pleasurable sense of relaxation ends as soon as the TV is turned off; what doesn’t end is “passivity and lowered alertness.”

Ben, I'm concerned you are not experiencing enough passivity. There is such a thing as too much mental stimulation. In fact, some in the Party consider it downright subversive.

Consider this: yesterday I watched seven hours of televised football and today I'm relaxed and able to discuss the games with my co-workers. In their eyes I'm one of the guys, which makes my leadership role more acceptable to them.

But it is worth exploring how the most powerful of these technologies have already succeeded in changing our habits and our pursuits. By giving us the illusion of perfect control, these technologies risk making us incapable of ever being surprised. They encourage not the cultivation of taste, but the numbing repetition of fetish. And they contribute to what might be called “egocasting,” the thoroughly personalized and extremely narrow pursuit of one’s personal taste. In thrall to our own little technologically constructed worlds, we are, ironically, finding it increasingly difficult to appreciate genuine individuality.

Puh-leeze.

As sociologists Walker and Bellamy have noted, “media audiences are seen as frequently selecting material that confirms their beliefs, values, and attitudes, while rejecting media content that conflicts with these cognitions.”

And people never did this before. This article is incredibly sloppy. The author must watch a lot of TV.

Well, I'll admit it seems the writer is getting paid by the word. 9,000 words that could easily be cut to 1,500.

Consider this: yesterday I watched seven hours of televised football and today I'm relaxed and able to discuss the games with my co-workers.

Well, according to the latest research, my social relevance is significantly impaired.

Ben-Ami said study participants who watched fewer than 28 hours per week were unable to ridicule Paris Hilton "with any specificity whatsoever."

"By incorporating Paris Hilton into our oral interviews, we provided participants with an easy opportunity to 'riff' on the heiress," Ben-Ami said. "Nevertheless, non-TV viewers reacted to softball questions like 'What's up with Paris' hair extensions?' with monosyllabic shrugs or bemused silence. It was like they were completely ignorant of her many skanky attributes and laughable traits."

Ben-Ami said she and her colleagues fear that, if it is not corrected, television illiteracy could result in an American sub-group unable to function in the modern world.

If I install a garage door opener, will I be in danger of becoming in thrall to my own little technologically constructed world, unable to appreciate genuine individuality? What if I install one that works on a system of pulleys and levers instead of a remote control? Does it even matter, considering that I already have three remote controls at home? And, anyway, does the remote control to my radio count? She didn't mention anything about station surfing.

You know, I think there's a grain of truth in that Onion article.

The Onion article has more than a grain of truth to it. Not sure, though, if the actual objects of the joke will get it.

I found the Rosen article of some value (if you insist on attempting profundity on the subject of television then yes, stupid sentences must flow), especially on the topic of DVRs. The projection that over 40% of American homes will have a DVR within five years puzzles me.

There is nothing wrong with watching television. But the idea that by not watching television you are missing something – that’s upsetting.