Why Television was Ruined for Me

I'll begin with a rant about the Insight Mini Boxes. That is the single worst creation in the history of technology. That mini box sets us backwards technologically at least 5 years. I've seen universal remotes that control 20 different things and have a touchscreen built into them for $200. What if you're someone with a $200 remote, who's forced to use the world's crappiest television remote with functions that include "Channel Up/Down" and "Info"?

So my point is, the minibox was the last straw when it came to television for me. I was beginning to watch less and less anyway, as television is just too huge a use of time. Nowadays, I watch shows online from whatever source I can find. This way, I watch things on my schedule, rather than sitting through commercials or waiting for a certain show to come on that I want to watch. I mainly watch comedy shows, and some of my favorite are: Futurama, The Venture Bros., Flight of the Conchords, Archer, and Jon Benjamin Has a Van.

As for the actual use of TV, I'd argue that at times it can be all three things- quality entertainment, advertisements attempting to influence the masses, and a fairly useless way to spend your time. Good, well-written television shows are directly comparable to a good movie, albeit in a different format. Anything that is made well can hold artistic and/or entertainment merit, and television isn't an exception simply because it's split into 22 minute segments. It's the advertisements between the shows that are the main problem- 10-30 second flurries of images and company slogans trying to influence people to buy a product or visit a location. They're catered towards small attention spans and designed to essentially brainwash as many people as possible. No matter what you're watching however, the argument could be made that any form of passive entertainment, where everything is given to you, is a waste of time, as opposed to a book or music that allow your imagination to create a world all your own.

The Emmys on television gets higher ratings as opposed to something like the Nobel Prize ceremony because of the audience of people that watch television. TV is not the intellectual's preferred form of entertainment. Most of the people that watch television are the middle class, and it's used primarily as a distraction for them from the hardship of daily lives. Most people don't want to hear about the latest scientific discovery that may improve our lives 20 years from now. They want instant gratification in the form of "what's this celebrity doing RIGHT NOW?" It's not exactly a bad thing, it's just the way society works.