tensix

I watched television today. I do that from time to time, in order to remind myself why I don't watch television. It surprises me every time I do it. Like most children, I was a TV zombie when I was younger. Now, with a few exceptions, I find it hard to sit through an hour long TV program. I believe this is a change for the better.

Television and movies are everywhere. It's almost an inescapable thing to hear about. "Did you see __________ last night?" "Wow, __________ was such an awesome movie!" Some of the most talked-about things, some of the most common points of reference we have, are events that never happened and people that don't exist. Or perhaps people that at least are real (well, mostly real...) but that we will never meet; people that don't know or care that we even exist.

Think about it for a second. Not once in my childhood did I decide for myself what was "cool." It was shown to me on a screen, and I embraced it. Chances are good it was the same for you too. The media tries to fill the voids in our lives by showing us things we don't have, and in that way telling us we should want them. If I can borrow a quote, they encourage us to do jobs we probably hate, so we can buy things we probably don't need, so we can impress people we probably don't even like. We haven't really been raised so much as we've just been distracted.

We know more now about the private lives of celebrities than we do about each other, or anything that actually matters. I'm guilty of this one too... I can still tell you the level select code in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Genesis (up, down, left, right, A+start), but I'll be damned if I can even remember my roommate's girlfriend's name.

I suppose I shouldn't get too high on my TV-free high horse though. In my more lucid moments, I accept that my video game addiction is probably just as bad. I would argue that at least playing a game is reactive instead of just sitting and watching something. At least my mind is working, and I am sure that I can put all the exercise my fingers get to very good use (what? Don't look at me like that, you know you were thinking it too!), but in the end I am not sure if that cuts it. Oh well. I still loves me some video games, and it's going to stay that way.

But yeah, these are the things I think about in my spare time. The things that have kept me out of the good universities.

yrs,
tensix