TV shows and commercials have some negative effects on our lives. How about obesity and boredom? Bad TV shows coupled with too many commercials makes one want to hit the fridge again and again. Wait, what about the switch to digital TV? Isn’t it great that we all have digital television? Except for the folks like Rip Van Winkle and didn’t know about the switch! What does that really mean? Okay, the quality of the picture is much, much better than before, but most people either have cable or satellite TV, so what’s the big deal? I’ll tell you the big deal, the commercials still come in louder than the TV show. Nice, isn’t it?
“Turn that GD volume down, will you” my wife screams from the other room. Meanwhile, I haven’t done a damn thing, except watch the transition from the TV show to another insipid commercial. “It’s the GD commercial!” I scream back. I’ve been telling her this for years, and I don’t know if she thinks I’m pulling her leg or if her hearing has been damaged by the hair dryer. But I’ll tell you this, I’m sick and tired of it. Well, relief is on the way….
I read in the news that some sort of bill is going to be passed or has already been passed that the volume of the TV commercials has to remain the same as the TV shows. Fantastic, except I will kind of miss our little shouting match that goes on without fail every night. Did it take the big switch to all digital TV for this to happen? I don’t know, but if that’s the case it’s scary. Why, you ask? Because to me it means that technology is making the decisions, unless it’s all a coincidence. Ah well, the more things change, the more they stay the same, or some such BS.
Speaking of commercials, what good are they anyway? Some new extreme revelation about how to rip off the credit card companies by declaring bankruptcy and directing the monies you would have paid towards the bill to the local shyster lawyer in your city? Or how about another way to lose weight that has just been discovered(even though the method of losing the weight has been around since Pliny the Elder in the fabulous B.C. era). I think the weight-loss method has something to do with eating rocks or something, I don’t know. Nor do I care. There is nothing coming over the airwaves(or should I also include the fiber optic tubes) that hasn’t already been known or been discovered that is going to change my life a wit. Thank God for the mute button.
So what really is the effect of television on our lives? That is a loaded question, and one to think about while the commercial comes on. But remember, you might only have a minute or two to answer it, unless of course you’re involved in a soon-to-be-extinct shouting match with your wife about the TV volume.
