People celebrating their first television.I was born at the onset of the television age. Before 1949 radio was the technology of the mass media. I never knew a time of no television, unlike my much older siblings who had to sit and stare at the radio when they were young.
It is always a challenge for the older generation to adapt to new cutting edge technology. Once the latest technology is mastered, it is already passé and we must move on to the newest and much more complex device.
For twenty five years my career was working with computers. I became expert at diagnosing and fixing the most complex of problems on everything from systems that filled large rooms to PC’s on a desk. They used to call me when no one else could figure out what was wrong. So, I ask, how come I resist updating the electronics here in my own home?
When Mark bought the latest and greatest DVD player/recorder it sat for over a year in the box. It’s still not really hooked up correctly. It also has taken me two years to hook up my TiVo box correctly so that I could record one program at the same time I watched another. So last week I finally did hook up the TiVo correctly because I really needed to see ‘My Name is Earl’ and ‘Ugly Betty’, which are on opposite of each other.
When I went around the
back of the TV I realized why I put it off. It looks like a snake pit with only enough room left for a Mark sized man to get back there and I really don’t want Mark poking around back there (Mark is really skinny and not technically adept). Luckily I put the television in front of a door to the outside that I don’t use. This allowed me to run the cable from the satellite dish to the back of the TiVo unit without having to route it through the wall and without having to shimmy behind the television. I just opened the door, attached the cable, and shut the door with the cable running under it. Sure it looks crappy. A lot of things in life look crappy, but now I can watch both Ugly Betty and Earl.
Well those wires will soon be passe' too. The truely wireless world is coming soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm right on it, in about ten years when the crap I have finally burns out.
ReplyDeleteYou're so funny....that picture had nothing to do with your topic but I always did like it!! I vivdly remember that little straw purse and matching hat (and the popular knotty pine paneling all the cape cod houses had!)And wasn't Dave dapper....like a little "made man"!! Pictures and T.V.'s at that time were all black and white!
ReplyDeleteHow can you say that picture had nothing to do with the topic. Technology, TV, and adaptation. You two had only radio before that TV was purchased. By the way I don't even remember that TV. I remember the somewhat larger blond one with the round screen that didn't need a magnifying glass to see.
ReplyDeleteOur family got its first TV in the early fifties. The one show (& there weren't many shows yet) that I was NOT allowed to watch was Howdy Doody because my mom thought it would teach me bad behavior. So I watched it at my friend's house & I turned out just fine. Or did I? Ask Peg. And she's just so damned cute dressed up like a little Betsy McCall doll! By the way, sometimes it's fun to lose the electric & read books by candlelight. Now that's a challenge!
ReplyDeleteHowdy Doody caused bad manners? What did she say about the Three Stooges?
ReplyDeleteI don't think the three stooges were on TV 'til the sixties. That was my brother's favorite show & he could do no wrong. My mom thought they were outrageous, but I guess she thought if they made my brother laugh she was just missing something. And of course by then we were older & already ruined.
ReplyDeleteSometime back in the late '80's my 10yr. old son had a friend over visiting our house. He (the friend)came into the kitchen asking what time it was & I pointed to the clock on the wall. He stared at it blankly, then looked at me like I was nuts. Aha! He only does digital. So I pointed at the clock on the microwave & he smiled. Then he said he needed to call his mom, so I said there was a phone in the dining room. He came back & said he couldn't find it. I said it's on the buffet. Still couldn't find it. I went into the dining room with him & pointed at the phone, thinking poor little idiot. He had never seen a rotary phone & I had to show him how to use it!
ReplyDeleteThere's been a lot of interesting changes over the years, some better, some worse. I hate it when people talk about the "good old days" as if they were ALL good. Who wants to be locked into the '50's? It's been a fun ride into 2007!