As an experiment, I'm trying to go for a month without
turning on the "TV" in my apartment, and instead am getting my video
only from the Internet.
It's been about a week now, and I really miss TV. Mainly, I miss the aimless way of watching TV - just "having it on" in the background. I'm a bit of a news hound, and I've gotten used to tuning in CNN in the morning. OK, I end up hearing a few stories twice, and lots of the "news" is just fluff. But I like having the company.
To fill the gap, I've been listening more to the NPR affiliate, WNYC. Now, I've long known that public radio provides better news than TV (especially when it channels the BBC). But I used to like mixing the two -- radio on the alarm when I first get up, and TV with breakfast. Now it's just radio, and WNYC switches to classical music at night, so I'm out of the loop in the evenings.
Yes, CNN has streaming video on its site, but I don't like hunting for video clips. I like watching TV in the aimless, brainless way of just letting it play. "TV" and "thinking" are not two words that I usually use in the same sentence. (And my laptop screen is too small to comfortably fit a video window and anything else.)
When I do watch "TV" on the Web, it is more purposeful. I have already confessed my Battlestar Galactica obsession. Now I'm jazzed to hear that 24 is available for download. I never caught the show on old-school TV, so the downloads will give me a chance to catch up (without having to hassle with Netflix queues). So now I'm thinking about, even planning, what to watch.
Purposeful veging -- an odd concept to me. But maybe the way of the future?
you keep insisting that the laptop will not replace traditional TV, but maybe you just mean for *you*? i already use my laptop to watch shows instead of the TV - i can't think of a single show i watch when it is broadcast. (sometimes i hook the laptop up to the TV to watch shows -- ok, the L Word -- on a bigger screen.) and i'm not even a supergeek or a computer programmer or anything. but i'm also not addicted to TV...
Posted by: lexi | July 07, 2006 at 11:48 AM