By the way, I haven’t forgotten that we have a presidential election coming up — a very important one. I’ll have something to say about that in a few days.
When we were kids, the resounding message sent by the media (somewhat ironically, perhaps) was that “television is evil.” There were frequent reports about television viewing leading to poor eyesight, lower intelligence, shorter attention span, increased weight, risky sexual activity, violence, and most other sociomoral (is that a word?) vices. Despite this, Americans continued to watch television, and more of it, as programming became increasingly salacious and hedonistic. We are still being told that television is bad. I don’t know if any of the given reasons is true, but I do know that TV is not inherently bad in itself.
The problem is that television watching is nearly always physically passive while being mentally stimulating. No, perhaps it’s not very enlightening to watch that episode of Seinfeld for the tenth time, but the images and sound coming out of the box are all stimulating your senses in the biological sense. And you will continue to be stimulated, whether you are watching that Seinfeld episode, the commercials that are interspersed throughout the show, or whatever it is that might come next. In fact, even if you don’t particularly like what you’re watching, you’ll probably still watch. And therein lies the danger, at least for me.
It’s hard to resist the promise of neverending stimulation like that. Suppose you’re sitting on your living room couch, with no great urge to do anything in particular. You could stare off into space, literally doing nothing; you could pick up a book and put forth the effort to understand what you read; you could see if someone else is around and start a conversation, if you have anything in particular to say; or you can push the power button on the remote. The activity that requires the absolute least effort — doing nothing — is terribly boring, and the passage of time is painfully obvious in most cases. But turning on the TV involves barely any additional work, and the reward is a bright moving picture show that rewards you for just sitting there. What’s better is that it never ends. You don’t have to turn a single page, think of something to say, or think of anything at all. There’s really nothing wrong with passive entertainment like that, and there are times when it is both appropriate and necessary to relax in this manner. In my experience, however, I am unable to turn away when it’s time to stop. The half-hour show ends, and before I know it I’m halfway through something I would never choose to watch on my own.
Random web surfing has the same effect, only it’s potentially more dangerous; after all, the medium — my computer — happens to also be a ubiquitous tool in almost every aspect of my life. Whereas the television is objectively about as important to me when it’s off as when it’s on, I need my computer for a good portion of the week. And when it’s on, it’s just ridiculously easy to check out CNN.com (for the tenth time), check my email (after a five-minute hiatus), or look up something marginally related to my work…and then get distracted by a different article I might find during my research.
What’s the solution? Have you ever heard of someone who successfully went cold turkey on anything and succeeded? It’s doable in the short term, but nearly impossible to do forever. People who swear off carbs, fats, or sweets might be able to do it for a week. But if you have a problem with eating too much of a certain food, it’s probably because you enjoy it. How easy can it be to deny yourself — forever — something that you like? This is why going cold turkey is so difficult, and why it takes more than a vague desire to “be better” to fix it — you have to actively dislike what you liked. It’s not easy, and it’s even harder when you’re dealing with something addictive like cigarettes.
Anyway, the more feasible solution is to cut back. When the activity is not particularly harmful, it’s fine to indulge now and then; as a matter of fact, it’s probably beneficial to “waste time” for part of the day. I’m learning to stay away from the Safari icon and the remote until I’m done reading for class. When it comes to boring projects, the web is never more than a click away…and I still get burned from time to time. I can usually get by if I promise myself some time to waste as soon as I’m done. The key, for me at least, is to follow through on that promise. If I can’t keep my own promises, how will I ever follow through with anyone else?
Speaking of school, I’ve got to get caught up for tomorrow. I have some thoughts about the semester so far, but I’ll expound on a later date.
The news last week was basically dominated with coverage of former President Reagan’s death. It was surreal to see all of the footage being played on TV; it was obviously old, and I knew that Reagan had been out of office for some 15 years, but one almost got the impression that he was actually still in the Oval Office. Of course, he wasn’t, and he was probably mentally incapable of doing much more than staying awake for the last few years. How ironic that a man who defined the later acts of his life and career on his intellect and negotiating ability would be felled by the total incapacitation of his brain.
Medical research has made great progress in modern times, but perhaps that only makes today’s incurable diseases that much harder to accept. And of all the ways a person can die these days, I can’t think of anything worse than Alzheimer’s. Diseases like cancer are certainly painful and drawn-out, but for the most part, the afflicted person remains mentally present until the end. Some drugs used to mediate the pain and progress of the cancer can cause mental fogginess, but the essence of the person and his intellect still remains. There is no such remnant in the mind of the Alzheimer’s patient. Even worse, the patient may hardly be aware of his own degeneration. This leaves the patient’s loved ones with the responsibility of caring for someone who will eventually be unaware of who they are. Despite the patient’s physical presence, it must feel an awful lot like taking care of a stranger. It’s just so cruel and so unavoidable once the disease manifests itself.
Like most state funerals, Reagan’s casket was kept closed throughout the ceremonies. It’s just as well. I want to remember him the way he left office, not the way he must have left this world.
Heard over IM, after immersing myself in nostalgia over Nintendo’s ground-breaking Game & Watch devices:
me: omg i havent seen one of those in YEARS
kim: wtf is that
kim: looks junky
kim: hahahhaha
me: junky?!
me: the controllers stow away in a hatch in the game
me: cripes
me: this is the dawn of the new console/handheld era, and you sit there calling it “junky”
me: there would be no game boy if it weren’t for these guys
kim: junky!
me: BAH
kim: junky mcclunky!
Note to self, regarding the final episode of Average Joe: blah.
Don’t get me wrong. Malena was free to choose whomever she wished, and I’m sure she made the right decision for herself. But the whole premise of the show was to introduce an attractive, did-all-the-right-things lady to a bunch of “second-tier” men. As NBC repeated over and over in their ads, “you might be surprised….” Nope. The girl chose the most attractive guy in the end — a guy, incidentally, who was NOT part of the original group, but was introduced later with a bunch of other so-called “hotties.” And that’s all she wrote.
Kim wanted it to turn out this way. Malena chose the more confident guy she said, and he was just overall a better match. “Besides,” she said, “he doesn’t look as awkward. Would you want to stare at Adam’s goofy face every day?” That may all be true, but it just proves the point all over again: The Average Joe doesn’t get the pretty girl in the end. Only the Pretty Boy does. It didn’t even help that Adam was rich this time. Bah. Shame on NBC for stringing us along this whole time.
Sadly, despite my bitterness, I will probably tune in for the second installment. If the preview is any indication, the show should be even funnier than the first.
Cool — I just discovered that Scott Liles linked me from his most recent journal entry. Thanks, Scott! (If you haven’t already, check out his site.)
Grrr….overnight I recevied 114 emails, and over 100 of them have the Sobig virus attached. Email servers all over the world must be staggering.
I just went to the snack machine to pick up a Hershey bar (with almonds!), and had to do a double-take after pulling it out. The paper-and-foil packaging has been replaced with your standard plastic heat-sealed wrapper!
After doing some research, I now know that this is a very recent change to the product. Reasons range from increased production/packaging efficiency to targeting a younger market. At 25, I’m already becoming a dinosaur….
Ah, Civilization III. I have been sucked - yet again - into one of Meier’s awesome machinations. Now THIS is why computers were invented!