USDish.com Scholarship: How Technology Changed Television

The way in which we watch television has changed vastly in my short 40 years! The television we had in my home growing up (just the one!) was a floor-model RCA with an outer wood shell. The second television we had rested atop that first one and actually had a remote control - when previously that term was not a part of our daily vocabulary and I was the family "remote", changing the channels (cling, cling, cling) on demand and with a twist of the hand on the (gasp!) knob. Today, we are really spoiled. Not only do we with satellites have an unknown amount of channels (I for one do not know the limits even on my own television), but we have a T.V. in every room (except the bathroom - and I have drawn the line at the kitchen as well), and love nothing more than when that sucker is turned on. My boys would keep it on one of the ten or so “kids” channels if we would let them, and when we adults actually expel them from the living room they simply go into their room and turn on the televisions in there… My husband loves to see “How It’s Made” or watch grown men and women shoot alligators or chop down huge trees for the lumber industry. I love the fact that no matter when a program was on originally, chances are you can find it again on one of the hundreds of channels available. I love crime shows and old movies. I also love the fact that if I missed a show, my handy recorder (that is a part of my programming and not an external device anymore – VCR- what’s that?) captured it for me and I can watch said program anytime I want and more than once! My husband, boys, or myself can easily set up our favorite shows for future recording, and the magic that is our television will record all future episodes; new or re-runs, or both. Used to be if you missed the show due to an unforeseen circumstance (a little league game ran over, ER visit) you simply missed it – there were no second chances and then in later years there was the VCR, which worked most of the time, but it was labor intensive and one had to remember to turn the darn thing on for heaven’s sake. Technology, that wonderful science that has changed the lives of millions in a matter of twenty years or less, from medical miracles to communication the globe over, has come into our very homes and changed our lives for the better!