Television: Boon or Bane? Was TV Actually the Idiot Box?
If you grew up in a middle class family with one set of television placed in the living room, you would be pretty familiar with the term ‘idiot box’. Although, you might be surprised to know that the term Idiot Box had been coined in the 1950’s itself!
It amounted to the fact that the non-responsive television box was capable enough to deliver a bulk-load of information from every niche to the viewers. It did not specifically cater to one set of audience, but distributed the content without giving an authority to the set-owners of what it was capable of.
Parents who disliked the fact that their children could have access to every kind of information hated this concept of multiplicity of available options.
If you were an avid TV watcher as a child, you might be familiar with the irritability this term amounted to. The moment things would get interesting on the screen, elders would ask you to go do something else or the classic “just go study”!
These were some of the frequent arguments put forward by the elders to make us stop from watching TV:
- Television makes you dumb and stupid with it’s unscientific facts and stories.
- Television makes you unhealthy because you sit on the couch all day long!
- The idiot box will make you blind if you watch it for more than xx hours a day!
- It disturbs everyone in the house because of the loud noise,
- Your sibling needs to study for a test, you should let them concentrate.
I remember an incident from my childhood when I was arguing with my parents to watch television after 10PM because my brother didn’t let me watch my favourites during the day. To my surprise, they agreed.
I was disappointed when Popeye was soon taken over by the home-shopping advertisements, even on Cartoon Network! A great troll moment by the idiot box indeed!
Fast Forward to 2020, a Flashback to the Good Old Days Before the OTT/Streaming Era:
My paternal grandfather loved watching news. It was a pleasure to sit with him and watch cartoons occasionally. Tom & Jerry used to be his favourite! An otherwise serious man would laugh looking at it sometimes.
Whenever an elder would ask me to go switch it off because watching the idiot box would make me ‘dumb’, I would quickly switch over to the Discovery channel! It was a fun ride to get the elders on board to accompany me.
Well, those days are long gone. Families no longer have common TV time together. OTT has taken over the cheerful living room hours and very rapidly so.
Sanju’s Magic Pencil gets Replaced with Apple Pencil:
Toddlers these days are well-equipped with adequacy when it comes to operating on a device. My youngest cousin knew how to skip the Youtube advertisements when she was a 3 year old. To my surprise, whenever I handed over the phone to her with a nursery rhyme video, she swiftly moved to videos of girls playing with their cooking set toys.
Back in the day, Sanju’s magic pencil was the must-have stationary item for us. Today, children do not want to own anything less than an Apple pencil. Their demands have to be met by the parents regardless of the necessity.
Implications of the Spread of OTT on the Eldest Members of the Family:
The spread of OTT, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a big relief for the majority of us. The mass availability of cheap options to choose from is an extremely appreciated revolution.
However, the eldest generation of the house are the ones who didn’t approve of technology and its mass intervention in our lives initially. And they still happen to be the ones who are least accustomed to the trends.
They might be aware of what Netflix is, but ask them who Binod is, and they would probably wander off to their thoughts to think of a distinct relative that their hazy memory has no recollection of.
Desolation amongst the Elderly on Account of Unfamiliarity with Technology:
While each one of us has the liberty today to engage in our favourite content across various platforms, the eldest generation is not only devoid of that knowledge, but also happens to be increasingly irritated with the younger generations being so self-engaged.
And why wouldn’t they? Think of it this way: you have a fever and your eyes start to water if you stare at your phone/laptop screen for a while. The incessant sounds start to bother you and you can’t entertain yourself anymore while being in the bed.
Now your grandmother has started to lose her sight and hearing ability because of the natural aging process. She doesn’t mind resting all day. But would it not get lonely after a while when nobody in the house cares about it anymore?
The Self-Involved Generation:
For the last generations, children and grandchildren seem to have their limitless alternative worlds within screens. They often get so self-involved in a trend and with trying to keep up with it, that a lonely grandma in their own house doesn’t seem to bother their glued attention to the screens. And why would it? It’s so addictive after all!
The advent of technology is no doubt a blessing for us. But the tremendous amount of advancement means: one step ahead for us is yet another step backwards for those with a lack of will and ability to keep up with it.
It seems like no matter how different every individual was, television was the one thing common about family time but it has been taken away because of the OTT revolution. Everybody feels it’s more convenient to watch something personalised on their own screen, in their own rooms and comfort zones.
Hence, leaving the elderly generation as desolated from the rest of the tech-savvy generations.
What Can We Do Now?
For those of us under 35-40 years of age, TV is just another electronic appliance. For those above this age group, it was a revolution. Remember how excited every elder person in our house was when TV channels started re-airing Mahabharat and Ramayana?
It was initially because of the fact that the newer shittier soap operas couldn’t get produced anymore because of the lockdown. But it made them so happy!
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| The Dyanaro shutter TV was our home’s first set of television |
The original first TV sets for every household have had a great emotional importance attached to them. Given that a television set was costly and could only reach households in the early 1980’s.
My parents tell me that back in the days when television was a prized possession for a household, neighbours used to gather around the walls of the house with a set of television. It was basically enough to just hear the idiot box speak.
Reminisce with the elderly about the good old television days:
It’s always our generation’s number one complaint that we do not have anything in common with the older generations to sit and converse about. It’s not true! Had it not been for this smartphone/laptop in your hands… you would’ve been talking about things.
Find a moment to sit back with your grandparents and old parents to talk about their first TV moments. Very soon, you’re only gonna find this bit of information in books and chronicles written by authors. Not kidding!
- Did you know that most people recall their first TV moments with Indira Gandhi’s assassination?
- Hum Log, a beloved TV series determined the nicknames for most people born in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
- Yeh Jo Hai Zindgi, India’s first very own TV series, was very much relatable for almost the whole of India.
- Buniyaad, Katha Sagar, Nukkad and Malgudi Days were amongst others that used to be the favourite family pastimes.
Let them have a scoop of what the actors are up to now:
Just like you’re attached to Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Aniston, your grandparents would love to hear about the lives of their favourite TV stars. Give it a go, you might uncover a never seen before enthusiasm to connect with them!
You can also teach them how to stream their favourite TV shows on the smart TV’s or their rarely used smartphones. However, at that age it could be difficult for them to remember. Remind them from time to time or just do it yourself for them!
Did I miss out on something? Let me know about it in the comments section below. I’ll add it to the article!
Thanks for reading :) -That Candor Girl
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