One In Every Room | Yellow Swordfish

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Posted on January 17, 2008 in Media by Andy @ Yellow Swordfish11 Comments »

I was skimming the BBC news website this lunchtime when a headline caught my eye. The average home, it said, owns 4.7 televisions. On reading the item it isn’t about television ownership at all – it’s an interesting piece about the links between consumerism, social attitudes and the new “therapy culture” which promotes simple misery to depression and mental ill-health.

If I am supposed to feel miserable because instead of 4.7 televisions in my house I have just the one then I am obviously missing something. To be honest, I sometimes feel miserable because I’ve got one at all. If you sit in front of the bloody thing on an average evening, switch on Sky and browse through the programme guide, the feeling of misery gets more intense with each passing page. It’s not just because absolutely none of it is worth wasting my time on. It’s more that as a so-called civilized society we have become so culturally bankrupt. The vapid output dreamed up, no doubt, by the vacuous legion of first generation media studies graduates is so stunningly awful, unengaging, uninspired and dumbed down that I am surprised the whole country isn’t on Prozac. Or perhaps it is and I didn’t notice. Prozac just might make ‘Deal Or No Deal’ bearable.

I recall, a long time ago, reading that the average household owns just 11 books. At the time we owned around a couple of thousand which equated to a large village full of houses where no books would be found at all to maintain the balance. Our single television suggests that the guy down the road must have at least 8.

I am beginning to think there is no hope.

11 Responses to “One In Every Room”

on 18 Jan 2008 at 12:00 pm1Malc

There is hope….. I don’t have any TV’s , so I don’t have to suffer the disappointment of switching it on and finding nothing but Big Celebrity Let’s Get Rich While Selling The Contents of The Loft Skating and of course missing the news which is typically " you’re all going to die of obesity, unless global warming burns all the crops, then you’re going to die of starvation, unless a hoodie stabs you while breaking into your flooded house".

I have been TV free since 2004, it worth it just to get the stroppy ‘YOU MUST HAVE TV LICENCE" letters from the TV Licensing People.

Malc
on 18 Jan 2008 at 12:06 pm2Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Ah! A good early morning laugh! I rather admire you for this to be honest. I couldn’t do it though as I enjoy my movies – and that, and NFL football, is mainly what mine gets used for.
I used to know a guy who kept his small portable TV in its delivery box. That way, he claimed, it was such a pain to use that he only bothered when it was something he seriously wanted to watch.
on 18 Jan 2008 at 9:12 pm3Jeni

Malc – seems you still know all the hideous pulp programmes though. Been reading ‘Take a Break’ have we. LOL. Actually good for you mate.
I have to own up to having 4 TV’s in my humble abode. However, only the one in the kitchen has an aerial. I watch about three programmes a week on it while I do the ironing. The rest are for Playstation or DVD use only. I have been unsuccessful in getting my boys to leave the PS alone. I am constantly shocked at how few books people read though, how do they get by without books? My idea of hell.
on 18 Jan 2008 at 9:59 pm4stabani

I am surprised, but then I found my situation. A little over 2 years ago we had two tv’s in our house. Now, in the house atleast, we have 6 tv’s (well, 7, technically..)

1.2 in every room! That being said, i’m in the UK studying, and don’t have one there… I think that evens it out.
on 18 Jan 2008 at 11:49 pm5Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

7? Seven? That’s almost wall to wall TVs!
on 19 Jan 2008 at 3:51 pm6Malc

Jeni,

I go to the better half’s over the weekend, so I get to watch my TV, which now resides at her house, simply because it was larger than hers and for the 2004 Rugby World Cup we watched it together (she is the bigger fan!), but I do find that I get there on Saturday, the TV is off for dinner and sometimes stays off, if it does get switched back on, by Sunday I am sick of the pointless ‘celebrities’.

I can think of three things I watch on TV – Parkinson (sadly no more), House MD and Rugby Union Internationals.I do watch DVD’s which either play on my laptop, or the 24" screen on the desktop.

So I’m not completely TV free, but each weekend reminds me of why I don’t need one !!!! – the strangest thing thou is when friends come round, they tend not to notice I don’t have a TV, but they do comment on how ‘peaceful’ the house is and comment on how easy is it to sit and chat, the observant ones then realise the sofa’s are laid out facing each other rather than all pointing into corner of the room.
on 20 Jan 2008 at 2:01 am7Carla

We own over 2000 books (according to the db, that is) and only one tv, an ancient furniture-cabinet beast of a tv. That’s why I married my husband—for this lifestyle. I can’t imagine things the other way ’round. Not criticizing anyone, just sayin’.
on 20 Jan 2008 at 2:14 am8Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Hi Carla – doesn’t it feel good that way round!
Thanks for stopping by.
on 21 Jan 2008 at 5:10 pm9Drew

I must be living in Andy TV hell..

At the last count, 5 TVs, 5 games consoles, 3 DVD players, 5 PCs, 2 Sky+ boxes, 1 VCR (don’t think this is plugged in) and I think we are about to get another TV….

I do own lots of books to compensate for this madness

There are some great programmes on TV if you can filter out the 99.99% dross.
on 21 Jan 2008 at 5:14 pm10Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Good day Drew. I don’t think I better say anything…
on 21 Jan 2008 at 7:10 pm11Carla

Yes, it does, Andy. Not superior or self-righteously good, just ahhhhh good.

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11 Responses to “One In Every Room”