Happy Easter! I am about to show my age in this post. Que the classic rock on muzak now:
I have had cable off and on since it became a thing in the 1980’s. My family was the one who had the cable service that featured on three channels (not including the three major networks). Then, when Comcast became king, we had that. I was raised on MTV videos and HBO movies. I used to be known for my massive music and movie collection from cassettes and VCR tapes to CDs and DVDs – and I still have all those movies and music collecting dust in my parental unit’s basement.
I fought very hard against the digital forms of music and movies until I ran out of space to continue to build my library. Then streaming services were created. I found it easier to accept Sirrus XM Radio versus getting the Amazon Firestick. If it wasn’t for my nephew and the pandemic, I might have avoided the dreaded Firestick. Now that I have it, I don’t know what to do with it!
Not that I don’t know how to use it – I do. But with our pre-pandemic flat screen tv’s changing to the Firestick is a pain in the butt. First, you have to switch to the HDMI that is connected to your Firestick. Next, you have to select a streaming service. After finding a service, you have to find the movie or TV show you want to watch. Once you start watching, the bot keeps interrupting you, asking if you are still watching. When you get sick of streaming, you have to switch the HDMI back to the regular TV/cable station. It is easier to stay on cable TV and scroll through the channels – no bot and variety without scrolling through pictures on a screen to find what you want.
Another problem I have is that I rarely feel like sitting down for hours on end watching one show until I finish a season/series. It’s not like I’m not curious or have shows that I would like to watch. It’s just that I’m afraid of losing myself completely to a series that I forget that there is a real world out there. There is news I want to know about, and cable has a tendency of replaying some of my favorite movies/TV shows – even if I may have to suffer through commercials.
To be honest, I miss running back into the room have going to the kitchen/bathroom during a commercial break, and having your friends/siblings screaming for you to get back in time. I miss having to wait a week (or next day for the daily soaps) to find out what happened to your favorite characters. I miss having watch parties to watch monumental episodes of your favorite show – like the season/series finale. Now some people won’t begin watching a series until the series ended becasue they don’t want to wait for the next episode. It’s TV on demand and not a social event like it used to be with families and friends. No one wants the build-up and suspense anymore.
Just recently, I heard some smaller streaming services are being bought up by bigger streaming corporations. The new generation does not realize that the bigger streaming corporations are forming their own new version of cable TV, which, amusingly, will eventually be more expensive than my old beloved cable services.
I’m not sure if I can get used to being spoon-fed my media so easily. Maybe that is why I resist the Firestick so much. I miss being my parental unit’s remote on a black and white TV with aluminium foil rabbit ears. Life was so much simpler and we knew when we were being manipulated for our attention.
Until next time!
R.R. Peace, Author and Poet 