The death of the television - is the end nigh?
Most of us watch television. Why do we watch it? There are so many reasons, entertainment, rest and relaxation, escapism, to be able to gossip at work the next day about the latest happenings on Eastenders or big brother – so for social acceptance. Occasionally people even watch it for the original reason it was created, for educational reasons! Is Television now become an outdated technology?
A friend forwarded this post to me with the Chinese back street boys on it. I loved it.
- Last night because there was nothing on television, I watch a couple of south park episodes on the internet instead before going to bed.
- I wanted to find out flight details for a friends return from holiday on the weekend, and whereas a few years ago I would have used teletext, I just searched for it on the internet and didn’t have to wait for the correct teletext page to load.
- I wanted to watch the news to catch up on what was going on in the world, but instead of waiting for 9pm I just logged on and watch it online.
It seems to me that all the things I used to get from television, I’ll soon be able to get from the internet through my computer. Not only that, I’ll be able to get them quicker and in a more desirable format. For example, watching episodes of things online mean you can watch them how and when you want to watch them, rather than having to be in the house at the right time. Yes there have been other releases that do this, you can buy a digital tv recorder that wil hold 40 hours of television for you to watch at your leisure – but if my computer that I already own can do the same, why would I spend the extra money?
You could argue about image size, a computer screen is only so big. Yet it is relatively easy now to hook your computer up to a tv screen so that you can see whatever you are playing through your computer on as large a screen as you like. Taking it one step further, you could pick up a digital projector, then project the image onto a wall of any size, enabling you to watch the latest Doctor Who episode in as large an image as you have wall space! Not only would my computer do all of the things that the television does, it would also provide the usual computer related services! In today’s web market, I can buy everything from my weekly shopping, to email marketing software that will send thousands of emails out whilst I twiddle my thumbs and claim I’m working.
So with all the moves in technology, is the television out of date yet? Not quite I’d say, but it is getting there. You still cannot ‘flick’ through channels on the internet the way you can on the tv. Download times can still be an issue sometimes when the servers are overloaded or your broadband is playing up. You still have to choose your program. Most importantly, not everyone understands how it all works well enough to make them move from their easy to use remote control to the infinitely better but slightly more complicated keyboard.
That the beginning of the end for the television as we know it is here, is beyond doubt.
