You had a long day at work. You hit traffic on the way home. All you really want to do is flop down onto your couch and watch some TV. But tragedy strikes when you finally reach the couch, the remote has gone missing. The kids probably picked it up and left it somewhere bizarre, or perhaps its stuck somewhere in the deep abyss that is the couch. You are frustrated and now have to spend a good half hour searching the living room while questioning family as to who watched TV last. Why? Why has the remote control become such an essential part of watching TV? By 1956, television sets occupied over 70 percent of households in the U.S., by 1969, over 95 percent. (Benson-Allott) The remote control did not become a common house hold item until the 1980s. This delay has to be attributed to the emergence of cable vision and VCRS, in which there was a dramatic increase in the choice of programming available to viewers. (Bellamy). The ability to pick from a range of programs or record and manipulate our programs turned the television viewer (passive) into a television user (active). (Bellamy). This shift from a passive to active audience brings us back to our first question, but with a deeper insight. Instead of asking why the remote control has become such an essential part of watching TV, we can rather ask how and why actively controlling our TV has become so essential.Researchers have identified the most common ways we use the RCD for active control to be: “zapping” (using the RCD to avoid advertisements and other undesirable content), “zipping” (avoiding content by fast forwarding through recorded programming), and “grazing” (combining disparate program elements into an individualized program mix that serves a wide range of gratification from amusement to information seeking). (Bellamy). This brings me to Benson-Allot’s article How the Remote Control Rewired the Home, in which she expands on Eugene Polley's statement that the remote control is the second most important "civilized" invention since the toilet. Yes, the toilet. This might seem silly and farfetched upon first read. I found that the exact definition of the term ‘civilized’ helps to understand what Benson-Allott and Polley were getting at with this comparison. The term 'civilized' means to bring (a place or people) to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development considered to be more advanced. This raises the ultimate question for examining the attention worthy remote control. What about the act of zapping, zipping, and grazing bring us to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development that is thought to be more advanced than what we were doing before the remote control?
References How the Remote Control Rewired the Home by Caetlin Benson-Allot Bellamy & Walker "Television & RCD"
Why? Why has the remote control become such an essential part of watching TV? By 1956, television sets occupied over 70 percent of households in the U.S., by 1969, over 95 percent. (Benson-Allott) The remote control did not become a common house hold item until the 1980s. This delay has to be attributed to the emergence of cable vision and VCRS, in which there was a dramatic increase in the choice of programming available to viewers. (Bellamy). The ability to pick from a range of programs or record and manipulate our programs turned the television viewer (passive) into a television user (active). (Bellamy). This shift from a passive to active audience brings us back to our first question, but with a deeper insight. Instead of asking why the remote control has become such an essential part of watching TV, we can rather ask how and why actively controlling our TV has become so essential.Researchers have identified the most common ways we use the RCD for active control to be: “zapping” (using the RCD to avoid advertisements and other undesirable content), “zipping” (avoiding content by fast forwarding through recorded programming), and “grazing” (combining disparate program elements into an individualized program mix that serves a wide range of gratification from amusement to information seeking). (Bellamy).
This brings me to Benson-Allot’s article How the Remote Control Rewired the Home, in which she expands on Eugene Polley's statement that the remote control is the second most important "civilized" invention since the toilet. Yes, the toilet. This might seem silly and farfetched upon first read. I found that the exact definition of the term ‘civilized’ helps to understand what Benson-Allott and Polley were getting at with this comparison. The term 'civilized' means to bring (a place or people) to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development considered to be more advanced. This raises the ultimate question for examining the attention worthy remote control. What about the act of zapping, zipping, and grazing bring us to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development that is thought to be more advanced than what we were doing before the remote control?
References
How the Remote Control Rewired the Home by Caetlin Benson-Allot
Bellamy & Walker "Television & RCD"
--Julie