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9.25.4
TV
"I am a member of the pre-TV generation. Until I was 14 or 15 we had no television. And I can still remember what it felt like to come home every day. First, I'd go look in the kitchen or refrigerator to see if there were any special snacks my mother left for me. I'd take care of those. Then, slowly becoming bored, I'd play with the dog for a bit. Here comes the boredom. Nothing to do."Slowly, I'd slip into a kind of boredom that seemed awful. An anxiety went with it, and a gnawing tension in the stomach. It was exceedingly unpleasant, so unpleasant that I would eventually decide to act -- to do something. I'd call a friend, I'd go outdoors. I'd go play ball. I'd read. I would do something.
"Looking back, I view that time of boredom, of 'nothing to do,' out as the pit of which creative action springs. Nowadays, however, at the onset of that uncomfortable feeling, kids usually reach for the TV switch. TV blots out both the anxiety and the creativity that might follow."
- Jerry Mander, in "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television," via The Simple Living Guide
I am a member of the TV generation and I can say that, unless you're Gail Grinds or something, those dire predictions are pretty exaggerated. The advent of TV did not mean the death of boredom. Even the internet hasn't killed boredom.
On the other hand, I agree with the necessity of boredom. Your life can become a jungle that you must hack away at with a machete in order to make space in it for creativity to flourish. But as far as I'm concerned, it's the automobile and the social gathering that are to blame, not TV.
Meatwad: But I thought you said TV was bad!
Frylock: Yeah, it is. But we fucking need it.
