The Idiot Box

If you’re over sixty, you already know this is not going to be a political hit piece. For the younger set, this is what our parents’ generation called the television. It’s very interesting to realize they said this out of fear of the new and unknown. It’s also interesting, decades out, to realize they were not 100% wrong.

A Brave New World

Up until every household had a TV, the sources for information and entertainment were radio, newspapers, news reels at the movie theaters and the neighbors. You had to make an effort, take the time, have a few extra cents to spend, or schedule your day around access to news and information. Hard to believe now, but we would not have known about tsunamis in Japan, political uprisings in the Congo or even hurricanes in Florida for days after they happened, if ever. In some ways, ignorance was actual bliss as you didn’t worry about shit that wasn’t right in front of you.

But starting in the 60’s, almost all of us had a television set with access right in the comfort of our own homes, and I guess the elders thought we were all going to hell because of it. They believed it was going to destroy the fabric of God and country and family values. (Little did they know it was color television that was going to do that, years later. The instant fame of the first kid on the block with a color TV led to some pretty abysmal Lord of the Flies stuff.)

We kids loved this novel invention unconditionally as you can imagine, and not just because it was new and cool, although it was all that. Yes, the picture was in black and white and often fuzzy until you moved the rabbit ear antenna that sat on top of the set around to get it clear; and sometimes had to go up on the roof to move the big antenna around and yell down to someone else to ask, “Is this better? Is this better?” (Which was the precursor to “Can you hear me now?!”) But television gave our lives something fascinating and wondrous, a view of worlds we had previously not even imagined.

There were only four channels and at midnight they all played the national anthem and shut off for the night, leaving rainbow stripes and loud beeeeeeeeep until you shut it off. I posted a link to an example of this here for posterity’s sake.

The majority of shows were aimed at adults, with the exception of cartoons. If you watch those now, you might be shocked to see what they thought children’s programming should be back then, but we ate it up. For hours. Every chance we got.

Saturday mornings were for the likes of Davy and his arch nemesis Goliath, The Roadrunner and his arch nemesis Wile E. Coyote, Tom and his arch nemesis Jerry, Yogi Bear and his arch nemesis Ranger Smith. You get it, right? Then there were the Flintstones: Barney and Fred and their long-suffering wives Betty and Wilma; Alvin, Theo and Simon Chipmunk with their long-suffering human Dave. Shows like the Mickey Mouse Club and Wonderama with live-kid audiences made us yearn for a spot in the limelight. And there were tons of superheroes and supervillains, and adventurous, mystery-solving kids, and Scooby Doo. Looking back, there was a lot of violence, misogyny, and darkness; but that was the world we lived in and the adults who created such shows reflected that in their offerings.

The only thing on at 6 pm and 11 pm was news, and I remember eating dinner while watching live footage of the front lines of the Vietnam War complete with gunfire and dying young soldiers and terrified reporters ducking for cover in foxholes.

The made-for-TV movies were in black and white, relying on shadow, light and music to tell a story. I would sit and watch horror movies like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and House on Haunted Hill by myself, probably holding my cat for comfort.

TV became a center piece of our lives. It was the topic of kid debates, the inspiration for our creative play and our Halloween costumes. Commercials for cereal or candy or soda became the cause of much whining and begging. And that was just the parents crying uncle at this unstoppable barrage of newly-informed children who could sing jingles on repeat for hours. Maybe days. I can still perform the entire Good ‘n Plenty song and if I do it in same-age company, I’ll have four-part harmony joining in.

So, Did it Make Us into Idiots?

Debatable, 100%. It certainly permanently changed the social landscape in ways the aforementioned radio, news reels and even neighborly gossip couldn’t. And it was, unquestionably, a Pandora’s Box which led directly to the invention of Dick Tracy’s watch, which does much more than just serve as a cool walkie talkie and would have made Dick Tracy green with envy. I’m still waiting for someone to create Agent 99’s shoe phone, but I can see where that would be less than practical.

I’m sure my Oma, who was born at the end of the 1800’s before electricity and running water, thought this newfangled invention was curdling the collective brain. But, honestly, how different is it than the fear we parents and grandparents have today about Gen Alpha’s screen time exposure? We act like our own elders were scared silly by an inane entertainment device while at the same time we are scared silly by the internet.

I guess the moral of the story is, yes TV is an idiot box and yes, we became idiots as a society because of it, but it also gave us opportunities, opening worlds for us in the comfort of our own little corners. And I guess the bottom line is it all depends how you use it, what you do with it, how it influences your life.

Just like AI.