Techtorture in Today’s World
By Jim Coleman, The View from the Loft
All I wanted to do was relax and enjoy some mindless entertainment.
After a particularly stressful couple of weeks, all I was trying to accomplish was to lay on the sofa and watch a movie, binge watch a new series or replay a couple of episodes of SCANDAL and just laugh as Olivia Pope stomps all over Washington, D.C. in her winter white cashmere coat and $15,000 worth of shoes and bags.
Instead, what I got was TECHTORTURE. I’ll define. Techtorture is when you live in one thousand square feet and you have two televisions, seven remote controls that are all necessary, three phones and four computers. So, I sit down, turn on the television, click “source,” change to HDMI2, reboot the Roku and VOILA! What could be easier? Then I get a beautiful still shot of the Grand Canyon at sunset along with a message from the cable/internet provider (who I’m sure is the Antichrist) that says the signal has been lost! So, I turn two remotes off, get up and unplug everything, count to 10, plug it back in, let it reboot, restart the Roku and … what’a ya know? … it works.
The rhetorical question here is … how have we become so educated and so advanced and yet been reduced to mindless minions by technology? Since I was born before 1980, I want you to understand that I know nothing about technology. I, like Pavlov’s dog, have memorized a series of activities that I must perform in order to receive the temporary pleasure of watching television. I wonder if some mad scientist is observing my actions and taking notes in order to draw some new conclusions about the deterioration of the human mind.
SPOILER ALERT – THOUGHTS ON BIRD BOX. READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Because of all the social media hype, I decided to watch BIRD BOX. Oh GOD!, please take me now. I’m not a movie critic so I’ll reduce my review to one word … Stupid. My first thought was that at least I didn’t pay to see that dumb movie in a theatre, then I remembered that I pay $175 a month for the pleasure of on-demand television. I understand that because of this movie, people have given up eating Tide Pods and are now walking around in public with blindfolds on.
Does anybody remember growing up with three television stations and watching Andy Griffith, the Beaver, the Lone Ranger, Ed Sullivan and Carol Burnett? … FREE!
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Jim Coleman is twice retired as a financial advisor and flight attendant. A theatre geek, musician, arts administrator and preservationists, he lived a relatively obscure life until he crossed paths with Corby Winters. Jm choose Newnan as his new forever home five years ago and is dedicated to making our community the best it can be.
