Are you really taking a break when you pick up the remote control? Well, you're not. One thing that is missing in television is “leisure,” according to Faber – a character in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: “Off-hours, yes. But time to think? If you’re not driving a hundred miles an hour, at a clip where you can’t think of anything else but the danger, then you’re…sitting in some room where you can’t argue with the four-wall televisor. Why? The televisor is ‘real.’ It is immediate, it has dimension. It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It must be right. It seems so right. It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn’t time to protest” (Bradbury 84).
Ironically, it is for the purpose of leisure that people sit down to watch television. In Bradbury’s mind, however, that is not leisure. And, I completely agree.
When watching TV, one is bombarded by the media and thoughts that are not your own until they become so. This bombardment with foreign thoughts is similar to the TV parlors in Fahrenheit 451. Although in Bradbury’s exaggeration, televisions never turn off, and viewers are directly addressed by a televisor, so as to make this type of indirect interaction appear real and its’ provider reliable. In reality, we use both programs and the advertisements that interrupt them. Our children are beginning to be socialized by televisions.
When you sit down to relax and enjoy a program on television, you are in no way relaxing. Your mind is pulled in so many different directions that it is near impossible to calm down. When you sit down to read a book, you are reading that book and that book alone. You have one thing to do and you are not forced to move on to the next page until you are done with the last. You have the opportunity to take an opinion of what you read. You can close the book when you want to and open it at a later date. Whereas if you do not have Tivo, you have to finish watching a TV show when it is on, or you don’t get to see the rest of it. You have to sit through the commercials that interrupt it before you get to see what happens next. What’s more, if you do record a show and you watch it a week later, all of the media and advertisement interruptions have become old news and are no longer applicable. Thus, you have lost the “quality” of information (Bradbury 83)… that is, if you hadn’t already lacked that quality when you turned on “The Real Housewives” or “Family Guy.”
New reading technology, like the Kindle and the iPad in my mind exist somewhere in between TV and books. They incorporate other technologies in one device. You can type on the iPad, surf the web, etcetera. The Kindle allows you to store Microsoft Word documents and to purchase new books or magazines through its Wifi connection to Amazon.com. All of these innovations are helpful, but I feel that they are unnecessary in terms of reading as a leisurely activity. I use my computer for all of the things that I just mentioned, and I typically use my computer for organizational and work-related purposes…except for when I’m using Garage Band. Still, Bradbury’s Faber views reading as a leisurely activity. I feel as though devices like the Kindle and the iPad can serve as the real life version of what is symbolized in Bradbury’s depiction of TV parlors. They are links to the media that just won’t go away and they eliminate the leisure that reading can provide. There is just something about holding a book in your hand – and slowing down to focusing on just one task – that is extremely satisfying in a fast-paced society.
In response to question #3
ReplyDeleteok. devils advocate. what about using television to just zone out. to mindlessly watch something with humor that creates the necessary relief and escape from everyday life in a short and simple way that a busy life often has no room for . a comedy show can provide exactly that sort of escape we are looking for when we do NOT want to focus on any one storyline such as a book. it provide the option for a lack of focus and the ability to NOT think when thoughts are what dominate our day and that is precisely what we are attempting to escape. i think as adults we are fully capable of picking and choosing those morals and principles which we choose to accept or reject throughout the show and in many case those which we reject are the exact moments that we find the comedic relief we are seeking. television can provide a connection to the outer world in a hectic life as we see the life struggles of others much like us and then watch these characters handle their problems in ways we wish could but never would. as their lives then fall apart as a result we can laugh at their idiocy and feel encouraged by our own strength to continue on a path of doing what is hard at times, but still right. for some, focus is a means of relaxation but for others, a complete and utter LACK of focus as provided by media entertainment is just what the doctor ordered.
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