Is it true that many older people reach a point of "capitulation" when it comes to understanding all the new trends? Does a part of us just want to start shaking our heads? A willingness at some point to just be "left behind?"
"Leave me alone, I'll just listen to A.M. radio instead of keeping up with all the media wrinkles."
So Federated Telephone has announced it is discontinuing cable TV. This after years of pretty high-profile promotion of the service.
TV has gone through so many stages or iterations or whatever. I'm 66 and my parents surely considered TV to be rather a miracle when it was first available. Wasn't the original concept of "TV" good enough? Well no.
I eventually signed up for Federated because it was kind of a bastion for local service. They appeared to treat customers in a fair manner with a stable price structure. A local person was available to talk to you. Such elements are still considered important for someone my age. I guess the youth of America have moved on. They are wise to the wrinkles of our new age, having grown up with them.
People my age remember when you "changed channels" on TV with a knob. The "remote" seemed like a breakthrough. I'm old enough to remember when "color TV" was a major advancement. We watched many Twins games on TV before the center field camera position came into regular use. Layer upon layer we saw change happen.
Today I am apprehensive as I'm told about something called "bluetooth." Sounds kind of scary.
"You can watch YouTube on your TV," people say. Well, how exactly? You need to pick up some geek traits, it appears, and maybe the train has already left the station for me. Maybe it's at a point where I am simply weary and don't mind capitulating, to just turning on A.M. radio to get some daily fulfillment. My saving grace is that I do have a laptop, my second, which I'm hoping will last longer than my first.
My first may have broken down prematurely because I didn't have the savvy to look out for all the viruses or malware or whatever. Just the other day, I got a "pop-up" advising that "Lenovo Advantage" wanted to install something. My current laptop is Lenovo. I went through the first step of installing, then of course another panel came up and my instinct told me to hesitate. I researched through Google and found I had done the wise thing.
I once got some malware called "Listen to the Radio" which sounds so innocent. I did a check and found it was bad news. I found out how to get rid of it. But how many other pitfalls are out there? Am I all caught up now?
This mountain of complications did not exist when we all simply watched TV. In my neighborhood just north of Morris, we only had one channel at the start: KCMT of Alexandria. My "town kid" friends talked about the "able cable." They could watch "Gilligan's Island" and "Gunsmoke." Man, if we had been told that someday we could watch hundreds of channels! We'd pinch ourselves. But you know what? It truly is no big deal having access to so many channels. We actually yawn. We actually get frustrated that there is "nothing to watch." Mercy.
We itch to be entertained all the time, rather insatiable. Then we hit the boredom wall. People in the entertainment industry know all about this. It has to do with scarcity in marketing.
If I consume "news," I will want to hear about sensational stuff a good portion of the time. This is why Donald Trump has been nothing short of a gold mine for the "news" industry. Capable politicians who simply look out for the interests of society are boring. They'd put "news programs" on the chopping block.
The hottest prime time news shows really aren't news anyway: they masquerade as news while really just being opinion. Viewers "take sides." So the Fox News viewers go to the diner the next morning, cheer for the Republicans and rip the "loony libs." Around and around it goes.
So, Federated of Morris has pulled the rug out from under so many of us. The customers liked the nice steady and honest service with local reps. Too good to be true for the year 2021. So we're scrambling and "watching our backs" with other services that try to wring every cent they can out of you. It's manipulative. Oh, and I learned from the "No Filter Sports" podcast that there's a word for this in the TV provider world: "breakage." The people in that industry know they can jack up prices pretty willy-nilly and most customers will just take it. "Breakage."
Except that I am getting too old and weary to want to deal with it anymore. It's capitulation at age 66, I guess. I suppose I could "negotiate" a package or a contract with some behemoth like Mediacom. I used to be a Mediacom customer. I did experience "breakage" with them - I saw it while it was happening. I didn't have the will to fight it. It's no fun fighting anyone. I could have called and threatened to cancel if I couldn't get my monthly rate at a certain level. At that point it had already gotten too high IMHO. I could have butted heads with them, figuring they would rather have me as a customer at a reduced rate than to lose me completely.
It may well have worked. One gets weary playing "hardball." I decided Federated would be a friendlier source and so I switched phone and TV over and established home wi-fi with Federated. Seemed like a real nice arrangement. But then out of the blue came the letter from Federated saying TV was going to be on the chopping block. It had been too good to be true. It made too much sense.
So I called Federated and ended my TV on the spot.
Yes, one's laptop can be mighty useful, no doubt about that. But as I told Kevin Wohlers recently, there are times when "it's just nice to have the TV on."
The endgame
I think we know where all this is going: before long there will be no "TV" as such and everything will simply be the Internet. We have some evolution stages to go through first. Question is, am I too old and weary to keep up with it all? To install "bluetooth?" So I'm getting by with the resources I can handle for now.
It irritates me, just like the adjustments we've been dragged through with the City of Morris water treatment plant. I approached Councilman Wohlers to talk with him about that. As mad as I get about the City of Morris, I can never find it in myself to be mad at Kevin. Do us Morris residents need a water softener or not? How many "grains" is the new city water at present, because the rumors are just terrible with the downward spiral, all the way down to 15 friggin' grains?
Seems almost criminal, the way it has gone. My plumber said to me last fall: "Sometimes I think we make these things too complicated."
Yes, and ditto our communications and entertainment. At 66 I may be increasingly falling by the wayside. Oh, to just be able to turn the knob on the TV and watch "Captain Kangaroo" again.
"Bunny Rabbit!"
"Grandfather Clock!"
"Mr. Green Jeans!"
Allen Anderson, RIP
It was hard understanding Allen Anderson. Such is the way God created us, with inscrutable aspects, a blend of good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, virtuous and with faults. We lost Allen last Saturday, age 66, same as me. He and I graduated with the Morris High School Class of '73. He might have been more worthy of graduation than I was.
But he was known through all the years as someone with peculiarities. Troublesome peculiarities a good share of the time, so that his movement around the community became restricted. We cannot blame anyone who erected those restrictions. There were health aspects to this - let's not get into it further. But at the same time, I think we all sensed a warm side to Allen's nature, the side that thought it important to pay attention to people and community activities.
He was a Donnelly-ite. The Donnelly kids had a group identity when I was young. Bob Van Zomeren was in the group. And Jane Larson. And Marv Stoneberg. And Kathy Graff. And Diane Bjorlin. (The artist Del Holdgrafer pronounced it ber-LIN.)
Allen had his issues but he exuded this sense of community spirit, involvement, interest. He seemed oblivious to the barriers created for him. And now we suddenly learn of his death. An individual we can never forget. God's life breathed into him. Allen Anderson RIP. You're in a better place now with your Lord and your parents, Allen.
Funeral is Friday afternoon. I'm wondering if we might see a surprisingly large turnout.
Addendum: Motto for Morris High Class of '73: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." It was considered edgy.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment