Here Comes The 21st Century- At Last

[poliphilo]

According to a story that passed under my nose the other day young people are no longer bothering to buy TV sets. And why should they in the age of Netflix?  It's early days but I can imagine a time- not perhaps so very far in the future- when the box in the corner of the living room will be as obsolete as the telephone landline. Who'd have thought- twenty years ago- that those two staples of late 20th century living would have such a short shelf life?

And then there was the article about how we'll all be giving up our private cars and instead- as needed- rent self-driving vehicles from some central source- and how that's going to transform our cities. This seems more SF than the prediction about TV but who knows? Apparently Uber is buying self-driving cars- and a business like that doesn't invest in new technology just for the fun of it.

Comments

[basefinder.livejournal.com]

It does seem that the Watching of Programs has taken two divergent paths: The home television gets ever larger--55" screens seem to be the norm now, but watching on tiny screens--4" or 5" on phone or mini-tablet also gets more popular.

For me, why would I watch on my tiny phone when I have a (now small) 42" screen sitting conveniently across from my sofa?

The self-driving car phenomenon is fascinating. Maybe its lucky for us that the technology is advancing at the same time that human drivers can't be relied upon to lift their eyes up from their phones? I'm just surprised we don't have more distracted driving accidents.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

These days I mostly watch film and TV on my laptop.

It's illegal in the UK to use a phone while driving but this doesn't seem to stop people.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Doesn't stop people here, either, and the police don't seem to be paying attention.

When I lived in the apartment on Tulip Street, I didn't have a TV. I didn't miss it much, except for tennis tournament time. When I move where I am now, cable is 'free'. (It isn't really, they just tack the money on to the rent.) So I have a television and spent way too much time watching it. My internet connection is way too slow and my laptop far too unreliable, to watch anything there.