The younger generation today is often criticized for spending too much time on their cell phones. Kids in my generation were criticized for spending too much time watching TV. Same problem. Different devices.

But is too much time with electronics really a problem? Or is it just a fad? Today, I watch very little television. But, as a kid, I spent many hours plopped down in my bean bag chair on the shag carpet as close as I could get to our console TV.

I believe we had an RCA television set. It was built like a tank and weighed about the same, too. It looked like it had a dark wooden cabinet, but it was probably hard plastic. Mom had it so polished with Pledge, it was difficult to tell.

In all honesty, I spent more time with that TV in my youth than I did with anything else. It introduced me to Mr. Snuffleupagus and Mr. Hooper, and I learned about interjections, adverbs and Conjunction Junction from it.

I got to know Sam the butcher, Sgt. Schultz and Wrongway Feldman from our TV. Lenny and Squiggy connected with me through its screen and made me laugh, but I never understood why Shirley kept telling Carmine to take a cold shower. I watched Fonzie jump the shark on it — over two episodes.

I discovered the Na-No Na-No handshake and why the man put the car in the oven. I learned about the suffering of Kunta Kinte, and I watched Evel Knievel take many spills.

Our TV didn’t have a remote control, but it did have a set of pliers to turn the channels when the plastic knob broke.

The TV screen was a perfect square, unlike the rectangle versions of today. When we watched the ABC Sunday Night Movie, we were often introduced with the “formatted to fit your screen” message, which meant the edges were cut off.

Speaking of those Sunday night movies, seeing them on TV was a big deal. If you didn’t catch the movies at the theater (and we rarely did), then you relied on the TV premier, which was typically a year or two later. No streaming. No DVDs. No VHS rentals. Just heavy edits and a lot of commercials.

You may say I was attached to our TV. I would guess Dad said that a time or two, much like I have said about my kids and their phones. One has to wonder, though, what memories will today’s kids have of the content on their phones 50 years from now?

Have a memorable Monday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com

See Shane Goodman's previous columns here.

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