It struck me this morning that television is essentially a passive medium whereas the Internet is at least potentially an active one. The typical TV viewer is looking for entertainment in some shape or form whereas the internaut as likely as not will be drawn into some kind of activity: e-mail, blog, online chats, discussion forums, photo sharing, etc.
At a social level, and insofar as television is gradually being superseded by the computer/Internet, this is bad news for TV dinners, those convivial occasions when the whole family gathered around the the television set to discuss matters of moment as they watched a truly gripping episode of Francis Durbridge Presents.
But Mr. Dunn, might not the telly viewer and the internaut be one and the same person? Indeed, on the message boards will you not find the previous night's telly offerings being endlessly - um - "discussed"?
ReplyDeleteThat's very true! So let's suppose: 8 hours being passive in front of the telly, 8 hours being active on the web, 8 hours sleeping. That's the day more or less taken care of!!
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