Posted tonight: TV and the people who love it.

Hope, Happiness, Wellbeing in half hour time slots. Drama in an hour.

Interesting things are happening out there to test the effects of the television on viewers. (we are not people we are viewers, users, and consumers).

I am most surprised by the research that surveyed environmental organizations, and found that of the "environmentalists" ( identified by member affiliation to an ENGO), who responded to the survey, those with the most hour of TV viewing were the least likely to report attitudes reflective of those concerned with environmental issues.

Is the TV some magnetic force that strips you of good sense and decency? Or does the majority of us prioritize our internal lists of the world's ills by what the screen flickers?

As an anecdote, I know quite a few people who believe the TV is a mirror of the world. Ideas, current events, the whole shbang is on TV. If you are not up on TV, then you are living under a rock. But what is the TV saying that is so beguiling? I like this research (besides all the terms I don't quite understand, and the length) because it is giving us another story about what the TV is saying. And how what it is saying is changing the way you think.

If I stared out the same window every day, for 6 hours per day - what would I learn about my surroundings? TV is that window into the world for millions of people each day.

McKibben's description of that old woman, hand gripped onto the remote, as she slips off into eternal slumber scares me. I see it in my grandma. She reads, watches TV, and does cross words. But TV occupies so much of what she does when she is alone. I wish we could live together, and share meals, plan gardens. But she prefers to eat with the TV if she is not out for dinner. She learns about the environmental catastrophes and tells me about the programs. She cuts out articles for me from the Vancouver Sun. But every few months she buys me a Swiffer. Now, I am not the cleanest person. I would rather hang with my kid, then be bound to housework on my time off. But she believes, as much as she does that we need to reduce our waste, that I also need the convenience of a Swiffer.

One day, my 10 year old neighbor came by to borrow something for his parents. He saw the swiffer #15 that my grandma just brought me sitting to the side of my kitchen. He gleefully asked if he could try my swiffer, as if it was a shiny new skateboard. I told him to go for it, and delightfully he cleaned the floor for about 10 minutes before announcing 'this sucks' and left. At least the swiffer got out for a spin.

If something as simple as a stick with some fuzzy paper on the bottom can get people this excited in this day and age of ipods and ATV's, TV has got to be more powerful than we anticipated. Or maybe the dust bunnies are clogging up my brain.