Your Life Will Return After These Messages

Who out there will admit to the fact that they were raised on TV or used it to help entertain the children? My mom always called it the "boob tube", which I still find entertaining. The phrase was apparently coined back in the late 60's because it was believed that "television programming is foolish, induces foolishness and is only enjoyed by foolish people" (thank you www.dictionary.com). I feel confident in saying that with the dawn of reality TV, that statement applies more now than ever before. I spent as much time in front of the television as possible and always used it as my co-pilot when babysitting so that the kids were easily contained. I do attribute my time spent in front of the television to my own laziness, but my brain just could not stay quiet long enough for me to ingest the History Channel let alone most literature. This is where I have to also thank Cliffs Notes for helping me get through The Iliad.

As much as I hate to say that our entire society has ADD, I think it's a very valid argument to make. Most people can hardly stand sitting through commercials anymore because we just want to get to the point of the show. There are online sites, such as Hulu, that play entire shows with limited commercial interruptions. They even let you know when the interruption is coming and exactly how long you must wait before your show starts again. The commercials are still irritating, but at least we have a time frame and a timer to help us count away the seconds of our lives that we'll never get back. The shows that we would normally watch on TV are no longer an hour, but only 42 glorious minutes. And those extra18 minutes usually gets thrown into another show or five Saturday Night Live parodies (almost all of which involve Justin Timberlake).

Music has taken a step in that direction as well. No longer are full length albums the standard in releasing music. Twelve songs on an album is a great way to lose the interest of the listener. I will admit that it's difficult for me to make it through even ten songs. The fewer songs I listen to, the easier it is for me to decide if I like the music and helps me recognize the band quicker. Shorter albums, or EPs (extended play), are rapidly becoming the best way to keep a fan base's attention. Instead of releasing one album in a year, why not put out two or three smaller ones every few months? This will help keep the fans interested in your progression all year long because you're constantly feeding them new music, which they're always hungry for.

And in my attempt to get my short and to the point ADD argument across, I've managed to talk for longer than most of my generation will read. So if you've made it this far, my fedora is off to you.

Cheers!
Creed