Hi Everyone!
How many of you are, well let us say, youthfully challenged enough to remember the VCR? I could handle the VCR – I couldn’t program it, but at least I could use it. You pushed the cartridge into the machine and hit play.
Photo from http://www.damienriley.com
Then came the DVD player – I still couldn’t program it, but as long as it was just the TV and the DVD player, I still could use it. You put the disc in the machine and hit play.
DVD Player Photograph from http://www.wikipedia.org
Then came surround sound – and everything came to a screeching halt!
I admit that I am technologically challenged, but once the time arrived where it took more than one remote to accomplish an entertainment task, I was in trouble. After years of struggle, my husband finally took pity on me last year and bought a universal remote that is supposed to work by simply pressing a button on the remote that says what you want to do (for example, “watch tv” or “play a movie”), pointing the remote in the general area of the AV equipment, and everything that needs to turn off or on does so. It works great for my husband, but I really don’t think it likes me, because I have a 50/50 shot of being successful with it. Still, 50/50 is much better than a 100% chance of not being able to do it.
From Print Shop Professional 2.0
Now the DVD player companies are beginning to introduce DVD’s and televisions that can show movies and programs in 3-D. Enough! I have yet to see a 3-D movie that would be incomplete if I saw it in 2-D. Let’s think for a minute people – isn’t being able to watch 100+ channels, download the movie of your choice from the internet or place your disc in the DVD player and watch it on your TV in super-duper high-clarity High-definition with surround sound comparable to that in a theater sufficient? Do we really need something else to keep us glued to the TV and away from more profitable activities such as reading, writing or playing games? I say no, and that it is high time for the technologically challenged people of the world to stand up and unite!
From Print Shop Professional 2.0 with edits by me
Please, please write your local DVD manufacturer now and plead with it to stop the march of entertainment technology immediately! Let’s draw a line in the sand and stop with Blu-Ray. Period. Then the innovators and inventors of this world can turn their attention to more important topics, such as energy, medical research and the riding vacuum cleaner.
Tomorrow’s topic: Software manufacturers that improve my life, and why they shouldn’t.
Have a great day everyone!
Nancy
Tales from the Mom-Side 
The worst part of all this is that not only do you feel technoligically challenged, your teenage child looks at you as if you have three heads because you can’t do any of the above! Mom, this is so simple! Really, how do you think you are going to survive without me here to operate things? My reply, can you operate the washer????????
I LIKE your comeback! I’m pretty sure mine can’t operate the washing machine yet, but then she is only nine!
I can feel your pain… I am the techno-geek in my family. I am the one that helps out when things don’t go as planned. I am the official programmer of the TV and DVD players.
I do agree that we are getting way too carried away with the technology of entertainment. Being 53 I remember the days of only 3 channels, now look at what there is available. I read a piece just the other day about holograms and how they will be the next big thing. All I can say is SCARY
You are a male, and technological things just like you better! At least, that’s my observation from my household! I remember the days of 3 – 5 channels (ABC, CBS, NBC and possibly an independent station, so I am not too far behind you!) I am pretty sure that if I can’t handle the buttons needed to play the DVD with the surround sound, I’m sure not going to be able to manage the hologram!
AMEN!
I would have none of that stuff if it weren’t for my husband. For one, I barely have time to watch TV. Our remote is worse, though. It’s this $300 thing with a little screen and it connects via usb to the laptop to update it 😮 At least the screen says things like “Watch TV” or “Play Blu-Ray.” Boom! It all turns on like it should. But I can’t navigate the menus of the movie or OnDemand thereafter.
We were poor. We had a black and white, with dials, that went up to channel 13. And something with a “U” that I can’t remember. And those dials were hard to turn!
That sounds like the remote we have, except for the $300 part. I think we went with the $100 version. I don’t worry about the movie menus, as long as the menu gets me quickly to somewhere where I can hit play and the movie starts. Apparently, the simplicity of just hitting play and getting the movie to start is a theme with me! I remember the “U” but I forget what it stood for, too. Thank you for your comment!
hilarious! I agree completely.
Thanks!