The sun slowly set outside the window as my friends and I collapsed
on the living room couch, exhausted from our hash day at school. Looking at the time, I realized that our
favorite TV show, Mythbusters, was about to air their new “Star Wars Special”
episode. I eagerly reached for the TV
remote and flipped to the Discovery channel.
My friends’ and my eyes were glued to the TV screen as we discussed and
laugh at Adam and Jamie’s wacky antics for the next hour... Today, I watched
the latest “Star Wars: The Myths Strike Back” Mythbusters episode a few days
after its release on a convenient online streaming website on my computer.
When was
the last time you sat in front of the TV with the intent of watching a TV show?
Nowadays, the internet is filled with numerous streaming websites such as YouTube,
Twitch and Netflix that allow convenient means of watching your favorite TV
shows and movies online. If you take it
a step further, people can torrent and download their favorite episodes and
movies directly onto their computers to remove the streaming portion entirely. You can literally type in the name of the
show and episode you want to watch on Google and find 5 different links.
So what
purpose does a TV have nowadays? As far
as me and my friends are concerned, the only use a TV has is to watch DVDs or
play game consoles. It’s too much of a hassle
to try to align one’s schedule to watch a specific broadcast time and to wait
through the plethora of commercials that will inevitably be aired. It’s much easier to stream an episode online
on your own time. Unless you are a diehard
fan of a specific show and have to watch that latest episode of Game of Thrones
to avoid spoilers, there’re few reasons not to watch it online. Even sports channels have live streaming
websites where you can watch online to instead of on the TV.
It’s sad to say this, but the TV is
outperformed by online services and is slowly losing its usefulness. The only times that my friends and I gather to
watch TV together is either during the Super Bowl or the Soccer World Cup. However, it is interesting to note that the
social atmosphere created from gathering in front of the TV is slowly being replaced
by gatherings to watch streams or DVD’s on each other’s computers. Such events include lives streams of E-Sports
tournaments, popular streamers and YouTube stars. Others are interested in watching shorts such
as vines or Snapchat videos on their phones.
Even though the means of watching is slowly changing, people will still
gather together to discuss about the latest shows and news.
In the end, what does this mean for
cable TV? Is cable TV becoming obsolete? Will the TV soon fade
away as an obscure technology? I guess
it’s up to the users to decide, but I believe that the means of watching shows
online will slowly but surely push direct TV out of usefulness.
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