Just thinking

I was thinking in the 60's when NZ got TV, we only had one channel and the telly only went for a few hours not 24. It was exciting and as a family we sat and watched it all together. A huge favorite was Disneyland.  We watched that every Sunday, and Doctor Who which I think was a Saturday. Mum got hooked on Coronation Street.

In the seventies a second channel came on (1975) and that's when the fights started.
Televisions were extremely expensive then, so no buying a second, we were stuck watching who ever won the battles, channel.

In the 80's you could get a small TV (which I did), and watch it in your bedroom, we now had 3 channels and TV started between 6-7am and ended roughly midnight when the Goodnight Kiwi would come on.

In the mid-90s we got a 4^th Channel and TV ran 24 hours.

From then on wards, I feel many families stopped watching programs together and 40 years later we have lost so much. We have lost how to communicate with each other unless its via text/messenger, we isolate ourselves with our various devices.

Going back to my childhood of that amazing invention with just the one channel, my brothers and I would come home from school, turn on the telly and watch the Kids programs, then we went out to play before dinner.    We talked more, shared more and it seems we cared more. That included our neighbors.  As kids we would watch movies on the weekend with other neighbor’s kids. We would be in and out of each other’s homes as if we belonged there.  Neighborhoods were like that No locked doors and everyone looking out for the everyone else. Sharing special events.  Kettle always on for a cuppa, and a biscuit for us kids.

Now depression is high, loneliness, the lack of communication, the lack of human company. Texting instead of talking. Neighbors who are more acquaintances rather than friends. Everyone minding their own business.  Doors are kept locked.

We have become a society of must haves and have forgotten how to find the joy in what we already had. We have lost community.

I wish children of today could have had that experience. Maybe they would appreciate life more if they had started off with not having everything given to them at once.

Having too much choice in the case of Television, was the start. If we didn’t know we could get other channels we would have had less fights. If TV was not on 24 /7 and streaming wasn’t a thing, I think we would have more contact with real people. Children would be outside playing more.

Is it wrong of me to feel we were better off then than what we are now?