EVOLUTION OF THE CLICKER

The other night as we were watching the Giants game, Lou had the TV/satellite remote in his hand. He wasn’t changing the channel or looking through the guide, just watching the ball game. There seems to be some sort of innate power that is gained from having control of the clicker! Often times in our household, the remote is placed on the center couch cushion between us. That way it is available to either of us if we want to see what’s on later or flick to another show during a commercial.

It started me thinking about the almighty remote control. I grew up in an era when you had to physically get up out of your chair, walk over to the black & white TV & turn the dial to change the station. There were only a few channels available for our viewing pleasure which made it pretty simple.

Now, there are literally hundreds of stations at our disposal. Bruce Springsteen wrote a song years ago with the title, “57 Channels & Nothin’ On”. Now, that line is obsolete since even the basic cable package contains more than 57 choices, but the sentiment still rings true. How many times have you flicked through double or triple that number of stations & been unable to find anything to watch? 

I enjoy the remote control device as much as the next person but why is it that most men get a hold of that thing & simply click through every single one of the channels pausing for maybe two seconds on each station before moving on? My father is the worst at that & it drives me crazy! I think the only reason cable or satellite companies give us 200 stations is so that the channel surfers won’t get bored.

I recall visiting my then in-laws back in the early 1970s. They were proud as punch of their new remote control device for their TV. It had three rectangular buttons on it, that’s all – just three. One turned it on & off. The second controlled the volume & the third changed the channels. You had to scroll through the channels & if you missed what you wanted to watch, you had to go through them again. Of course, we only had about 6 or 8 channels at most so it didn’t take long. Same with the volume – it just got louder & louder until it started over really softly.

I can remember thinking, “How ridiculous! They can’t even get up off their butts to change the channel on the TV?” It didn’t make a bit of sense to me how people could be so lazy that they couldn’t walk a few steps to turn the channel. I can only imagine the confused stares you would get from kids today if you related stories of TVs without remotes.

Our first VCR (about 25 – 30 years ago) had a remote with a long cord that attached it to the device. You could sit on the couch & control the machine but had to be careful not to trip anyone walking across the room. The thing was the size of a suitcase & weighed about 20 pounds. Today’s DVD players are tiny by comparison. And we even have DVRs now that don’t use a tape or a disc. I’m just now learning about “downloading” & “streaming” things to our TV or even my smart phone! I’m pretty sure it is all done with smoke & mirrors.

When I play my yoga DVDs on the TV it requires THREE different remotes to control the BluRay player, change the input & adjust the TV settings. Our remote caddy has six of the little devices lined up in it – SIX! Each remote has an average of 55 buttons (I just counted them J). Gone are the days when remotes had three push buttons. Who knew you would need an electronics degree to operate your home entertainment system in the 21^st century!

I can sort of keep up with the new technology but I feel sorry for my 85 year old father. I have spent countless hours trying to teach him to use the remote. His cable system requires him to punch in three numbers to get his HD channels, such as 7-0-3. The poor man has a terrible time doing it fast enough while keeping it pointed at the TV. He inevitably screws it up, THEN he just starts pushing buttons to fix it. I try to tell him to no avail, there isn’t just ONE button that will magically fix it. BUT can you imagine the millions you would make if you could invent a “fix it” button?