As Seen On TV
Ch. 1
It happened a few days after the changes took place. The year was 2009, but none of that really matters now. I never knew how vital that medium was until people lost their lives over it. There were warnings telling everyone to adapt to the changes, but no one paid any attention. The citizens wanted a reason to revolt and now they had it. It was a rough time for most Americans, since the great depression of 2007. The disparity between the rich and the poor was greater than ever, with so many of us falling into the lowest brackets. 2009 was a hopeful year for us all. We had a new president who we put our faith in to bring us out of the depression and reunite us with the rest of the world.
I remember the day it happened. I was lying in bed watching Jeopardy on television. All of a sudden an emergency broadcast was shown. This was different than the one's I was used to. It had a 30 second countdown. Like I usually do, I switched the channel to avoid the annoying sounds of the broadcast. It was on every channel though, and the countdown was synchronous. 22 seconds to go, and I didn't know what would happen when it was finished. My heart started to beat faster. I looked out my window and my city continued just as usual. 14 seconds now. I'd never been so into an emergency broadcast before.
When the counter hit one, I didn't expect to see what I did. The television screen was black, no picture at all. I changed the channels and it was as if the tv was off. I went downstairs only to find the rest of the televisions in the same way. I knew this wasn't going to go over well with my neighbors and for the rest of the country for that matter.
work in progress
A few days ago I read an article detailing the transition from analog television signals to ones that are completely digital. The government has mandated laws that state the change will take place in 2009 and you must buy a television capable of this by that time. When the transition takes place, all analog televisions (the majority of tv's out there) will be useless and just output a blank screen. After reading this I thought about all the interesting things that could happen with the transition. I started to write this little story showing the possible consequences of our dependency to television. It's definitely a work in progress, and I don't know if I'll add to it. We'll just have to watch and see what develops in the years to come. posted by psychobabbler @ 2:14 AM
