TV is better than ever

Adapted from Doug Craig’s talk at TEDxHollywood – watch the full presentation here.

“If it weren’t for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we’d still be eating frozen radio dinners.” -Johnny Carson

I love this quote from Johnny Carson. It reminds me how advances in technology have changed our lives – we jumped from radio to TV. TV became so integral to our lives and it began to be acceptable to watch while we ate dinner as a family. How many of you had a TV like this in your house?

If you’re like me, you love TV. Right now I can’t stop thinking of that Sons of Anarchy episode I watched last night, but I digress…

As a kid, I had about four channels. I watched what was on or nothing at all. And I had to work for it – remember fiddling with the rabbit ears to get the signal just right? Just imagine me trying to tell my kids that we had to WALK up to the TV to change the channel.

Let’s fast forward to today…

This is my kid’s TV experience. I’m sure it looks familiar. Today kids have no concept of TV networks, schedules or the “TV Guide.” They start, binge-watch and stop at will. Watching TV is complimented with a mobile device. They have complete control of what, when and where they watch TV.

But kids aren’t the only ones who watch TV this way – we all do now.

The Internet has transformed TV and it has made a profound impact on our lives. Today we have access to an unlimited amount of content – content we choose and connect with. There are channels on TV that would have otherwise never had a path to the TV without the power of the Internet and the advent of streaming. The Autism Channel, Diabetic Living and Homeschooling Network have more deeply connected communities with these advances. This year, because of streaming more people than ever united to watch the World Cup all over the world (broke a streaming record too!) and this is just the beginning.

The future is bright for us TV lovers. All TV will be streamed and the experience will only get better and better. If you told seven-year-old me this is how I’d watch TV, I would have been way more excited to grow up.

Stream on.