Man Without Television for 32 Years Buys HDTV

An interesting piece from The New York Times:

I’m what you’d call a late adopter. Very late.

Last month, after most of my adult life without one, I bought a television. Not just a television, but a 40-inch Sony Bravia XBR L.C.D. flat-panel high-definition, or HD, television. My only other set, which followed me to New York from college in 1974 and got lost, was 13 inches — smaller than my current laptop and more like a radio than the electronic billboard I live with now.

Last Thursday night, on “Smallville,” Clark Kent told an alien just landed on Earth, “Wherever you’re from, go back.” She replied, “I can’t.”

I know exactly how she felt.

In an e-mail, Dr. Kubey from Rutgers told me I would begin eating meals in front of the television. I have. Over a bowl of spaghetti and a glass of red wine, I watched “Battlestar Galactica” until my neighbor complained about the noise — something that I marked proudly as a rite of passage, as he went back upstairs to begin anticipating the worst. It did bring us closer together.

A larger screen also demands more attention, or primary viewing — you sit and you watch it — and less “secondary” viewing, when you walk in and out of the room doing other things. You develop what experts call “attention inertia,” and it becomes difficult to disengage.

I could start getting out more. But my last great outing was shopping for a television.

Read the whole thing!

I can semi-relate.  I went for a number of years without having a functional TV.  (I think I had one that I never used for watching a VCR.)  I then went from none to a new flat-screen (as opposed to curved screen) with cable TV and Tivo at my last apartment in Orlando.  I got hooked far more than I care to admit.  Being able to "time-shift" and watch recorded shows on demand was great.  Now I live with a roommate who has a 55-inch HDTV and I love it, but get lost in it more than I wish I did. (I know, revealed preferences say otherwise...)

One thing I can say about this guy with the new HDTV -- watching Battlestar Galactica means he's picking all the right shows.  What better way to fully embrace this new technology?

(HT Gizmodo)