Monday marks the start of the tenth annual
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TV Turnoff Week.
”
It’s the perfect time to acknowledge the inventor of the device
architect Frank Lloyd Wright described as
”
chewing gum for the eyes.
”
Monday marks the start of the tenth annual “TV Turnoff Week.” It’s the perfect time to acknowledge the inventor of the device architect Frank Lloyd Wright described as “chewing gum for the eyes.”
More than 98 percent of American homes own at least one TV set. And for at least four hours every day, the average American sits zombie-like staring at the “boob tube.”
It says a lot that Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of electronic television, refused to allow a TV set in his home.
“There’s nothing on it worthwhile,” he told his children. “We’re not going to watch it in this household, and I don’t want it in your intellectual diet.”
Farnsworth was a 14-year-old farm boy living amidst the potato fields of Idaho when he conceived the idea for his notorious invention.
The young boy had a keen mind and a sharp interest in inventing things that could improve the world. Stimulated by a stack of science fiction and electronics magazines he found in the attic of his family’s farmhouse, he realized one of the most useful devices he could ever build was a machine broadcasting “pictures through the air.”
One sweltering summer day in 1921, the teenage Farnsworth spent hours on his horse-drawn harrow crisscrossing the fields. As he worked the soil, he considered ways to create the fantastic device he imagined.
An inventor named John Logie Baird in London had already created a mechanical system of television using a Rube Goldberg-like contraption of spinning cylinders. The device projected shadow images on a screen.
But Baird’s method was far too crude for practical use. Only an electronic system would be fast enough to transmit images across the airwaves, Farnsworth realized.
After long and boring hours plowing lines back and forth on the potato field, Farnsworth stopped for a break. He gazed at his day’s work of straight furrows in the Idaho dirt. Suddenly, the brilliant idea struck him.
Farnsworth realized an electronic beam from a cathode ray tube could create a stream of parallel lines across a photoelectric screen in the same way his harrow had plowed the soil. Magnets could manipulate the beam to form tiny breaks in the transmission. Thus moving images could be sent over airwaves.
Over several months, Farnsworth developed the concept and drew a sketch of his invention. He showed it to his high school chemistry teacher who realized the genius in the idea and encouraged the young boy to continue innovating the device.
Seven years later, in a loft over a warehouse at the foot of San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill, Farnsworth, his wife “Pem,” and a small team of assistants made the first electronic television transmission. In a test, they broadcast a single straight line manually moved by Philo.
One of the financial-backers of Farnsworth’s invention telegraphed another investor with the glorious news: “THE DAMN THING WORKS!”
Even though Philo T. Farnsworth’s name is hardly known by the general public, his electronic television system changed the world just as dramatically as Edison’s light-bulb or Bell’s telephone.
It greatly influences our democratic process during elections. It spreads culture and trends rapidly throughout the globe. And for the first time in human history, people around the planet can witness historic events -– such as moon landings or Olympic games –- at the moment they actually happen.
And Farnsworth’s device made possible the digital revolution. The monitors hooked up to our personal computers use the same innovative principles dreamed up by the teen one summer afternoon in an Idaho potato field.
In a year, the average American child watches 20,000 commercials. By the age of 18, most American kids have witnessed more than 200,000 acts of violence via TV. Some researchers suggest this exposure conditions the human brain to be more prone to brutal behavior.
And a just-released study in Pediatrics magazine indicates TV viewing by very young children contributes to Attention Deficit Disorder.
Farnsworth recognized the cost of his invention to humanity. In the 1950s TV game show “What’s My Line?” a panelist asked him if his invention was “painful if used.”
The inventor grinned. “Yes. Sometimes it’s most painful.”
Most television programs – especially the current “reality show” craze – are a mental garbage dump and a sad waste of time. Yet, we keep tuning in, robotically clicking our remote controls at this magic box streaming with images.
It seems appropriate the contraption turning us into “couch potatoes” was dreamed up literally in a potato field. TV can be as addicting as any drug sold on the street. But if used wisely, TV can also serve as an educator in our living rooms.
We can learn about a variety of topics on documentaries such as those aired on PBS, and the History and Discovery channels. Carefully selected shows can stretch our mental horizons. Parents can watch mind-expanding programs with their kids and afterwards use the knowledge learned as a basis for a lively discussion.
Unfortunately, few children are lucky to have parents who closely monitor their TV habits. The cost can be high in terms of the human interaction skills these kids might fail to learn. As the poet T.S. Eliot observed, “The most remarkable thing about television is that it permits several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely.”
Unplugging your TV set from April 19-26, the average American will find an extra 28 hours of free time during the seven day period — more than an entire day.
So instead of spending time with television’s “Simpson” family, you might consider spending quality time with your own family this coming “TV Turnoff Week.” You might find you’ll have just as much fun playing with your children, chatting with them or reading books to them during this TV-free period.
Seven days without television can improve your family life significantly. No doubt Philo T. Farnsworth would highly recommend participation in the “TV Turnoff Week” as a great gift parents can give their children.
