Captivate TV

Do we always have to have something to look at–something to occupy ourselves with? I know if I’m at a restaurant or bar and there’s a TV on, my eyes go towards it like a magnet to iron. If I’m with company I fight the urge to stare and follow the game or watch the news, but I sneak peaks.  If I’m alone, though, I’m a goner.

I know I’m not the only one who does this; it’s not only me that’s gazing at the TV. What does this mean about us as human beings? The subways have all kinds of advertisements to occupy us visually, but I wonder how long it will be before electronic billboards or TVs enter this domain.  

Recently I found one in an elevator. I was in the crowded elevator of a building near FIT off Seventh Avenue, heading towards the 21st floor when I saw it–Captivate TV. The elevator had just been reconditioned with gleaming faux paneling, black stripes between panels, linoleum floor tiles, and an eight-inch TV screen at eye level near the controls. My eyes went right to it. 

“Did you know that Grover Cleveland was the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms in office?” it asked. 

No, I thought. 

“Match.com says that more people order wine rather than beer on first dates.” Yes, I thought, but which is more likely to actually be drunk? And are we talking about Ripple or Beaujolais? 

There were eight of these Captivate TV facts that flashed by me before they began repeating, and I was responding to them as soon as each came up. I noticed on the second go-round that there were three categories at the bottom of the screens: News, Sports and Facts.

At the 9th floor I eased my way towards the screen as people got off, and tried touching the TV at each place to see if the screen was touch-sensitive. It wasn’t and I only felt a little foolish doing it with others in the car watching me. 

“Pretty neat,” I said to a guy standing behind me after I touched the screen the third time. 

“Right,” he said and rolled his eyes. 

I wondered for a moment how this system would play itself out on the subway. First they’d need more facts to go through. While eight were perfect for a minute-long elevator ride, it would, for a half-hour subway ride, drive me insane. Though just waiting to see if at some point a new one would come up, it would keep me going for a short while.  

I know I had a hard time tearing my eyes off the screen. Or maybe I should say it gave me something to look at rather than the floor or the back of someone’s head or the elevator door. Statements on the TV screen to read and respond to–now that was just about right.  

On the subway, if you’re not visually inclined, you can listen to your ipod. On the elevator you can listen to the Muzak. You can read on the subway because you have enough time to get through a few pages or maybe even a whole chapter.

But on an elevator, what do you have? You open the book and have to close it before you’ve read a sentence.  

Watching the facts scroll by I was indeed captivated by Captivate TV. And the word “captivate” is so evocative.  

But just what is all this technology-based stimulation doing to me and why am I so willing to allow it to work its dark magic?  

When I got home I looked captivate up in the dictionary. Encarta says it means, “to enchant or capture somebody.” I like to think of it as “eating a captive.”

–Joe Lunievicz