The Demise of the TV

I wrote on my blog some time ago now an article called “Bye Bye TV” Essentially it was an explanation as to why I don’t watch TV and why that signalled the death knell for television Anyway almost a year later and TV still survives funnily enough despite my not watching it and yes, I did expect it to die after my original article, however the downward spiral still goes on.

To understand why this is going to make a huge difference to your life you need to understand the role of the TV in interior design. I saw a flat with clients last week that had a wall placed in what was obviously planned originally as an open plan living room and kitchen just so there would be a convenient wall to place the plugs and aerial socket of the TV. That is soooo last century. It also meant that the kitchen was a small cubby hole with no intrinsic value and totally devalued the flat as a whole entity. All for an aerial socket.

However TV viewing is going down year on year substantially. We still watch a screen but the screen is now becoming smaller and more mobile. It has moved onto the computer, the iPad and even the mobile phone. As screens get higher quality in resolution the TV loses protagonism. Now don’t get me wrong it will still be a time until the TV loses its place as the central point in the living room furniture with all of the chairs turned towards it at various angles but the change it is a-coming.

In the early days of TV the screen couldn’t be seen because it was hidden in a piece of furniture, I actually have a friend who still does it to this day, I suspect in a rather strange way in the hope of watching less by being too lazy to stand up and open the doors on the unit. Seriously if my TV was in a unit the only way that it would be viewed would be when streaming YouTube video over Airplay on my iPhone so that my kids could laugh at the Sneezing Panda video over and over again (And when Liverpool play) I reckon my addicted 6 year old would soon forget it was there if it wasn’t in full view. (Hey I can hope, can’t I)

So the future for interior design demands a new use of space in houses and flats. It means that the spaces don’t need to be as large and it of course also means that the next time that riots ravage the UK (And they will) that 40 inch plasma screen TVs may not be de rigger for the looters.

So what would you put in the space that will eventually be vacated by the TV and how will the design of your house be affected by the TV losing its power over you eventually, and it will!

For her sins, Babs is editor for Blokes on the Blog when not helping people use WordPress for their website and/or blog. She wishes she'd had this much male attention 20 years ago...