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How to watch Television - Everyday philosophy.


Introduction - Why

Ever since I can remember I watched television. As it had consumed a considerable amount of time, I think it's time to write about it. Maybe you have watched maybe you are surely using some kind of a screen, even to read this. Hence, following may apply to you even if you don't watch television.


Evolution - Skip

Yes, you are allowed to skip this section, as it is not included in the title.


Old TV
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The television was initially black and white. That was a long time ago. We had a television, even when I was born! and that was the only television for the whole neighborhood. People from all around our home came to watch news and teledramas. Then everyone wanted a television, and one by one they stopped coming to our house. As all of them brought their own. Initially there were only few channels, and programs were there only for a part of the day. I can remember waiting for counting hours for the favorite program to come up. We had to say alert and stop our work to catch a movie or a cartoon. Then came the colored version. As people needed more and more, there was a roller-coaster since then.


Flat screens were next, Sterio sounds, LCD screens and Smart TVS. Nowadays more and more developments in software, we have hundreds of channels to choose from. And even to save and record our favorite programs so we can watch it leisurely. I'm sure you have at least once watched a 3D movie as well. I can see our demands are never stopping, we have cheaper versions to highly expensive versions. We need television in our pockets. (my cheap Chinese phone) And our poor scientists have a hard time developing them. They will end up without options one day to catch up with our greed. How much more the television can improve? I couldn't find a single program to watch from hundreds of channels the other day, Analysis paralysis, right? Do our minds ever going to satisfy with cravings just by satisfying them?



How to watch television - 3 ways.

Ears closed television

There are several ways to watch television. Our normal way of watching television is eyes and ears open. Have you ever tried to watch television with ears Closed? You may ask what the point is. I would say try it. Try watching Despacito with the mute button on. And you would see the part of the illusion is missing. And sometimes it is hilarious to see the moves of singers and dancers without the sound. And even your mind will start to scream to turn on the sound. I suggest not to. Let it learn what is the world will look like without sounds. I see this phenomenon in recent tick Tok trends where they dub the voice of celebrities with everyday bare voice.


Eyes closed television

Next is eyes closed television. Yes, it does sounds wrong. I think you have done this before though, Radio, sounds familiar. Can you remember the times when they used to play voice dramas in Radio. We used to snuggle up all the siblings to listen to a Ghost story broadcasted in afternoons. Such adventures. They created old mansions and greedy wealthy owners, with their young stunning brides. And those mental pictures were stronger than television. We are now even lazy to create a mental picture because of the TV. I can remember earlier days when we were not allowed to watch teledramas. But I could hear them very well, from my room, when I kept the door just open enough. Just like watching the drama, I could imagine the whole story and even waited in anticipation for the next episode another day. Maybe my teledrama was vivid in imagination than the actual ones played on the TV, I could never know.


smart TV
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Later I used this trick myself when I was preparing myself for final exams in college. I was busy with work, and I wanted to watch the Cricket Match as well. Watching the live match is far superior to watching Highlights as emotions are high on the roof. Yet I wanted to do my studies as well. I used to turn on the television, go to my room, keep the door half open and do my work. The match will play on. If you have watched a cricket match, you would know that most of the balls are either not played or fielded. Only the ones where fours and sixers matter most, or when a wicket falls. And there are lot of advertisements too. What I did was, I focused on studying. When the mind hears the commentary gets stronger in the background when something interesting happened, I would go there and watch the replay. By this way I did cover the whole match and did a wonderful study session as well. And I knew the lessons as well as, the match. So, I could Boast about both with my friends next day. I suggest you can do this with any game.

Recently I learned about baseball, which pretty much looks the same. Total duration of the game was about three hours and I noticed for the total duration something interesting happens in only about three four minutes. Would you rather waste your three hours of your day just for three minutes of entertainment? I am not against watching an entire match, on TV or on the ground. Yet, it's just a trick which comes handy.

RGB color on TV
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Television with a magnifying glass.

Let's move from there to some more ways to watch television. Have you watched television with a magnifying glass? It's just three lines of colors of red, green and blue. With different shades created by alternating the colors which ones are on. If you want to know how it works, there are plenty of YouTube videos about this. But in this article, it is not about how, but what to do with the knowledge, or application. I often wonder why I forget that there is nothing but a collection of three dots. But the illusion creates Wild beasts grazing in savannah being chased by lions.



Next, philosophy of watching television



Philosophy of Televsion
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Philosophy of watching television

Now we know some different ways to watch television, I can tell you about a movie that we have been watching for a long time, that we have forgotten it is a movie. We have forgotten, so much that we have started to live in this. The movie feels so real, not only the pictures, not only the sounds, but this television is also so realistic it brings us the touch smell and taste too. Just like a metaverse, everything is 3D. The main character is behind your eyes. How do you know it is a movie not real?


Close your eyes, you will see everything colorful disappear. Just like you turned off the TV. If you keep your eyes closed forever, there will be no colors. If you can keep your eyes closed till you die, the movie will play without any color. (A blind person's world)


Close your ears, you will notice the movie will have no sound, when you do this. The pictures will move, but they will not make Noice. Only silence, like a still movie. Like you turned on the mute button. Just for the sake of it, close your one eye and suddenly the movie will become 2D. No longer there would be depth and you will knock your pinkie toe on a rock. Stop moving and touching and you will notice there will be no hardness and no softness. This movie which created by your mind made it so real. The film is only played for you. The main character is also you. You are the director and the cameramen, the sound producer and the writer of the screenplay. And you are also the only one who is watching the movie. You are also a part of the movie. If you would like to know more about the movie, I would suggest you read article on Consciousness.


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