The Antiquity of TVs

"I hate movie theaters," I often told my high school boyfriends. "The seats are uncomfortable and the stupid armrests make it impossible to cuddle. Can't we just stay home and rent a movie?"

In college, I was quickly introduced to a whole new style of movie watching. Very few of my friends owned TVs, but all of us owned laptops. Hence, our laptops became our makeshift TVs.

Three years later, TV watching on my laptop has become so automatic that I see my laptop as half computer, half TV. It serves both functions, and best of all is portable so I can take it wherever I go.

I couldn't help but laugh as I read David Sarno's article "Wanna share ear buds?" Clearly not a member of the Net Gen, Sarno acknowledges that releasing a movie solely online has economic advantages, but struggles with the idea that people would actually want - prefer, if you dare - to watch a movie on 3-inch by 2-inch iPod screen instead of a gigantic movie theater screen.

"Nothing says romance like sharing ear buds," Sarno facetiously writes. Even Eddy Cue, vice president of iTunes, seemed clueless of the full potential of online-only movie releases. He suggested people may watch movies on their iPods during long-distance traveling or at the gym - in other words, when they simply lack access to traditional, full-size TVs.

But why do we even need TVs anymore? To Baby Boomers that cling desperately to print newspapers and landline telephones, getting rid of TVs probably sounds catastrophic. (This summer, after fighting with cords for half and hour and still failing to successfully hook up our massive TV, I suggested to my mom we watch the rented movie on my laptop. She reeled back in shock and replied, "But the screen's so small!") But to the average Net Gener, TVs are obsolete. They're clunky and singularly functional. Laptops are mobile and multifunctional. There's no contest. And that's not to mention the unnecessary cost of cable versus free online viewing.

Maybe I've been living the life of a skint college student for too long. My viewing habits have, admittedly, largely been dictated by convenience, a shoestring budget, and the limited dimensions of college living space. But you know what? When I graduate in May and get my own grown-up apartment, I see no need to buy a TV. I'll use that money to buy a new iPod.