I’m sure that by now you’ve been pulling out your hair trying to figure out what in the world I would be talking about with a headline like “WHO WOULDA’ THUNK’. Let me explain.

Who Woulda’ Thunk’

Because I am likely a little older than most of you that are reading this I remember things that you probably haven’t ever considered or thought about. The one thing that I will mention here I’m sure will surprise you.

In the early 1950’s Television was introduced to the general public. It was expensive and many people (especially radio listeners) said “it won’t ever catch on, nobody will watch that little box with pictures in it.” Of course that wasn’t the case and an entire generation grew up from that time until now watching far too much T.V. each day. Most people don’t even remember a time when there wasn’t a T.V. (or three) in the house. I do remember those days though because at the time when T.V. was introduced it was very expensive and unless your family was wealthy you simply couldn’t afford to have one. Oftentimes neighbors would gather at “the rich people’s house” and watch T.V. with them while enjoying popcorn etc. It was a party atmosphere. Of course that has changed now and if you don’t have a T.V. in your living room, bedroom, family room, game room, great room and even your bathroom you just aren’t living.

My family was poor when I was growing up. We didn’t have a television and didn’t know anybody that had one. We adjusted to hearing about this wonderful invention that was all the rage without having ever seen one other than in the window of the local department store. Did it bother us? No, not really. We had lives to live, jobs to go to each day and families to bring up. Eventually though the price came down on the sets so most anyone could afford one.

So what happened to society when it became the norm rather than the exception to own a television? Society took a dive into a never ending, seemingly hopeless situation of mindless existence. How sad. No longer did we have to do our own thinking. It was done for us. Family life was portrayed as perfect (remember Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver.) We forgot what life was really like. Our imaginations began to fade and without our realizing it we became zombies with no, or little, desire to go out into the world and learn anything new for ourselves.