1797 On Demand

I read a commentary recently warning of the hazards of "binge watching." That's right, the subjects of world peace and war and hunger and such aren't compelling enough. We need to wring our hands over TV watching.
Well, not TV watching per se, but watching serial TV episodes all in a row. Binge watching is when you buy or rent an entire season of a TV show and watch it non-stop.
I'm guessing the motherly admonition of it being bad for your eyes is the least of your worries. Who has time to watch 13 one hour episodes of one show?
Oh that's right, this is the generation of young folks who spend endless hours in their parent’s basements playing multi-person video games or composing snarky comments to newspapers.
But it's not just trolls. Consider this. The commentator talked about us being in an "On Demand" TV consumer age. We can watch what we want, where we want, whenever we want, on whatever device we have handy, from smartypants phones to wall-mounted HD3DTV.
But that also means we are more alone. When was the last time you gathered around the water cooler and talked about last night's episode of Seinfeld? Or Mash?
That's bad. Because then the only thing that jolts our society into some sort of group consciousness is tragedy. A gulf coast hurricane, or a big mass murder. We share nothing good and entertaining together. We only share the bad side of nature... and human nature.
Which leads to fear, hate, and paranoia.
That's the real tragedy. As any marriage counselor will tell you, learning to live together means balance, sharing the bad and the good.
Life is struggle. We need to share all the load.
On demand means on your own.
America, ya gotta love it.