The son was looking for a television. After all, the son had found a new pad, and was looking for some company.
Then came the question. Would it be 36 inches? Forty-four? Fifty-five?
Odd thing, the contemporary television. I mean, at a time when other devices — think speakers, phones and computers — have been trending toward the slimmer side, the TV has gone in the other direction.
When I had my first pad, heck, I had an old black and white. It had rabbit ears, something the son would not be familiar with. It was probably a 10-inch model, and was a gift from my sister, who’d graduated to a 12. I kept it on a table in my living room, and was almost in need of binoculars when I was watching Cheers.
“But 55 inches?” I asked the son. “Your place is small. Won’t that take up most of the wall?”
“So?” he replied.
So, indeed. These days, the biggest TVs on offer are well over 55 inches. Think 100. Think 200. Think well over that.
To which I would ask: Wouldn’t that hurt your eyes? And would you not need to, well, construct your home around the size of the set?
“Why do people want such big televisions?” I asked the husband, simply because I was confused.
“To watch college basketball,” he said. “Or the hockey draft. Or the Masters. You know, that sort of thing.”
“Oh,” I said.
Oh, indeed.
Still didn’t get it, but then, I don’t watch college basketball or the hockey draft.
I watch the news, pretty much every single night, and don’t really need to see the anchor appearing five times her actual size.
But still, that’s how TVs are trending. Before long, I reckon, the son will need a much bigger pad, and not simply because he’ll have taken in a roommate or feel the need for a home office.
He’ll need a bigger pad because the 55-incher will come to seem a tad on the small side, and he’ll have spotted a 65 on sale.
I can see him sitting around with his beer-swigging pals, watching the hockey draft and hooting and high-fiving when the local team gets a big recruit.
But the cheers won’t just be for the new kid in town. They will be for the size of the set.
