What Does It Mean to Describe Television as a Domestic Technology? How Does Its Primary Position in the Home Shape Its Forms and Uses?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DESCRIBE TELEVISION AS A DOMESTIC TECHNOLOGY? HOW DOES ITS PRIMARY POSITION IN THE HOME SHAPE ITS FORMS AND USES?
The act of television consumption occurs in technological, social and cultural forms, which concurrently effect the impact television has on everyday life as a domestic technology. The relationship between these elements is the basis for understanding television consumption.
Television today is among the most commonly undertaken leisure activities, yet it is typically viewed as a mundane activity as a result of it’s domestic introduction to households. The initiation of television into the domestic home developed over time to become a routine leisure activity. For more than half a century television has been an intimate part of the life of most populations. ‘It can be extraordinarily powerful because it sits right in the middle of all that mundaneness’ (Potter, 1993).
Television was first broadcast to the public in London 1929 by the BBC network. In the US, commercial broadcasting began in 1939 as a domestic medium developed to provide programming for entertainment. Housing was democratized after the Second World War, and television made its domestic appearance as an essential part of that process.
Prior to the 1940’s, private housing was not capable of facilitating a television set. Houses lacked proper electricity, gas facilities and hygiene causing incentive to spend as much time out of the home as possible. ‘Domestication became the solution to urbanization, industrialization and population explosion in the nineteenth century’ (Geraghty & Lusted 1998). Creating an incentive for domesticity solved the uncontrolled working class problem. That incentive began with television. For TV to succeed, consumers had to be at home. To be at home, they needed both capital investment in the home to maintain activities there, as well as an ‘ideology of domesticity which would maintain their pleasures there rather
The act of television consumption occurs in technological, social and cultural forms, which concurrently effect the impact television has on everyday life as a domestic technology. The relationship between these elements is the basis for understanding television consumption.
Television today is among the most commonly undertaken leisure activities, yet it is typically viewed as a mundane activity as a result of it’s domestic introduction to households. The initiation of television into the domestic home developed over time to become a routine leisure activity. For more than half a century television has been an intimate part of the life of most populations. ‘It can be extraordinarily powerful because it sits right in the middle of all that mundaneness’ (Potter, 1993).
Television was first broadcast to the public in London 1929 by the BBC network. In the US, commercial broadcasting began in 1939 as a domestic medium developed to provide programming for entertainment. Housing was democratized after the Second World War, and television made its domestic appearance as an essential part of that process.
Prior to the 1940’s, private housing was not capable of facilitating a television set. Houses lacked proper electricity, gas facilities and hygiene causing incentive to spend as much time out of the home as possible. ‘Domestication became the solution to urbanization, industrialization and population explosion in the nineteenth century’ (Geraghty & Lusted 1998). Creating an incentive for domesticity solved the uncontrolled working class problem. That incentive began with television. For TV to succeed, consumers had to be at home. To be at home, they needed both capital investment in the home to maintain activities there, as well as an ‘ideology of domesticity which would maintain their pleasures there rather