In reference to my post yesterday, I'll explain why I reference the television as a Boob Tube. Back in my formative years this is was a common reference &
the long answers is this... (Yes I have plenty of time in my hands now 😂)
When television became the trendy new invention for news and entertainment in the mid-20th century, some people started calling it the tube. That nickname soon spawned an even catchier one: the Boob Tube.
That phrase probably stemmed from the process by which televisions exhibited images. Inside each bulky, antennae-topped box was a cathode-ray tube, which funneled electrons straight to the glass screen. Magnetic coils directed the electron beam into patterns of images, illuminated by a layer of phosphor on the back of the screen. Thus, the device was known by the main mechanical element that brought it to life.
Thrilling though it was, television became a criticism.
As its popularity skyrocketed in the 1950s and 1960s, TV networks began stuffing broadcast schedules with product advertisements and programs aimed at earning the highest ratings.
Some people started considering television a guilty pleasure capable of corrupting young minds and corroding society.
In fact in a 1961 speech at a conference for the National Association of Broadcasters, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton Minow encouraged his audience to spend an entire day watching TV so they could witness what a “vast wasteland” it had become.
He said: “You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons,” Minow said. “And endlessly, commercials—many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you’ll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few.”
Boy IMO He Got That Right!
So the feeling that TV was a mindless activity for the mindless masses was captured in its cheeky new nickname , the boob tube.
Yes... Boob, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, then commonly referred to “a stupid, inept, or blundering person; a fool.” In other words, boobs were happy to sit in front of the TV set and fill their brains with a ceaseless procession of low-brow content.
Yet some people will defend the device, praising its ability to educate and engage viewers.
Now the 21st century has ushered in new kinds of TVs—like plasma and LED screens that does not include cathode-ray tubes, and most people have stopped using boob to describe fools quite so often. But while the phrase boob tube has fallen out of fashion in recent decades, (except for me 🤣) blaming new technology for societal ills is still a popular practice.
So Yes, "Here I sit with Time On My Hands... in front of the Boob Tube!"
Nana
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