This has been getting a lot of press, and for good reason. The TV-B-Gone is a neat little key-fob gadget that can turn off most televisions. I love the idea. It seems like everytime I go out to eat there’s a television set somewhere in sight, so it ends up my companion and I spend dinner looking over each other’s shoulder at the TV. I have a strange affliction when it comes to moving images: I cannot fall asleep during even the most hideously boring movies, and I cannot take my eyes off of a television set, no matter what’s on, so I find myself trying to find a seat that doesn’t afford a view of an idiot box. With the TV-B-Gone, people have a choice. Of course, it won’t be long before public places simply put a piece of paper or something over the infrared receiver on the TV, but for now, for $15, you can have the power to decide for yourself and everyone else in the bar, airport, or hospital to have some peace and quiet.
This really speaks to power over the media environment. The NYTimes article quotes an advertising exec (who else, right?): “It’s pretty selfish for this one guy to take it on himself to make this decision for groups of people in public.” But the “public” has had television sets forced on them by restaurant and bar owners and others, often for the benefit of a minority of customers. Now if we could only come up with something that could turn off elevator music, loud booming stereos in nearby cars, and cellular phones into which the user is yelling too loudly, we’ll be all set.
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