Even if you don't get cable TV -- and no judgment if you don't! -- you won't likely be negatively affected by the upcoming digital TV conversion. Why not? Because you're at least minimally tech savvy (you're reading a website, so I'm just assuming ...) and you're television is probably from this millennium.
But know who will be affected? Your grandma, her friends, maybe that old guy who lives one floor down. Anybody who is not familiar with software menus and a little tech talk. Because no matter what those public service announcements say, converting to digital is NOT that simple.
Just plug and go, right? No. Not at all. You plug and then go ... to a menu of options with lots of different terms like "analog" and "digital" and "scanning for channels" and "do you want to quit" and then a bunch of other stuff even you don't know the function of. To even get to the menu of options that I am invisioning many seniors won't understand anyway, you have to know where to find a menu. Also, they'll need to use a remote for the digital box, not the familiar one that came with their now ancient TV.
Everything you hear about the problems with the conversion focus on the $40 coupons now no longer available to offset the cost of the digital box. What doesn't get mentioned are this middle steps, which won't be intuitive to many of the folks affected.
So why am I writing about this on a parenting website? Because grandparents and that old guy are/were/might be parents too. And anyway, we're the sandwich generation -- we take care of kids AND adults. So you need to check and make sure the aging adults you know are all set to go. You need to walk them through it over the phone or spend some very frustrating minutes over at their house, in front of that dinosaur in a wooden cabinet, getting them all set up.
Also, even with the digital box, if they were using an antenna before, they'll need it now more than ever. A lot of the digital signals are in need of boosting, which will cost money and isn't likely to happen. So expect some channels to no longer come in.
Congress has really downplayed this and I think made a mistake by not delaying the conversion. Sure, a lot of people will just bail and get cable. But in this economy, some people can't or won't.
The only thing sadder than an old person who sits around watching TV all day is an old person watching a blank screen all day.
There, I said my piece. Now go do your thing!
Photo: NYTimes.com
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