The Island of Misfit Furniture

~ Laura

My sister has a beautiful Stickley entertainment unit. Fine oak. E.J. Audi label. She paid about $3,000 for it a few short years ago. And nobody wants it. 

She listed it on Craig's List for a few hundred dollars, and the only nibble was some weird, Nigerian-style, spammer.

It was built for a fat TV. It has wide shelves for vases and books. Nearly six feet high and wide, it was meant to be a statement piece. The trouble is that nobody wants to make that kind of statement anymore. Today, a TV is supposed to lie flat on a wall like a picture frame with a simple credenza underneath to hide the cable boxes and xBox remotes. 

Partially this change from the statement entertainment unit to the subtle TV has come from technology. They learned how to make a skinny TV. But I also think it has come from a change in how we watch TV. 

Television is no longer a family activity. With access to entertainment on our iPhones, iPads, computers, and other devices, we're consuming entertainment alone.

Growing up, Saturday morning cartoons involved intense political negotiations between my brother, sister and myself. Who got to the TV first helped to determine who was Master of the Channels. Height and weight also figured in. I could assume the role of Master of the Channels simply by sitting on my brother. Waking up my parents to intervene in these complex matters was simply not an option. Bringing in the parents was the atomic bomb of solutions, because there would be mutually assumed destruction. So, I suffered through Land of the Lost with my brother and he had to watch the Brady Bunch. 

Now, if someone doesn't like the offerings on TV, they can simply wander out of the room. Ian doesn't have to sit through Pawn Stars on the History Channel. He just goes to the computer and pulls up some super exciting You Tube videos of walkthroughs of his favorite video games. (Some walkthrough YouTube stars have huge followings and make a nice living at that.) Steve and I are watching old episodes of Downton Abbey on my iPad, which streams Netflix movies better than the TV. 

While I was never the fan of the entertainment center, my sister's misfit furniture makes me a little sad. I'm sad for that such a quality piece of furniture could end up in the trash. I'm also sad that TV watching is no longer a family activity. 

Published by Laura

11 thoughts on “The Island of Misfit Furniture”

  1. “I’m also sad that TV watching is no longer a family activity.”
    I think some kids then wound up watching more unsuitable programming than their counterparts would today, just because that’s what the grownups were watching. Likewise, some kids today are watching way more unsuitable stuff, because private screens make it easier to get away with it. That’s a bit confusing, but what I mean that viewing has probably bifurcated–some kids are much more managed and some kids are much less managed. For instance, we don’t watch TV news (or network or cable TV generally), and the kids need me to key in a code before they can access Netflix’s bounty via our Wii.

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  3. We got a cheap armoire ($75) off Craig’s List and put a padlock on it. Primitive! And it gets unlocked when homework is done. Effective!
    We are the vilest and least understanding parents for three miles around, the way…

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  6. My husband would not agree to one of the internet tv streaming devices. He worries about home wireless network security.

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  7. Another repurpose idea: aquarium where the TV went.
    But, I agree that the increasing isolation cause by technology isn’t ideal. It seems like every advancement solves a problem and creates a problem.

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  8. I remember being angry that my husband wouldn’t buy me a computer desk — and it turns out he held out for so long that the idea of having a particular piece of furniture just for using a computer is kind of passe. Didn’t realize TV cabinets were similarly out. Who knew?

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  9. We don’t allow any screens before 6 pm or before all homework is done or before the rooms are clean, which ever one is later. We have entire days when the TV doesn’t get switched on. Computer time is doled out in 10 minute increments. Everybody has to spend at least 30 minutes outside. I have three boys with ADHD. Those are survival strategies.
    Rules are relaxed for sickness like right now. Those are the times when I wish myself back to Lent last year, when we gave up all non-work screens. We should do that again.
    Oh, and when we watch, we watch together, mostly. Movie night is Friday night and everybody loves it. Maybe we are strange.

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  10. The narrow world of “parents with minor children” aside, my family (me, my husband, and my adult son) watches tv together all the time. We might watch something the TiVO recorded off cable, or stream a movie from Netflix, or play a game together on the Xbox.
    When my kids were under 12, they weren’t allowed any screen time without an adult in the room. I might sit in a corner to read, or clean, or pay bills, or if I were cooking they watched tv in the kitchen with me, but I was available to answer questions and give hugs if something upset them, or to distract them to something else.

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  11. We watch TV as a family all the time. In fact, I think the age of DVRs has made us more likely to watch as a family. We sit down, watch a pre-recorded show together, and turn off the TV.

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