### That's how I felt today at the day-job: like an alien. One year ago this same place was buzzing with familiar sounds, a lot of those about the booming crypto-markets and the future of money, I felt right at home...
![night-television-.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmX4EyJ8cwTTbJZPAVZra5BDgcsqEFdtfi5YvuM2RgarCE/night-television-.jpg)
_{source: [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/night-television-tv-video-8158/)}
But today, and the past few moths really, I've not been able to strike a normal conversation with my colleagues other than work-talk. You see, my problem is with TV. Apparently the television is still king, right alongside queen Facebook. I don't watch television other than every other week on Sunday when there's Formula 1 or Moto GP races to watch, so I have nothing to contribute to all the talk about who won "The Voice", what's been going on in "Utopia", what happened in the last exciting episode of "Game of Thrones"... It's all alien to me. It's not that I think everything on TV is bad, I even plan on binge-watching Game of Thrones once the series has finished, and there's some Netflix marvel series I'll definitely will see some day, but I've given up on the medium since I noticed how it's being used as a control mechanism, and how much it has become a *business* as opposed to the *public service* it once was and should still be. I do watch movies still, and I recently saw one I've long been waiting for: [Incredibles 2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/). I don't want to spoil anything, but I'll say that the main villain (aptly named "The ScreenSlaver") controls his victims and enemies through the television screen; since I'm outside the TV-sphere, I've noticed how true this message is. There's incredible power in the ability to literally control "the talk of the day". Apparently our local soccer team (football is for Americans only, the rest of the world plays soccer ;-)) won their first match this season, which is great news of course...
_{On a positive note: Incredibles 2 is awesome!
Incredibles 2 Official Trailer}
Of course, but I missed it, like I always miss it. I don't know when the sports sections in both newspaper and television programming became as important as the actual news, but it's been in my lifetime. The mere fact that sports results are part of and inseparable from the news should tell you something. Rooting for the local sports team has become more important to people than keeping the democracy alive by voting every four years. I actually resent the fact that I feel stupid for not knowing anything about the latest celebrity marriage or the tragic death of some little girl that got hit by an out of control train. I'm happy for the celebs and I'm sad for the parents of the little girl, but should these topics dominate daily social conversations? Really? But they do. Every day. I think that's incredible, especially when we have the internet and we can all individually decide what we like to watch when we want to watch it. It's incredible and, for me, alienating. Sometimes I feel like shouting "Are You Not Entertained!!!?!", like Russel Crowe in [Gladiator](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/), whenever a group of people discuss among them that tragic death...
_{Gladiator Are You Not Entertained Russell Crowe}
The one positive thing about this is the fact that TV seems to bind people, it gives them something in common, which surely must be a good thing in these highly individualistic times. Unfortunately this isn't the case; the topics that people's attention is focused on are generally either insignificant or harmful to society. TV is a business, *culture* is a business, *Halloween* is a business, they've all been appropriated by the markets. The next commercial spending spree is always just around the corner: Christmas is almost upon us. Do you know why there are "laugh tracks" added to so many tv sitcoms? Have you ever seen one with the "canned laughter" removed?
_{The Big Bang Theory - No Laugh Track 1 (Avoiding the Shamy)}
At the end of this post I'll link another video about the history of canned laughter (and other audible audience reactions like cheering and booing), but the point is that television is increasingly becoming a substitute for real life and real emotions. I sit in front of a screen many hours a day, at work and at home, but I'm the one doing the programming. At least I like to think so even when I know I'm being steered by google's search algorithms; I can consciously choose to fight against that programming attempt by regularly clicking on opinions I don't agree with, and I often do. All I want to say is that today it really hit me how much society is controlled by popular media in general and television specifically. I really had some [Stepford Wifes](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073747/)-moments walking past vividly discussing colleagues as they spoke in a language I don't know. The topics discussed were unknown to me and the creatures discussing them might as well have come from another planet. When one of them congratulated me with the victory of the local soccer team I smiled back and secretly praised the speed with which the coffee-machine prepared my drink, so I could be on my way almost instantly. I'm glad I'm back among kindred souls here on steemit. I just got home and had to get this of my chest. Thank you, dear reader, for enduring this weird day with me :-)
_{How Do Laugh Tracks Work?}
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RE: My weekly HIVE progress & goals #88