The TV People

[AlecWest]

Talking among friends, I was reminded of a science fiction short story I'd read years ago called "The TV People." The story envisioned a future when men and women were forced to work long hours to maintain their lifestyles. At the same time, these long hours deprived children of the one thing they'd had before ... namely, role models. Forced to spend more hours in front of the TV screen due to parental absenteeism, children began to emulate and aspire to the ideals set forth by their favorite TV show characters ... ideals which tend to work well in Hollywood but are generally unattainable and unrealistic in the real world. In short, the way things were, an entire generation was becoming neurotic ... attempting to live up to the high standards set by their favorite (and generally "perfect") fictional characters.

Nowadays, with two-income families tending to be the norm, I'm wondering if this prophetic short story is starting to come to pass. Did you (or do your children) appear to be glomming onto the characteristics of their favorite TV (or film) characters?

[CuCuy]

I grew up with both parents absent most of the time and did a lot of TV watching. I'm neurotic for entirely different reasons, though. :P

[lordsmurf]

Come to pass.

[smearbrick1]

I grew up watching TV with somewhat absentee parents and I turned out fine.

Now where did I put that piano wire and hatchet?

[offline]

This reminds me of a short SCi FI film I saw years
ago. Set in the near future, you had to show an
id card to get your ration of food. One man loses his
and has to go through so much red tape to get a
new one that in the end you see him in the ration queue
with a new card, but minus an arm. He was forced
to eat his arm to survive (or perhaps he chewed
it off in frustration.)

Whatever!

Ring any bells?