"Why can't we go backwards, for once?"
"... Backwards. Really fast, fast as we can. Really put that pedal to the medal, you know?" James Halliday - Ready Player One.
I had a longing for old-school TV during COVID. Oh ... we struggled during those days and I saw, first hand, the effects of unlimited & unfettered access to YouTube with my own kids. As parents, we juggled our jobs, maintaining our own mental health, and keeping our kids busy & learning while schools were remote. All that struggle opened my eyes to a larger issue throughout the world, the issue of quality digital consumption - how to consume digital content in a healthy way.
As I left my biotech job during COVID, I searched for something meaningful to do. I was a trained computer science and neuroscientist, and I wanted to use those skills to give my kids ... all kids ... all families something useful.
That was the inspiration. FamTiVi is a nostalgic and principled, attempt to bring back balance like what we had as kids. I/we know this because those who are old enough lived through this period of technology and we know it was healthier!
Here are some things I wish for my kids:
Shared Experiences:
Prime time TV! The Super Bowl! Scheduled shows fostered a sense of occasion: families/friends actually watched shows or events (news, sports, premieres) at the same time, and over each other's houses. And the next morning at school or work ... “Hey, did you see last night’s episode of ... ??" And, of course, someone had to reply with a quote from a funny scene.
I loved that TV encouraged family co-viewing rather than individualized, isolated consumption that we have today.
Healthier Habits: We didn't really have binge watching back then unless there was a movie marathon or the like. When an episode ends, we had to wait until next week. We didn't have decision fatigue and algorithmic manipulation, we didn't have doom scroll or auto-play. The closest thing was channel surfing out of boredom. I totally wore out the buttons on that remote!
Everyone could watch: Over-the-air broadcast was good enough to cover 90% of the talked about TV shows back in the day. The major broadcasters were all on public TV, and the major prime time shows and cartoons were available to all! No account creation, passwords, or data tracking required to simply turn on the TV!
TV Schedules were thoughtfully curated: Each network had a team of pros working behind the scenes to curate balanced schedules (news, education, entertainment), to make sure each age group in the family had their own dedicated TV times: cartoons after school, news before and during dinner, prime-time TV, and late night TV. In the morning, you got news and maybe, sometimes some interesting cartoons before the bus came.
Cultural and Local Identity: Local TV stations existed and showcased regional stories, weather, and culture, reinforcing the community. You know what I'm talking about. There was always that one channel that was broadcast out of an old building and your friends mom or dad was the host of one of the shows.
Dollars and Data: Ads were simpler back then. Everyone you knew saw the same ads, and you could talk about them. Some ads were so funny and some just lame and boring. But the good ads stuck and it was fun to talk about them. There wasn't this idea of hidden data harvesting or targeted behavioral ads. Back then, we got free content on TV for lending our eyeballs to commercials. But there wasn't this exchange of personal info.
Psychological and Cognitive Benefits !!! :
Structured programming gave us a rhythm that was helpful for maintaining our routines and the shift of content over the course of the day would help to ensure that we didn't binge the whole day. As soon as golf or soap operas came on, I was outta there!
And commercial breaks offered natural stopping points, letting us go to the bathroom, grab a snack, and just get our eyes off the TV for a bit. Today, the seamless transitions just get us hooked non-stop.
In the next article, I want to devote some time to specifically cover the features of FamTiVi that we built to purposefully bring back more of this structure and blunt the dopamine hits that have huge effects on brains. We built this while making the viewing experience modern/timely by interfacing with YouTube. Additionally, I will cover how FamTiVi could provide cognitive, behavioral, mental, and learning benefits for your kids. Thank you!