Life After Analog

TV is now all digital. No more snowy channels, no more rabbit-ear antennas. So what does this mean for the consuming public? Slate writer, Farhad Manjoon explores the technological advances in how Digital TV translates into broader internet- bandwidth (and faster internet connectivity). Paul Saffo, futurist and writer, interviewed on NPR about white noise, offers a look back at a cultural phenomenon and the emotional connections people have to technological limitations.

Sherry Turkle's Inner History of Devices features a deeply felt essay by Orit Kuritsky-Fox about television's role in social cohesion and religious identity. But what strikes the reader in this essay is the collision between religious observance and social construction of technology. Kuritsky-Fox's grandmother loved watching television,but the religious community she lived in didn't support the idea of television. 

"As I was waiting at the cemetery, the receptionist approached me and asked what I was looking for. I told him I was there for my grandmother's funeral. He stared at me in dismay. [...] 'Are you religious?" he asked, and I started to mumble. Then, he found a way to cut to the chase: 'Do you own a television?' I hesitated a second and then told him the truth."

Will digital television change they way we watch television or the way we participate in the cultural exchange of ideas? How does the "improved" platform affect the experience?