A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
The static on old CRT TVs with rabbit ears was the cosmic microwave background. No one in the last 25 years has ever seen it.
They haven't?
I have a TV from ~2010 that still gives me static when something isn't connected.
Our cable provider (my parents like cable TV) had analog channels even like 2 years ago, but they started encrypting everything which required purging the analog selection.
This sucks. At worst analog would be grainy, digital just keeps cutting out in worse conditions.
I wish there was also still analog OTA TV for this reason. Much easier to pick up usable signal.
People born after 2000 can see it on their phones, much more clearly:
I was born after 2000 (though not too long after) and this is actually one of my core memories. I think about the sounds of the static and the sound of the CRT turning off all the time.
Also, we had a really old tv in our basement till at least 2008 that had no remote, just knobs and I remember messsing with the “hue” dial all the time trying to figure out how it worked.
The only reason that tv worked so late is that we had a black box connected to the antenna which I later learned was converting the digital signal to analog for the TV.
Also, you’ve just reminded me that I remember the switch from analog to digital. Specifically, I remember watching Elmo talking with some adult on TV about the change. Now I really want to find that video. I think the guy was wearing a suit had short dark hair and glasses. I also think the background was pinkish purple. I want to know how accurate my memories from so long ago are. (I’ll add the link to the video in an edit if I can find it)
Edit: I cannot find the video :(
Opening line of Neuromancer doesn't make much sense any more "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
I was born in the 90s, my brothers were born in the early 2000s. We had a CRT into the early 2010s . Maybe people who weren't poor haven't seen real TV static but even then I doubt it. Hell, remember those god awful "flat screen" CRTs? My old station still had one of those that we used to watch TV on in 2018-19. It's probably still there lol
I actually liked the flat screen crts. I have a 1080p flatscreen crt and I love it. Can’t use it though because I’m scared my kids will get crushed by it.
When I was growing up the cat used to interact with the TV. It was on the floor for a while so it was fun.
Yep, my family had a CRT that we used until sometime around 2015.
DAE remember that movie White Noise? The climax was fucking horrifying and I have to admit that it haunted me for quite a while.
For better or worse, kids today probably won't get it.
You can still hear it on the radio. Although most of the noise floor is probably man made.
Many likely haven't seen a channel sign off for the night with a test pattern up til they come back on
Also, a lot of kids don't have the slightest idea of what the "save" icon in their apps represents. They just know it's the save icon because it's everywhere
You mean the attack of the ants?
My mother had one of these. I got to use it as a hand-me-down as a teenager because my mother was abusive AF.
For clarity, the subject of the TV wasn't the abusive part. Her rationale of "I didn't have one when I was a kid so you don't get to have one while you're a kid" was. It didn't apply just to the TV.
Same lol. Only 3 channels until I was 12 or so and no internet in the house until I was 15 or 16.
I have an old mini tv(the kind that took C cell batteries) that can still pickup the good ol CMB!
or a new smaller tv sitting on top of the old, wood frame tv as a stand now
I have seen this on a much newer TV last year. It didnt just disappear