My father was very obsessed with TV shows when he was young so I ask him about the memories of the television watching in his childhood.
In the past, television is very luxury, but my father is not born in a rich family, they do get one. My grandfather owns a convenience store near their home. When the television is a hit, they decided to buy one and put it into the store. My grandfather believed the television can boot the salary so they put the television in a very eye-catching position. My father loved it, being a kid will not care about the salary, he just cares about the show, the entertainment and spends the time with family/friends in the store. He mentioned that after the store has a television, his family spend much more time together in the store, they watch and laugh the show together.
Although it is black and white television, it is still such an amazing thing when his first see a person “inside” the TV. It really blows his mind, he was very excited about it and told all his schoolmates on the next day. He also leads a brunch of his friends to the convenience store for showing them the “television”, watching TV show became a daily activity of his family. After they have a television, they seldom eat dinner at home, they eat inside the convenience store since they do not want to skip the entertainment show, so my grandmother will prepare the food at home and bring it to the store, the whole family will just get around to eat dinner while watching the show. Sometime, the neighbour may join the dinner so as to watch the show together. They really improve or enhance the relationship because of the television, they spend more time together, they have the common topic to discuss which is all about the show.
Television watching is a part of their life, it also became a culture and childhood memories to them.
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