Is the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) a useful technological tool or does it feed bad habits?  I remember when I got my first DVR in 2001, it was a Panasonic Showstopper DVR.  I felt the TV viewing universe had changed forever.  And it did.  I now had the ability to record or pause a show and watch it later.  My first DVR could only record one show at a time, so I essentially was not consuming more TV than before, just on my schedule.

Fast forward almost 10 years and DVR’s are fairly common in today’s households.  You can buy standalone units like Tivo and you can rent them from your cable and satellite providers for an additional fee.  Today’s DVR’s are more advanced and allow you to record two or more shows at once.

Even though there is generally nothing on at the time I want to watch, I could build my own playlist of shows and watch on my schedule.  The ability to record a ton and watch later presents and interesting dilemma.  TV really is not good.  It is a form of entertainment.  DVR’s allow you to build a library of entertainment larger than you can watch.  Google reports the average American watches 5 hours of TV a day.  I do not, but I can see how that is possible.  Okay, maybe I watch that much during football season.

I’ve listed a few of the good and bad things about DVR’s

Good:

  • Allows you to time shift.  Watch when you want, not on braodcasters schedule.
  • Time saving.  When you watch an hour show is about 42 minutes instead of 1 hour.  More efficient.
  • Reduces exposure to advertising. Skip commercials to avoid being marketed to and materialism

Bad:

  • Could encourage more TV watching.  Lots of TV shows recorded
  • Source of stress.  I’ve heard some people state they need to catch up on TV or they need to “clean off the DVR”
  • TV becomes a space filler since it is always ready to be watched.

Here are a few ways we deal with excessive TV viewing in my house:

  • I watch an hour show when I run on the treadmill.  I’ll look forward to watching a show, but need to be exercising which is a good habit.
  • If we record a new show and have not watched one after 4 episodes are recorded, we delete it.
  • We’ve used the 30 second skip feature on DVR’s to teach our kids what advertising is and that watching commercials makes you feel like you need something. Need vs. want.

Summary

DVR’s can be used to make more effecient use of your TV viewing since commercials can be skipped.  Close attention should be paid to the amount of TV watched.  Just because you can watch more TV does not mean that you should.  The verdict: good, if used properly.