Monday, March 25, 2019
Contradictory requirements
Vintage Everyday has pics of people watching TV in the '50s.
All the kids are sitting on the floor, either Injun-style or sprawled in various uncomfortable poses. Nobody is sitting in chairs. This is a typical pattern. I always sprawled uncomfortably on the floor to watch TV.
Why?
Because of a peculiar OFFICIAL REQUIREMENT that everyone knew and obeyed in the '50s. The TV was in fact the focal point of the living room, but the TV was NOT SUPPOSED TO BE the focal point. The chairs were arranged for "adult conversation", focused anywhere EXCEPT the TV.
Our 1950s living room looked like this. If you wanted to watch TV, you had to sit on the floor.
Another OFFICIAL REQUIREMENT contradicted the first one. "Expert" "eye" "doctors" officially advised us that watching TV from below was a terrible strain on the eyes. You must look DOWN toward the TV if you want to escape blindness. Nevertheless, we all sat on the floor and we all ended up blind. The experts said it, so it must be true.
[I'm in floor plan mode this week for some reason.]
¶ 6:22 AM 
Our 1950s living room looked like this. If you wanted to watch TV, you had to sit on the floor.
Another OFFICIAL REQUIREMENT contradicted the first one. "Expert" "eye" "doctors" officially advised us that watching TV from below was a terrible strain on the eyes. You must look DOWN toward the TV if you want to escape blindness. Nevertheless, we all sat on the floor and we all ended up blind. The experts said it, so it must be true.
[I'm in floor plan mode this week for some reason.]
¶ 6:22 AM
