Current location:	Not at work, for a change
Current mood:	guilty
Current music:	James Taylor, "That's Why I'm Here"
Entry tags:	natter

Debt
Does anyone here have access to a TiVo (or possibly any other DVR, if they all work the same way)?

Y'see, you can tell TiVo to record lots of shows for you. And it will. And the next thing you know, you hit the little button and you've got 16 screens full of stuff that you do actually like, really, but just haven't had time to watch yet.

And all of a sudden watching these shows -- that you do actually like, remember -- becomes a sort of chore. You feel obligated to watch them, and soon, because if they sit there long enough TiVo will have to delete them to make room to record more recent shows.

And then, when you do finally set aside some time to watch some of them, and you can delete them yourself and free up some space, you feel a sense of accomplishment. That's right. Accomplishment.

From watching a television show.

A friend of mine calls this phenomenon "paying TiVo debt." As if every time your TiVo records something for you, you have made an implied promise to watch it, and you "owe" the TiVo an obligation to fulfill that promise.

You may be wondering why I'm bringing up this particular topic. You may also be wondering where the hell I've been for the past few months. The connection will be left as an exercise to the discerning reader. (If I still have any readers, that is.)

The short version: From now on, if when I get behind in my LJ reading, I hereby resolve not to go into Hibernation Mode, afraid even to log in for fear of feeling obliged to tackle the twenty+ pages of friends' posts that have accumulated since I last had time to read them.

Hi.