More Screens, More Technology

I love technology and could not end the year without a little more tech news…

From npr

Here’s one thing that has stayed the same over the past decade: Americans love screens. There are many, many more screens in our lives now than there were 10 years ago: Nintendo DS, iPhone, Garmin GPS navigator. However, the screen that is most pervasive is the regular old TV.

According to Nielsen, we are watching 20 percent more of it than we were in 1999, and American households now have more TV sets than people.

What we watch on TV, though, is very different than it was 10 years ago.

In 1999, television’s top show was the NBC scripted drama E.R. There were no reality shows in the Top 20. Now, the No.1-ranked American Idol is just 1 of 5 reality shows in the Top 20.

All 20 of the highest-rated shows are still shown on the big broadcast networks, but this was also the decade that saw the rise of cable TV. The vast majority of American homes — 90 percent of them — subscribe to cable or satellite now, which means almost all viewers have access to thousands more shows than they did 10 years ago.

With hits like The Daily Show, The Sopranos and ESPN’s Monday Night Football, cable is beginning to give the broadcast networks a run for their money in the ratings. Just recently, the eccentric detective show Monk on cable’s USA Network easily beat out its time-slot rivals on the broadcast channels.