Fa la la la Blue Ray

Did you know that a blue-ray disc player will bring your family together?
Did you also know that Guitar Hero will fix all of your families problems?


Yesterday, I saw three ads in a row for a blue-ray disc player and all of them with the same theme.
"Our family did not used to get along but now with the Blue Ray Home Theater System we are always together!"
"This family used to have nothing in common but with the Blue Ray Blah Blah Blah, they are now united!"

And the families really do look happy. Not "Leave it to Beaver" happy but chaotic, jumping on couches, dad spinning the little girl around, popcorn, pajama wearing happiness. And all because the Blue Ray has some mysterious and wonderful ingredient that the DVD player did not. With out the Blue Ray everyone would have stayed in their own little pods of individual mp3 players, PSP's and Text Pads. Let's unglue our eyes from our private little flashing adrenaline boosters and hinge ourselves to one big one. Let's be zombies as a family!

People have, for many years, gathered around a TV set. My grandparent's used to watch The Golden Girls with my youngest aunt on Saturday nights and it is a very fond memory for her. Saturday morning cartoons were some of the best times of my young life, hanging out with my brothers and sisters (and fighting with my brothers and sisters) before my parent's got up.
But that was back when there were, like, seven channels and only the hippest people had a VHS player. Now, it's different. What about when no one wants to watch the same movie? What about when the 24 hour cartoon network gets in the way of the Big Game? Ok, everyone gets their own Blue Ray and the family is separated again. I'm making my self sick with the amount of times I am saying Blue Ray.

Now for the famous line:
DON'T GET ME WRONG!
I have been abundantly grateful for technology especially since my daughter was born, and then again when my niece was born since we all live so far away from each other. I am so happy that I am able to instantly send pictures and videos of Ms. Foo to my family, that I am able to talk to my sister and see her new baby via video chat.
But a video game making everything all right?
More like covering things up.
Ingrid, (let's call her Ingrid) is my neighbor. Her husband's children from another marriage (who are teenagers now) do not have the best relationship with either of them. They used to stay away, always making excuses to not visit.
Then he bought a Wii. Guitar Hero to be exact. Now they are over all the time. Yay. The family is together.
But try taking them to the park. Try taking them to dinner. Try talking to them. It is very clear, they are only there for the video game. When the TV was broken, they did not come.

A lot of these commercials focus on the teenagers who don't want to hang out with their parents. If you buy this cool new electronic thing, they will come running. And this strikes chords all over the country because teenagers are adamant about one thing: they don't want to hang out with their parents.
So let's buy them back. This can get very expensive. Because soon they will get tired of the video game and want a new one. Or a new phone. Or Internet on their phone. And since you bought the first thing, if you don't buy the next thing its bye bye teenager and the only way to get them back is to give in.
And the electronics companies know this.
And the reason I know this? How do you think I have been able to notice the ridiculous amount of commercials about the same thing?
God help me, I am not immune!!!