Why DO we have a TV remote control?

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Why? Why can't we just walk up to the TV and change the channel manually?

Because we're too lazy.

I wish I had a remote control for all my kitchen appliances and a built-in toilet for my computer chair.

But why? What benefits can come from being lazy?

Because we increase the density of the TV experience by watching several programs at once.

You have to expend less energy, thus saving more for extra TV watching.

Living in an upstairs apartment it is nice not to drive the person downstairs nuts by getting up every thrity seconds or so.

This is of course the best reason.

after a long day of work its just nice to kick back and relax instead of running back and forth like a twit.

What's the point in getting up and walking across the room and back whenever you want to change the channel or volume, when you can do it from where you're sat?

You can. But why would you? You won't get any real exercise. You'll just stand (or crouch) in front of the TV toggling through dozens of stations trying toget to the one you want. Why wouldn't you just type the number of your desired station into the remote keypad? You don't get exercise. It would just be pointless.

If you are watching TV you have already committed to laziness while watching (unless you are on an exercise bike or treadmill while you watch). Standing in front of the TV while you click through its many stations manually isn't exercise.

Because the fun was taken out of television viewing. As TV sets lost their character, convenience became the sign of the times.

There are hundreds of channels. I don't want to stand there hitting the "channel up/down" buttons repeatedly hundreds of times to switch programs. There's a button on the remote that takes me to a TV Guide. There's a button that allows me to select and watch hundreds of movies whenever I want, for a small charge. There's a mute button if the phone rings.

But if you only have around 13 channels and no other features, there'd be no real reason to have a remote.

Remote is just for adjusting the volume.

Get a DVR. Tell it which shows you like and let it record stuff for ya. Then watch off the DVR. I could never again go back to live TV. The incessant condescending commercials upset me in ways I can't express here because I don't want to post that many profanities.

I never watch live TV either. But with a DVR you can easily wind up using the remote even more....you have to fast forward through the commercials. And you have to pause when various things interrupt (like the phone or a bathroom break). Technically I suppose I could forego the remote and crouch in front of the DVR box but I think my knees would blow out from that.