I went to the Dentist earlier. As I reclined – courtesy of the mechanical chair – I became aware of a TV glowing at me from above. An episode of Friends panned slowly into view like a docking spaceship. As the chair’s whirring came to a close, the dentist adjusted the light and his assistant turned the volume up so I could hear Joey and Rachel properly.
A few things struck me:
1. It was quite smart to have a TV to distract patients (especially children)
2. Why – oh God why – did it have to be Friends?
3. Of course it had to be Friends: it’s inoffensive (questionably) and populist
4. This tension between the thoughtfulness of providing entertainment and the frustration that it was the one TV show it’s impossible to get away from was a strange experience; like being comforted after an accident by being fed the vegetables you hated as a child
5. TVs are bloody everywhere
6. The volume is being adjusted in unison with the light’s repositioning, reinforcing the feeling that both are playing an equal role in my dental experience
7. It’s a bit lazy isn’t it: using a TV – screening Friends no less – to hypnotise people into a docile state (much how parents sometimes use TVs as babysitters)
8. I thought we had quite a nice, adult, conversation – why didn’t they say: “You clearly don’t need this on, Sir, I’ll get you a copy of the Economist”?
9. C’mon Joey, you love her! Ross will understand!!
