Shall we bring knobs back?

Question

I should like to abolish that silly little thing called the remote. It has bred a generation of couch potatoes and encourages sheer laziness. What is so awful about getting up from the couch and turning a knob? This is what we used to do and it worked fine: no more tedious menus and sub-menus or losing the stupid remote down the back of the chair, or wherever and one could easily switch the damned TV, or whatever off, thus saving energy. I cannot buy any decent piece of consumer electronics with knobs on. Bring back the knob, I say. I like a good knob that you can get hold of.

sensible man: yes, I have satellite TV and there are over 600 channels. I only watch about 8. I have a CD player which actually has a knob(!) which allows one to switch tracks instantly; forward or back. It came with a remote; but I took out the battery and shoved it in a drawer.

Answer 1

Let's think back to the years of the knob. Three major tv stations plus a few local stations, depending on where you lived. Then cable came into the picture; you could still only get 13 channels max, since that was the design of most tv's, and those were chosen for you by the cable service. Now you have the choice of hundreds of channels to entertain and inform. Imagine a knob that has 300 channels
The knob gave way to the wired remote, remember those, which was surpassed by the wireless remote.
The remote doesn't "encourage sheer laziness", it is an advacement of technology. Think back to when there were knobs on the tv; who changed the channel? The kids - the parents still sat in the chair and had the kids get up and change the channel. So we had couch potatoes long before there were remotes. In fact it was that laziness the tv networks counted on. The ratings in that time showed that alot of people wouldn't get up to change the channel every 30 minutes so the shows following the popular shows were high, even though they had no real following by the puplic, other than it was on after their favorite show.
I remember the knobs, I also remember the knobs were the weakest part of the unit. There were many a tv in our house that the knobs were broken or missing. Remember the pair of pliers that sat on the tv so you could change the channel since the knob was broken.
The knob is a limited device. Older microwaves that had knobs were only able to heat for an amount of time, the knob set the time. Now we have microwaves that can be programmed for specific functions; defrost, power levels, programmed times.
No, the knobs shouldn't be brought back. They are part of history along with the 8 track tape and tv's with tubes.

Answer 2

Since I have had motherboards go kaput on digital appliances, I say knobs for appliances, too! Notice that appliances before the age of digital lasted longer? Washers and Dryers with knobs had a 15-20 year life span and now you are lucky to have them for 7-10! I had a dishwasher in the 70's with knobs that is still in that house, working, and has never been serviced. My sister just replaced a double oven with knobs from the 80's that finally bit the dust. Getting off your butt to turn the knobs was good exercise, too. We had no problem with obesity and look how skinny everyone was in the 70-80's! Knobs turned the world on back then..

Answer 3

It's obvious you do not have satelite TV. Ever try to go from channel 229 to 325 with a knob? I have a strange situation with a TV that was given to me. I can change channels with the remote but not turn it on/off or control the volume with it. The commercials that blast out really bother me so I have to jump up, lower the volume, wait for the commercial to end and then reset the sound. If people were not sitting on their duffs watching TV all the time, while their kids were playing video games, it wouldn't make a difference.

Answer 4

Remote all the way

Answer 5

Only when you pry my remote from my cold dead hands