YouTube and Me. Part 2: Self-Curated Content; what does that mean to me?

The first experience I remember with television: Spring and summer, 1953, happenings in the British Royal Family such as the death of Queen Mary and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. I clearly remember news coverage of those events on our own TV set. I was 5 1/2 then. Before that, I remember weekly news and feature magazines like Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post. We were Post subscribers.

Ours was a family that mainly watched news programs and some evening shows my parents liked. Groucho Marx, Burns and Allen etc. You had only to choose from what was offered (it wasn't much and it was in black & white), but people liked it. My Father of the one who liked TV, Mom: not so much (so no Soap Operas or game shows).  Kids? We played outside.

Our family experienced a "TV drought" in 1959-60 when we lived in West Germany. No American TV: we listened to the radio--literally, old American radio shows like Amos and Andy. We woke up to The Breakfast Club from Cedar Rapids, IA!  Sometimes you could listen to the Russians trying to "jam" the broadcasts of Voice of America and Radio Liberty! Of course, there were music shows--from classical to brand new American Rock and Roll on Armed Forces Network.

Popular American movies were available on our base; saw most of them. Again, in college, I saw every $1 feature film shown on campus; and well into the 1970's. Maybe because I was young then, but movies today are so poorly made, it makes me sad. Why bother?

On our return to the States in 1961, I probably binged on TV for the next 5 years, through high school. But a sudden, mindful change was about to happen: when I went away to school, I vowed to myself that I would "live my own life, not let TV and popular movies live for me."  (That's what Books are for!) I never went to the TV lounge at the dorms.  That was 1966-thru the present, mainly.

It seems that "more options" became available beginning in the 1980's with video recorders, players and content available for loan or rent. Seems like yesterday.   Cable TV? the novelty came and went for me. I don't enjoy being "trapped" in other peoples' media selections; watching some packaged program.

Mostly, if you've seen this Blog, you know, I read Books. You can pick up the book and put down. If you like the content, you can finish the book. If not: put it down and donate the book.  Find another Book, read it, organize my thoughts and enter it into the record (Blog).  Self-crated content.