The Ofcom Communications Market Report 2008 has attracted much reporting and commentary. Guardian communications editor Richard Wray does a good of summarising it (How we watch now: tune in, log on, call up, Richard Wray, Guardian, August 14 2008). His interesting note that "the taste of 16- to 24-year-olds is remarkably similar to that of those over 65" is supported by some good information graphics – unusually good for the online version of a newspaper. However, the piece is overly focused on energy consumption issues, and its use of pejorative language such as 'gobble' is not appropriate in a journalistic piece:
The average satellite set-top box gobbles up four and a half times the power of a flatscreen LCD television
This kind of language is typically used by journalists in the context of ordinary people doing ordinary things – 'gas guzzling' car drivers chasing down 'rat runs', obesity 'epidemics', shopping 'addiction' – and tells us a lot more about the journalist than about the real world.
This focus on switching off devices is a bizarre modern development, and says a lot about our lack of visions of a 'digital' future. (In the same Guardian issue Victor Keegan suggests broadband could be 'Gordon Brown's Big Idea' [BBC iPlayer success points to the future, Victor Keegan, Guardian, August 14 2008].)
The reason people would switch off an old style television or radio was as much because of the disturbance these devices create as the need to save energy. A set-top box, PVR or broadband router doesn't disturb one when it is on. And a key reason people have adopted broadband is that is is always on, avoiding the latency characteristic of dialup modems. To switch off a broadband router would be a step backward in this respect. And as we adopt more devices that use the broadband connection in the background – for instance a PVR updating its programme guide – we will need always on connections even more.
Likewise, people partly purchase PVRs to enable them to record programmes without having to think about when they are transmitted, or re-transmitted. To turn them off, along with the associated Freeview or satellite box, would undermine this feature.
More generally, to have scrabble around to switch on devices every time they are to be used, and then wait for them to start up, is a huge waste of people's time and energy – a much more valuable asset than power. (In addition, many devices don't have on/off switches. In our household this includes the flat screen TV, Freeview box, Apple TV and TiVo – almost every device. In addition, continually powering off/up devices will tend to shorten their life, and is more likely to lead to other failures, for instance losing network connections.)
Rather than putting the onus to save energy on ordinary people who already have complex and busy lives, we should be pushing the development of smarter devices that save energy without compromising functionality or ease of use. We should also be focusing on more efficient generation and distribution of energy at a societal level, along with the development of new energy sources. However, our vision of our 'energy' future is as thin as that of our 'digital' future.
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