I don’t care about 3-D televisions.
There, I said it.I’m at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today and I had to get it out. I keep hopping from conversation to conversation about the damn things and I’m yet to verbalize it. I’m not sure I can. Everyone else here seems to think they’re a big deal. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen "Avatar" yet (another thing I’m not admitting here because—well, because then I’d get my nerd card revoked and I’m pretty sure it’s keeping me employed, and maybe even married). Maybe it’s because my fashion sense won’t accept colored glasses as an accessory, even around the house. Or maybe it’s just cuz real life is in 3-D and I might walk into the wall it’d be mounted on in my home. And you know what else? It doesn’t matter why I hate them. I just do. Turns out people are irrational. That sounds like blasphemy at CES, a celebration of human achievement in engineering. But it doesn’t matter how well applied your technical and scientific knowledge is. In the end, some guy can just say “I hate it” and not buy it. And when enough guys say it, the technology can be a bust, even if it shouldn’t be. I bet whoever invented Betamax is still coming to grips with that inconvenient truth. People make irrational choices. They buy things they don’t want. They do the same thing over and over but expect different results. They hit on hard 17 when the dealer’s showing a three (I’m looking at you, Hawaiian Shirt Guy, at The Palms). Sometimes, even at 31, they drink a little too much in Vegas and wake up early still a little bit drunk and lock themselves in the hallway getting a paper they weren’t going to read anyway wearing only their boxers only to deny it when their neighbor walks by and asks “are you locked out” even when they really could’ve used the help. Or something. Being irrational is kinda cool. It’s empowering. It’s also why I know I’m gonna have one of those damn TV’s in my house by year’s end. ------------------------------------------ About the author: Saneel Radia is an ad guy. He loves his wife, his cat, anything from Japan, and pretending not to care about things he actually, vigorously does. He tweets here.
