No Sweat, Mr. Id

It's rare for Mr. Id to try distracting himself with TV. But when the battery on his I-pod flaked recently during a workout at the gym, the crank succumbed. It took just one commercial - with Mark Wahlberg shilling for ATT - before Mr. Id shut off the tube. But that was enough to set off the coot on a toot.

What was ATT Wahlberg promoting? More underwear, you say? No, a TV in every room + and another on your phone for just $25.00 per month!! Now here's something our modern world needs, every home turned into a sports bar. Although Wahlberg has done some good film work, on the basis of this pernicious ad alone, Mr. Id has decided to boycott Markie-Mark. No doubt, Mr. Id's decision will have far reaching impact on Wahlberg's significant bank balance. But the meaninglessness of Mr. Id's gesture aside, is anyone besides the crusty curmudgeon just a tiny bit triggered by this latest crassly commercial attempt at further shortening the ever-dwindling attention span of the human race?

Philosopher William James is often credited with the notion that we are each capable of developing a new habit if we commit to practice the discipline for twenty eight days without fail. Mr. Id's own life has several successful examples that demonstrate how this twenty eight day formula works to help  establish mundane as well as transformative new habits. But how can what James posited in the early 20th century appeal to people as saturated by TV as we are in the early 21st? The crab behind the curtain has started wondering if twenty eight hours will soon be all that people can manage in the Twitter era if they want to establish a new habit. And don't you shudder when imagining the rant another twenty eight minutes of TV watching would have induced in Mr. Id? What a grouch.