In the age of technology it seems as though almost everything is created ready to travel. We have airplanes that can fly across the country in a matter of hours, laptop computers which slide under the seats of those airplanes for handy extraction when the own is looking for a way to pass the time while they are airborne and cellular phones which slip handily into a pocket to allow those travelers to call loved ones upon their return or to dial for help when their car ride home does not go exactly as planned.
All of these innovations seem to make sense, but now the quest to make technology travel has reached new heights. Suddenly, people are able to watch television in their car. Not just regular television, beamed off of a satellite from somewhere out in outer space, either, but DVDs. New movies, old movies, classics and children’s movies, movies of all shapes and sizes, with every character under the sun.
Why? Could it be that science has finally flipped their lid and created an invention that is guaranteed to raise the highway death toll exponentially until it is banned by some state legislature or another, with federal laws to follow? What would make a perfectly sane person decide that they need a DVD player in their vehicle while they are driving?
The answer is simple .These portable menaces are not intended for the comfort and convenience of the driver (really, is anything portable and good in life?) but for the entertainment of the passenger, who must sit quietly in their seat throughout the course of their journey, wherever the journey may take them. It is intended as a way to pass those long, lonely hours on the highway, while the only other occupant of the car is forced to keep their eyes and their minds on what is happening ahead for them rather than what is happening beside or behind.
They are also for the children, without whom would spend an eternity every ride watching license plates and highway signs flash by as they search for letters and numbers and desperately attempt to alleviate the boredom that only sitting in a vehicle for hours on end can bring. They help to prevent the inevitable, the question dreaded by parents and non-parents alike: “Are we there yet?”
Truly, if considered in their truest form, car DVD players have probably saved far more lives than they have taken, allowing drivers to drive without the distracting prattle of their fellow occupants and parents to enjoy their journey without the constant aggravation that will eventually lead to a rising blood pressure and furious lashing out of temper, possibly leading to an accident as the driver is forced to pay attention to their bored youngster rather than the road in front of them.
So, to answer the question of why anyone would want to place a DVD player in their car, another question must be asked; why wouldn’t they?