2011 Predictions: You'll Rethink the Living Room (Web + TV is Finally Here)

It's not "all about the living room". He's got this exactly back-to-front. The living room existed as a shared space because the facilities it provided were either too expensive to provide in more than one place, too inconvenient to do so, or just plain impossible.

Now that we can have watchable screens for a fraction of the price of even a decade ago in every room (often multiple use - I can't remember the last time I watched the actual television but I use a PC monitor to watch something almost every day), why have a single designated room for television watching? Now that we can watch our choice on demand, why be tied to a broadcast schedule or even be tied to the preferences of others? I can put things I want to watch onto mobile devices and watch them when I'm constrained in place, such as travelling to or from work or social engagements. I can choose what to listen to, what to watch, what to read, when and where I want. The idea of going to a single designated room and reaching a consensus with other people on what to do there is by no means objectionable - it's just no longer necessary to always make that compromise. The living room has expanded to every room in the house and beyond.