Space cadets.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES wrap up

I WAS IN THE SUPERMARKET THE OTHER DAY AND ran into a friend who had her 2-year-old in her shopping cart. Only this wasn't just a shopping cart, but rather a newfangled one, shaped like some kind of race car that was equipped with an in-car entertainment system. The kid was in there watching television from a menu of preselected children's programming. The mom controls the viewing from an additional television screen on the top and back of the kiddie car.

I get the whole notion of having something to occupy the little ones during boring adult stuff. I have used in-car entertainment systems in a vehicle for movies and kid's shows on long drives. But is there no escape?

Even when I was little, television was emerging as something like opium for children. My mother would complain that we watched too much television, of course, but she also used it to occupy us so she could make dinner or do laundry or simply have a few moments to herself. It was limited, however, to our living room, not ubiquitous.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

And it's not only children. Just recently the 7-Eleven where I often get coffee in the morning installed a television above the coffee bar, presumably so I wouldn't miss any of the exciting entertainment news, sports scores and, of course, important advertising messages about the pizza. nachos and hot dogs available four feet away in that very 7-Eleven. I'm out of the car for seven minutes, so naturally I have concerns about what might happen to Lindsay Lohan in the interim.

Another time I was in a restaurant/bar, visited the "facilities," and was held captive by a video screen with all manner of sports information and, curiously, advertising for the various beers, wine and cocktails served in that establishment along with admonitions on designated drivers and promotions for taxi cab companies. Speaking of taxis, the last several times I have traveled on business and taken cabs from the airport to my hotel, a seat-mounted video screen gave me weather updates, the latest news and sports, and come-ons for restaurants, theaters and concerts. I used to look at the scenery, but like everyone else these days my view of the world is through a cathode tube; it's virtual reality and on hterally all the time.

Indeed, the bars and restaurants these days can't be successful unless there are dozens of television screens, replete with every sports...