Sometimes you might be caught watching such rubbish on television that, to save face, you find yourself claiming that “the off-switch is broken.” The off-switch on my last tv did actually break (as a prelude to its turning into a psychedelic random colour diplay and dying altogether) but I would have to admit it was a good while before I noticed.

We’re often told we waste loads of the planet’s resources and contribute greatly to carbon emissions by not switching off our tvs and videos at night. Granted that figures for the actual sums wasted seem to be based on some back-of-an-envelope calculations with little relationship to reality (see an old Times article by Matthew Parrish), I still get a niggling sensation of irresponsibity if I leave red lights on the tv and its accompanying attendants. (I still do it though).

It would be pretty difficult not to leave the tv on, if you have one that doesn’t even have an off-switch. According to Guy Clapperton in today’s Guardian lots of new televisions have an off-switch located in an odd place or none at all. Toshiba doesn’t put an off switch on its plasmas, apparently so it can upgrade them overnight. LG has decided to reintroduce an off switch, under pressure from environmentally-concerned customers.

I”m as gullible as the next person when it comes to wanting the latest high-tech objects of desire – as long as the next person is only moderately enticed by spending money they don’t have – but I can think of two solutionsthat would cut energy use even more than buying a beautiful new tv with a low-power standby improvement.

One, better than buying new gadgets, why not keep using the old ones till they break?

Two (and I couldn’t resist this, so, apologies in advance to everyone with taste) I finally get to add the punchline to the blog name, based on the old kid’s programme..
Switch off the television and do something less boring instead…