Once upon a time, I was a box placed in the corner of the brightest room, where families gathered around me every evening, blending reality and dreams on my foggy screen. My name is Television. Even though I was a machine, deep down in my soul, I felt I was sharing my viewers’ dreams, joys, and concerns. When they turned me on, they held the world in their hands with a single click. I broadcasted with the excitement of this.
In the beginning, during the evening hours, the doors would be tightly closed, the curtains drawn, and everyone would gather in front of me. While the children excitedly asked, “What series is on? Let’s watch it together!”, the parents greeted me like an old friend before the news bulletins. I was the companion of moments filled with laughter next to the most beautiful evening tables and the consolation during moments of sorrow. Those who watched my heroes would experience emotions with them and share their sadness in the face of their failures.
But over time, I began to watch myself with silent sadness. That old excitement had gradually disappeared. In the evening hours, the doors would open, and each house would transform into windows leading to different screens. I could no longer keep my viewers in one place. They had turned to the ever-flowing information of social media and sought faster, more entertaining, and more diverse content. I, on the other hand, was left alone, like an old friend lost in the vast digital world they could enter with a single click.
Many evenings, my voice echoed in an empty room behind tightly closed curtains, wondering hopelessly if I would ever bring back that old excitement. With each new broadcast season, the shiny smartphones and computers in the hands of young people made them forget me one by one. In the rapidly changing social dynamics, there was no longer a place for my existence.
I couldn’t help but think, “Am I no longer here?” Even though the village women, who poured their hearts into their stories from the heart of Anatolia, had embraced their real-life tales and made the voice of reality heard, I was left filling my schedule with endless series and shows. Inside me, a longing burned for dreams beyond reality. They still turn me on, but their eyes are on their phones…