Changes

|title=Armchair Nation: An intimate history of Britain in front of the TV

|author=Joe Moran

|publisher=Profile

|date=August 2013

|video=HOpmPXe9WjA

|summary=A history of British television as a medium, how our society has changed, and how it has changed our society.

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All of us have a love-hate affair with television, or ‘the idiot lantern’. Hardly anybody who has ever owned a set, or been part of a family which has had one, can envisage life without it. It has been a source of endless entertainment and escape from the drudge of everyday life, while at some time it has irritated most of us beyond measure. Love it or loathe it, it has always been part of the fabric of our existence. While to a certain extent it has been superseded by online services which have supplemented if not overtaken or usurped part of its role, its iconic status is unlikely to disappear for the foreseeable future.