The San Diego Union-Tribune runs a Reuters wirestory on the difficulties some have taking time off from their TiVo (PluggedIn: TV viewers find TiVo addictive). A long list of recorded shows on TiVo apparently makes some feel guilty not watching them. While in the past, if you missed a show, you simply missed it. Now the show sits on TiVo's hard drive waiting for you to watch it. I can imagine this can be a problem for some, but most people have experienced similar feelings at one time or another. Have you ever felt guilty about not keeping up with a newspaper subscription, for example? Do you have a stack of magazines waiting to be read, eventually?

Though I don't think this phenomena particularly compelling, I do think that the social ramifications of TiVo are going to be quite interesting, as we increasingly switch from traditional broadcast to new hybrid models.

Side note ... who else thinks that the TiVo trademark is in danger of becoming genericized?

via Techdirt, see also BoingBoing