In this MediaShift blog post, Mark Glaser describes how television time-shifting devices like TiVo are changing interpersonal relationships. He offers etiquette tips to friends of time-shifters (side note: how futuristic does that sound?), concluding that it’s most polite to ask if your friend’s seen the big game before talking about it with him.
This seems like a good rule of thumb for people who routinely converse with time-shifting sports fans, but I wouldn’t say that it applies to the general population. As far as I can tell, while DVRs are becoming increasingly mainstream, they aren’t yet the norm. So for the effort to be placed on the non-time-shifting friend seems a bit out of balance.
As a TV-obsessed college student, I pretty much assume that my peers a) don’t own a DVR, and b) probably don’t watch as much TV as I do. So when I mention something on television, I tend to first ask, “Do you watch [x]?”, then move forward with the conversation. They can stop me if they haven’t seen what I’m talking about yet.
While no college students I know use DVRs, more and more seem to be consuming video through the Internet. For example, during a night course last term I remember chatting with a friend about how I hope we get out in time for Heros. She reminded me that she watches it whenever she wants online. Many television programs are now available streaming on the Internet, so instead of investing in a DVR and cable subscription, it’s cheapest and often easiest to watch online. However, in my personal experience, only devoted fans or those looking to become devoted fans take advantage of this service.
In short, yes, be considerate of others if you know they time-shift, but for right now, it’s safe to assume most people don’t.
