You have to agree that the remote control completely changed the way we watch television. It is one single invention that has had a huge impact on our lives, even though it really only performs a small function. But according to io9 it wasn’t created to help us be lazy:

Television was a new medium in the late 1940s, with few shows and still fewer channels, but McDonald already felt it was being ruined by advertisers. Unlike the untold legions who have shared his opinion, then and now, McDonald was in a position to do something about it. He was the president of Zenith Electronics Corporation. McDonald ordered his engineers go to work on a device that would allow viewers to mute the damn things, thus making ads unprofitable and leading to their demise. Or so he hoped.

This is fascinating, because if you look at a lot of television’s peripherals, so many of them are designed to help us avoid advertising. Tivo and DVRs? Sure, they help us watch things later, but most people admit that fast forwarding through the commercials is their favorite part.

In fact, avoiding ads is one of the reasons I tend to watch tv through websites or on DVD instead of when it originally airs. In fact, there’s so many ways not to avoid advertising that it has become a very big deal to television producers everywhere. When you try to watch The Sarah Conner Chronicles on Fox’s website, you have to sit through the same ad multiple times during each “break.” It’s only one ad at time, but really, I’m no closer to buying a Juke than I was when the show started. To watch quick clips on most network websites, you have to sit through an ad first. Plus, just like on TV, they’re usually louder than the show. I tend to reach for the mouse and mute the computer during ads, or I’ll switch to another tab to quickly check my email before the show starts.

So what is your favorite way to avoid advertising? Is there any chance that McDonald’s dream of eradicating commercials will ever come true?