{"id":12669,"date":"2026-02-15T12:48:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/?p=12669"},"modified":"2026-02-15T12:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:48:39","slug":"screen-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/screen-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Screen queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m currently struggling through a Booker prize shortlisted novel. You know at the start of a book when there\u2019s a page or two to set the scene before the action begins? It\u2019s been like that all the way through so far, and since I\u2019m a third of the way through, it\u2019s beginning to dawn on me that the entire novel is going to be like that. The realization has dismayed me so much I haven\u2019t been able to open my kindle for days. Hence, I\u2019m writing another post as a light distraction.
\nNone of our dogs over the years has ever taken the slightest interest in the TV. So it was with some surprise that I noted that Catdog seems to be able to see what\u2019s on the screen and reacts to it as if it\u2019s real. This initially manifested as polite interest, but the relationship has since become more toxic, so that now she\u2019s agitated if there are any animals on display. Dogs in particular get her quite wound up, growling and barking.<\/p>\n

\"\"
You come down here and say that, you little punk!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In trying to explain to me why Catdog can see things on there whereas Goofy doesn\u2019t respond at all, one of the offspring went into quite a bit of detail about frame rate refreshments and such which seemed to suggest that Goofy was actually more intelligent because she could tell that it was just colours and shapes moving on the screen, rather than a window through to another dimension. I\u2019m not entirely convinced, as surely Occam\u2019s razor would suggest they are both as stupid as each other in their own way? In any event, things peaked last weekend when we were watching David Attenborough presenting The private lives of plants.\u00a0<\/em>This documentary series was made back in the mid nineties, when David was already in his seventies, but he was as sprightly as ever, crashing through tropical undergrowth, climbing across rugged arctic mountainsides, and abseiling down trees. Catdog objected most strongly to this behaviour. Every time David came on screen, she started barking hysterically. This wouldn\u2019t do at all, as David is somewhat revered in our family. Did I tell you about the time we went to see him live in Auckland a few years ago? We all cried when he came on stage, we were so overwhelmed. Anyway, Catdog soon took the hint after having blankets and other soft cushioning thrown at her, and she eventually retired into the bedroom, crawling under the bed to hide in a sulk.
\nIt turns out TV for pets is actually a thing. There are whole channels devoted to it. You can set it to play for hours, entertaining your cats with pictures of mice running around, balls of wool, or string unraveling across the screen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dogs, as it turns out, are much more interested in watching other dogs. It\u2019s promoted as a boredom buster for stay at home companion animals. \u00a0I remember there was a trend for putting your kids in front of the TV to watch baby Mozart, or other similar programmes, that were supposed to promote brain growth but were actually just acting as babysitters for frazzled parents. Now there are even conversations on Reddit about fears of the harm too much screen time is doing to poor Ginger or Mr Fluffykins. Is this one more brick on the path to the collapse of Western civilization? Maybe, but I would posit that on the continuum of destructive influences I would suggest obsession over the wellbeing of our family pets is on quite the opposite end of the spectrum to Trump\/climate change\/arthropod extinction, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m currently struggling through a Booker prize shortlisted novel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3il","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12752,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/antisocial-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12669,"position":0},"title":"Antisocial","author":"Interloper11","date":"March 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I deleted Facebook and Instagram from my phone and iPad a couple of months ago and I\u2019m suffering very little FOMO. Weirdly, I still find myself staring, puzzled, at my screen several times a day, swiping \u00a0mindlessly through pages of apps. I check my emails and news websites far more\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_5662-265x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8079,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/21\/covid-update-thursday-middayish-what-is-the-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":12669,"position":1},"title":"COVID update Thursday middayish (what is the time?)","author":"Interloper11","date":"July 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Much the same. No worse, which is good.Feels like a cold at the moment. Runny nose and mild fatigue. Fat pants and sweat shirt was too much of a commitment this morning so I\u2019m in a dressing gown. 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