Questioning the Screen Nation

I visited two different aquariums this summer and found modern technology used ineffectively at both, thus proving that you should probably not do something just because you can.

Seriously.

You need a better reason that that.

At the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the dolphin show has been taken over by two giant screens of rather poor quality. About half the show consists of watching a documentary the audience could just as easily (and much more comfortably) watch at home on Animal Planet.

Similarly, at the Newport Aquarium in Kentucky, the new Penguin Palooza exhibit consists largely of a television screen (not even very big, actually) and a dreadfully cheerful man wearing a Macaroni penguin headband and ear mic. The banal banter between the live, dreadfully cheerful man and the animated penguins on the ten-minute video might entertain a four-year-old, but my family pretty much agreed it was just annoying, not to mention barely informative.

On a mildly relevant tangent, the new part of the penguin exhibit shared a cacophony of recorded penguin sounds that were too loud and annoying to do much more than make me feel really sorry for penguin researchers in the field, who must wear earplugs to prevent their becoming insane and accepting jobs as dreadfully cheerful people wearing Macaroni penguin headbands and ear mics while exchanging banal banter with animated penguins on a screen.

Maybe we Raihalas are missing the point.

Which leads me to offer up the following observation for all zoo and aquarium planners. While recorded videos can provide relevant information and enhance the educational experience of certain exhibits, their use in animal performances is distracting, unless they are giving the audience a better view of what is happening in a tank or habitat. When people are watching a recorded program on a screen, they are not watching the living, breathing animals you have so thoughtfully placed in captivity for the people's edification and education.

When people are no longer looking at the animals, why do the animals need to be held in captivity?

Just a thought.

Since you, my wonderful readers, have so kindly endured my rant, I invite you to share your own. Where have you noticed screens in places they should not be?  Have you seen them used appropriately or helpfully someplace?