By Chris Cosci

As television technology improves, people tend to reminisce about the olden days. "Remember the dark ages when you actually had to get up off the couch and manually turn the large dial to change the channel? Back in those days, there were only three channels. And you had to fiddle with antennas and an entire roll of aluminum foil, all for the glory of watching a few minutes of television until the Earth rotated another fraction of a degree, thus ruining the reception again."

Yes, watching television used to be a form of pure torture. Now, we don't have to get off the couch for anything. Everything can be done at the touch of a button from one of our two-dozen remotes. And thanks to extended cable services and satellite television, we now have hundreds of channels to choose from, all broadcast in excellent reception, removing our need to have an advanced degree in electrical engineering to find a signal.

Soon, we'll be adding a new question to the list of nostalgic reflections: "Remember when we used to watch just one channel at a time?" Technology has been leading to this for a number of years. It started with picture-in-picture, the feature that lets you watch one program and keep an eye on a second program that's been delegated to one corner of the screen. However, that's plain archaic in comparison to the latest upcoming innovation in television viewing.

EchoStar Communications, owner of the Dish Network satellite service, has recently unveiled what the television industry is calling a "mosaic." The Dish Network's mosaic currently appears on their Dish Home channel, and it proudly displays six -- count 'em, six -- channels... all on one screen! By dividing viewers' attention among six different programs, the mosaic can give our rapidly decreasing attention span the boost it needs to continue its downward spiral.

Of course, the Dish Network is not the only service bringing the mosaic to a television near you. Comcast has a mosaic of its own in the works. And DirecTV is adding a mosaic feature to its "SuperFan" football package this year. The package will include one channel that allows viewers to watch eight games simultaneously -- all on one screen. Thankfully, all of these mosaics only provide sound for one channel at a time. After all, we wouldn't want to risk sensory overload.

The idea of watching six or eight channels at once may sound crazy. However, the reasoning behind this trend seems even crazier. These mosaics are being introduced to add interactivity to watching television. It's an attempt to mimic the interactive environment of the Internet, which has been slowly stealing people away from watching television.

So, putting all the pieces together, television companies are trying to lure people away from the computer so that they can spend more time watching television. It's like cutting out fatty foods from your diet so that you can gorge on Hershey bars.

To add to the absurdity, some existing cable channels are working on developing their own mosaics. One such channel is Fit TV, which is working on a mosaic that will allow people to shop for fitness-related products. In other words, a station that is dedicated to helping people exercise and get in shape is working on technology that will encourage people to sit on their couch at home. Now that's some irony you can really sink your teeth into.

So the days of watching one channel at a time are finally being threatened. What's the next step from here? Whatever it is, it probably involves mental telepathy. "Remember when we actually had to move our fingers to turn on the TV? Man, those were some rough times."