TV Is Why You Want to Be Fit

#149 - Reflections on investing and life from building my holding company

Nov 22, 2025

3 Paragraphs

The technologies that reshape us most profoundly become invisible. Consider this paradox: TV—universal symbol of laziness, couch culture, and snacking—is actually why you hit the gym. The very device we associate with physical decay created our modern fitness obsession. How is this possible?

McLuhan explained it: “the medium is the message.” Pre-TV, we lived in the Typographic Era (1450-1950) where text ruled. Your worth was proven through written arguments, logical reasoning, intellectual debate. Physical appearance was largely irrelevant—a brilliant mind in any body commanded respect. Then TV arrived and flipped the hierarchy, birthing the Show Business Era (1950s onward). Kennedy beat Nixon through makeup, not policy.

Visual presence became power. The medium rewired our values from mind to appearance.

Social media intensified TV’s visual logic. Your phone is a broadcast studio in your pocket, Instagram a 24/7 channel where you’re always on air. The explosion of gyms, cosmetic procedures, and protein powder sales perfectly tracks the rise of cameras in our lives. We’re not training for health—we’re optimizing for high-definition existence. We sculpt atoms for bits, perfect our physical bodies for digital consumption. Every workout is preparation for a broadcast that never ends.

The screen created the abs.