I grew up with television, a child of the 50s and 60s. TV screens started off small and got progressively larger. The bigger the screen the better with quality secondary (don’t recall ever hearing the word “resolution” in those days. The family TV was a massive piece of furniture that we watched from across the room. Today, even a struggling family is likely to have a big-ass flatscreen TV. I’m watching less “TV” these days but that might be about to change.

I recently started watching The Wire (again) and got about halfway through the series before Riley showed up. Once she started settling in I went back to the series but on my iPhone this time. I’ve never watched a lot of video (hard for me to call it “TV”) on my phone just because… well, the bigger the screen the better, right? Turns out, not right.

When my phone is in my lap (or on a table), it’s about 18 inches from my eyes. In the photo above the phone is about a foot-and-a-half in front of my face and — as you can see — about the same relative size as the TV across the room. But with much higher resolution and — with AirPods — much better sound.

We have Apple TV and HBO and Netflix but my default streaming source is Amazon Prime which has an excellent app. I’m now finding I watch part of a movie or series… pause… and come back to it. Something I never did before. And my viewing now happens away from the TV room.

This is old news for most of you but something of a revelation for me. I’m find the viewing experience far superior — in many ways — on the phone. Tiny screen for the win.