It’s no secret that there’s a generation of kids that aren’t watching TV on the giant enchanted box that fills the living room of most homes around the world.

In fact, most of the Millenials and all of Generation X (nearly everyone below the age of 30, basically) have an obsession with watching TV programs wherever they want and whenever they want. Thus, they watch nearly all of their entertainment on their phones, tablets or laptops.

Do we care as long as they are watching? Maybe we should. Check this out:

1. Earlier this week, Sony announced it’s shutting down online (direct) sales via the Internet. At first glance, this seems like an awesome thing for the world of AV integration. But, truth is, this is a sign of the downward spiral that TV is about the engage in. Less TVs will be sold for at least the next five years — year after year. In fact, the trickle-down effect of this is enormous as that includes everything connected to the TV, too — the stuff we put in. Maybe Apple will held turn that around with some creativity — as the TV market is overdue for some creativity (Remember 3D? How about 4K?).
2. Before the Sony announcement, last week Sharp announced it was divesting itself completely of the TV market. This was a huge wake-up call as Sharp has been a top five TV market for over 10 years.
3. This week, Samsung announced it was canning both the project to build the ultimate remote control, as well as Boxee (remember them?).

So, what’s up?

Well, back to the age thing. Those of us over the age of 30 watch nearly all our TV on, well, a TV. But, SOME of us watch TV on tablets and laptops. And, we find ourselves watching a ton of Facebook and YouTube videos on our phones. Could we be far off from following the leads of Generations Y and X?

We need to watch this trickle-down effect trend carefully.