CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) — If the TV remote had never been invented, channel surfers and couch potatoes would have had to argue about something else.

And upon reflection, those very individuals might not even exist.

Those under 40 may find it hard to grasp, yet there was a time when changing channels meant getting up, walking over to the "television set," and turning a "dial."

Engineers at Zenith Electronics identified an urgent issue that demanded prompt resolution.

The inaugural television remote, marketed as the “Lazy Bone” in 1950, lacked wireless functionality, causing users to stumble over its cord.

Five years later, the first wireless remote, the "Flash-Matic," looked disturbingly like a gun and used light signals.

The TV was not selective, and on sunny days false signals could cause spontaneous channel changes.

The next year, Zenith's "Space Command" was introduced using sound waves.

On those early models, pressing a button produced a clicking noise—hence the term "clicker."

Remote controls that operated via infrared signals gained prominence in the 1980s, when the advent of cable television's multichannel landscape rendered the device indispensable.

Losing the remote in the couch cushions once triggered as much panic as misplacing a phone does today, observes David Bianculli, TV critic for NPR’s “Fresh Air” and a professor at Rowan University in New Jersey.

The remote control reshaped both the programming and consumption of television.

The sequencing of a network’s lineup proved crucial: How could a channel be kept from being switched?

CBS’ Saturday night schedule in the 1970s, from “All in the Family” through to “The Carol Burnett Show,” was a masterclass in program flow.

NBC once branded Thursday evenings as “must-see TV.”

The early days of cable gave rise to the channel surfer, who idly pressed the remote to browse through channels.

This placed a premium on flashiness; capturing the viewer's attention was paramount.

Remote controls come with considerable drawbacks: they amplify self-serving behavior, proliferate to the point of confusion about which one to operate, and their batteries tend to fail at the most inconvenient moments.

Given that appliances are now capable of listening, it is plausible that remote controls may eventually become obsolete.

In the interim, however, one must revert to the familiar hunt for the misplaced clicker.

Could it be in the refrigerator, where you left it while retrieving a snack?

Or perhaps in the bathroom?

We'll pause, so to speak, until you find it.

Meanwhile, we'll leave you with this:

The flush toilet may well be the most refined invention humanity has ever devised, but the remote control is a close second—arguably as vital as sex itself.

That observation originates from the late Zenith scientist Eugene Polley, who, alongside his colleague Robert Adler, was regarded as a trailblazer in wireless remote technology.

Polley may well have felt a sense of proprietorial pride.

Then again, in any relationship, there is no greater leverage than command of the remote control.

David Bauder spent three decades covering television for Reporters before stepping down earlier this year.

This piece is part of the recurring series “American Objects,” which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the United States.

For further entries in the series, click here.

For additional anniversary coverage, click here.