Before remote controls, people had to get up to change the TV channel.

They turned a dial by hand.

Zenith Electronics made the first remote in 1950.

It was called "Lazy Bone."

It was not wireless.

People often tripped over its cord.

The first wireless remote came five years later.

It was called "Flash-Matic."

It used light signals and looked like a gun.

Bright sunlight could change the channel by mistake.

The next year, Zenith made "Space Command."

It used sound waves and made a clicking noise.

So people called remotes "clicker."

Infrared remotes came in the 1980s.

Cable TV made the remote very important then.

TV critic David Bianculli said losing a remote in couch cushions was very stressful.

It was like losing a phone today.

Remotes changed how TV networks planned their shows.

They wanted to stop people from changing channels.

Remotes also created the "surfer."

This person moved through channels without a clear goal.

So networks had to get attention fast.

Remotes have problems too.

They can make people more selfish.

They also multiply and become too many.

Batteries often die at bad times.

Late Zenith scientist Eugene Polley called the remote "almost as important as sex."

But he may have felt proud because he made it.