Oh man I've been there and done that. I was in Utah one year with a full troupe of mormon college kids at Christmas when they do their huge meeting of the minds or whatever it is. They watched it on TV and were 100% transfixed. It was fascinating to watch as an outsider but also intensely boring all at the same time.
I was raised mormon and we had to go to church to watch conference, which is basically church broadcasted from Utah. This was before the Internet so we couldn't stream it at home.
I was never forced to see it in person in Utah (thankfully) but my Dad always threatened that we would go one day to listen to the prophet in person. But growing up like you said, early 80’s they had satellite at some of the stake buildings and that was bad enough. We’d spend the day before (mens) and most of the day again on Sunday.
While I don’t waste my days any longer with church, I wish I had my time back and could have been lazy my way. For instance, today I just parked on the couch and I’m watching Spaceballs, with Coneheads next.
I remember the first time we were able to listen to it online at home, but it was just the audio. My parents made us take notes so that they knew we were listening. Granted, it was nice bring at home, but at least when we watched it at church I could mentally drift off.
