Shift - The impact of change on media consumption
BP&R’s Peter Don recently circulated a link to a thought provoking youtube clip on the magnitude of change in the world - social, economic and of most specific relevence to us - the immense projected increase in available information and speed of supply. Before going further you need to spend 6 minutes watching the video.
Watching this had my mind racing as to the consequences for us mere mortals. What is going to be the effect on the human condition when you divide the 168 hours a week humans have to deal with life by the amount of information and sources we will be exposed to? Supply and choice may speed up but consumption won’t…a record will still take 3:30 to listen to and a book or video screen about 175 words a minute to read. This means there is going to be a huge amount of content we will either not have time to consume or we will screen out so we can simply enjoy the stuff we are most interested in or like and absorb the information of most relevence to our lives. Are people going to be continually driven to absord and understand it all or will humans start to increasingly discriminate in their consumption choices?…wow…how many directions could you take this thread?….let me pick one relative me.
Some years back as the GM of a radio station I started contemplating my personal time management and I realised I was spending a massive amount of time simply absorbing other peoples ideas rather than developing my own. I was in a vortex of reports, magazine subscriptions, clipping services, management books, newsletters and seminars with gurus. I started to feel frustrated by the avalanche of other peoples ideas I never seemed to have time to implement and the myriad little ideas circulating in my head I didn’t have time crystalize. I come to the conclusion to focus on my own ideas and I killed off 80% of my “packaged information consumption” allowing me time to listen to and watch the world (my listeners, staff and customers) through my eyes and form my own ideas and see them through to implementation…thats when I actually started to be really successful in what I did. Sure, I kept myself informed but I simply became more discriminating in my information consumption and ensured that for every minute spent consuming ideas I spent 10 minutes thinking and implementing. In more recent years working with BP&R I have found myself looking forward to those precious 24 hours in a plane without mobile telephone and email on the long Australia - Europe commute. Alone without interruption (well all most) I usually fill many foolscap pages with ideas and thoughts or solve problems that have been frustrating me. I call the ideas I come up with or develop with my colleages “original thought”.
I am not entirely sure where this line of thought is leading me and I hope someone else can pick up the thread, but I am fascinated by what will be the consequences of our 168 hours of weekly time hitting a wall of information and media supply and choice unprecedented by anything we can imagine. Further segment fragmentation?….bet your life on it! but what about attitude and motivation towards this supply and choice? What will be the hot buttons? Will there be winners or will everything be sliced so finely the concept of “mass media” is completely redundant. “Mass” will probably be defined by the relative appeal of the content…not the means of its delivery.
Absolutely intriguing! Thoughts?
Wayne Clouten
Hi everybody,
really fascinating topic. The major question for me comes up in Wayne’s last passage: Are “Mass” and “Mass Media” terms we won’t be talking about any more in the near future? And if so, will it be good or bad for the individual? Will I personally miss media that adresses to “everybody” because that is the way to share existence with others? Or what function does “mass media” have for the individual person? From the historic perspective especially in Germany, mass media was misused and abused in its early days, and radio played a virtual role in that very soon after it was “born”…
Who does really feel a value on one message form one sender to lots of recipients? The sender! So my question to you is: Will you personally miss mass media, and if so, why?
Stephan Hampe
October 18th, 2007 | #
As long as advertisers want to reach the mass market quickly and efficiently we’ll have mass media, especially television. Only big TV channels can afford to create the programming that will be tomorrows talking point at the office. “Did you see Desperate Housewives last night” is a question that will continue to be essential social information for that show’s target.
Perhaps the better question is: will mass media save itself to death or will fragmentation continue beyond “the usual competitors.” Personally, Face Book can be an essential part of my day, You-Tube is great, but excuse me while I watch Lost.
The danger to mass media is when they no longer deliver mass markets (or a large number of a specific target at the same time). If you gotta move those goods in Saturday’s sale you’re going to need the mass media. Thtat’s a compelling reason to make sure it survives.
Radio losing young people? Generally, yes. But not in Berlin where Kiss FM is as much a lifestyle as a radio station. Want to reach young people in Berlin? Kiss can get to more of them more quickly than any other single option.
October 23rd, 2007 | #
Another twist on the issue from Stephan Hampe and Bill….that being the role “Mass Media” plays in defining the collective social experience and knowledge base…interesting. Yeh…its not just a fragmentation of choice…its a fragmentation of shared interest and knowledge. That is probably the one of the keys to sustaining “Mass Media”, making users feel that will miss out on getting, experiencing, knowing or sharing something if they don’t listen/watch/read. Thats all about content I guess…the more immediate and compelling the better….
October 30th, 2007 | #
Блестящая идея и своевременно…
Before going further you need to spend 6 minutes watching the video.
Watching […….
April 12th, 2010 | #
Да, действительно. Я присоединяюсь ко всему выше сказанному. Можем пообщаться на эту тему….
Before going further you need to spend 6 minutes watching the video.
Watching […….
April 22nd, 2010 | #