Being, myself, so wholly unconnected to the world of television, I must admit that it was with some relish that I received news of the potential rupture, downfall, and reinvention of this medium. Two reports of particular interest:
First, "Our Ratings, Ourselves," by Jon Gertner in The New York Times Magazine, chronicles the hidden world of Nielsen ratings, Nielsen's heel-nipping competitors, and the profound implications of audience and device fragmentation. In short, the methodologies used in the past to measure television media consumption -- thus shaping and routing the advertising dollars that underwrite the entire system -- are being challenged and called "broken" while new approaches are being sought after. Complicating the whole scene is the unprecedented "individualization" of modern media consumption, hastened by a host of un-unified technological devices and delivery platforms.
Second, "An Impending Period of Transitional Chaos for Media," by Bob Garfield on the All Things Considered radio program, takes a lighter look at the possibility of what he calls "the chaos factor" -- the scenario in which advertisers pull the plug, major television networks collapse, and economic, cultural, and societal pandemonium ensues. Easy for him to say, I suppose, broadcasting from the far-left sidelines of National Public Radio.
On a related note, recent reports suggest that men are spending more on games than on music in the United States. The BBC offers up a few details. Not to suggest that games and music are necessarily competing for exactly the same consumer dollar -- but it's an interesting milestone.
So is all of this change necessarily a healthy thing? Unfortunately, probably not. While the above reports focus on the who, how, and what of these changes, the pattern of highly-individualized media consumption -- and thus the potential for an increasingly self-centered lifestyle -- is troubling to me. Gone are the days when families might have gathered together -- even if merely around the television set. The modern individual demands precisely what he wants -- at the moment that he wants it.
One of Martin Luther's definitions of sin was, "Homo in se incurvatus." The phrase means something like, "Mankind turned in on itself."
May it not be so.
