LogFAQs > #929764518

Zeus posted...

Well, I can't say that I was doing as much streaming tv shows, movies, etc, in 1989.

I feel like the media boom started long before streaming, and has only continued to incrementally grow and grow ever since.

I think the turning point is around the time when cable systems went from having 36 channels tops to having hundreds of channels and multiple PPV options. Combined with Blockbuster making VHS/DVD rental super-easy around the same time, there was suddenly a glut of options for anyone looking to consume media in general (and that's before we get into libraries with books, videos, music, and other media options).

Only a few years later, the Internet boom started, introducing an entirely new wrinkle. Web sites, message boards, and chat rooms are all technically forms of media, even if we tend not to think of them that way. The Internet also started making other forms of media easier to access if you knew where and how to look (the trend started with music downloads, but books and movies weren't that far behind for pirated downloads).

By the time streaming services became a significant thing (both in terms of things like Netflix, online video hosting like YouTube, or even cable companies offering On Demand channels and content), media was already a bloated monstrosity. Streaming just magnified a problem that was already growing out of control.

Now we're in another phase - where the ease and availability of streaming is encouraging new content platforms (like Disney+), which in turn is spurring new content production (because you need content to put on those new platforms). Now we're drowning in content, and it's pretty much impossible for any given human to ever experience even a fraction of the content coming out at any given point. Hell, YouTube alone uploads more content in a few minutes than the average human can view in their entire lifetime.

This is why I tend to make my argument that "pop culture" may not be a thing in the future, at least not in the same way it has been in the past. Most boys (in the US anyway) around my age watched Transformers and GI Joe, and have it as a common reference point as an adult (say "And now I know!" near an adult male in their mid-40s and watch what happens). But kids in the modern era are going to have so many possible choices for what to watch that they're going to lack a lot of that shared pop culture reference point.

At best we might have something akin to "meme culture", or games like Fortnite might take the place of what TV and movies used to, but it's possible in the future kids with grow up with such radically different memories of what they experienced via media that they can't really use it as a meaningful point in common with anyone other than their immediate circle of friends.

Hell, I'm starting to have trouble relating to my adult friends at this point - a lot of of media consumption is through games and Internet, while some of them mostly watch Netflix, and a couple mainly stick to Amazon Prime (and even my GF tends to watch stuff on cable TV more than I do). Even online, people disperse between Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, and there's a divide between YouTube and Twitch (even beyond which channels and users you're paying attention to on each). There may come a day when you meet someone and have literally never watched a single shared thing at any point in your entire life.

Then we'll all have to go back to talking about the weather for small talk.
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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
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