twoplustwoequalsblog

One of the things that I have recently been pondering is what drives people towards entertainment? In particular, I mean ‘mass media’ entertainment such as movies and television. These things didn’t always exist, and their predecessors, like radio, found themselves in a very different place in the world. Presently, hundreds of millions (billions?) of people go out of their way to watch their favorite programs and see their favorite stars. Why?

In the olden days, the only way to entertain yourself would be to do something with your family, or go over and see what the neighbors were up to. Now, all you have to do is turn on American Idol, and it is likely that the neighbors are doing the same thing. Fundamentally, these forms of entertainment are isolating. Sometimes people have gatherings to watch their favorite TV show (*cough*OCParties*cough*), but even then there is little discussion going on during the program. Everyone is just in their own world watching. As far as social outings go, going to the movies is about the least social thing you can do. You say “hi” to your friends when you meet them at the theatre, sit down next to them for two hours and don’t say a word.

Most of the content isn’t even that good. There are very few shows on TV that I would go out of my way to watch, and now that I have access to time-shifting and place-shifting devices, I usually don’t even bother with them. Part of the problem is the “clip culture,” where watching many short programs is a lot easier than a few long ones. I can watch a whole slew of video podcasts and be interrupted at almost any point, but it doesn’t really matter because I am not being interrupted in the middle of something. What is the appeal of an hour-long TV show?

Give me something new. Give me something social.