Interesting Observation

I was riding in the car with my father-in-law yesterday and he said something that stuck with me.

And I paraphrase:

'Man, the media sure can't get enough of that story of the swimmer being eaten by that shark...it's on the news constantly...'

If you have not heard the sad, shocking news: a man was bitten- and killed- by a great white here in San Diego, about 150 yards from shore! The attack occured- by the way- about 5-10 minutes from my house!

But so I guess it's been all over the news. Local or national, I don't know. My in-laws watch alot of local news. But I did see it on the front page of DRUDGE, so I guess it at least made a few national ripples.

But what struck me as interesting about this comment is how much it says about the way many of us consume media these days.

In the last year- probably two- most of my media has come from the surfing the internet and from playing video games on my tv. Yes, there are still some shows I TIVO and love...but nowhere near as many as back in the day. And sure, I go out out to the movies alot/Netflex stuff,etc. But my sort of bread and butter/daily media-and certainly my NEWS media- is net based. Which means I get to CHOOSE what info bombards me. And if I don't choose what someone else chooses- or if I don't choose what the cable networks are telling me is important- I really do have alot less of a sense of how important something has been deemed to be.

And I sure as hell ain't complaining. I just find it interesting.

For example, these days, based on the info I surf, my view of what has been deemed important is:

-Iron Man opening on Friday
-GTA IV hitting on Tuesday
- Indy IV fluff news
-What certain colleagues of mine in the industry are up to on a personal level
-Why Obama lost PA and what it means for his bid to be the Democratic nominee
- How to get two Asian women and a small, Uraknian folk dancer named Mimi to bend over in juuuuust the right way as to....er, wait...that's...that's private, that's just for me :)

But you see my point. This is the stuff that's on MY radar.

And it gets me wondering something...something that- by the way- I am WELL aware that much smarter and better writers from places like Wired magazine have been pondering for so long, they're bored of the discussion by now...but for me, it gets me wondering: what happens when tv is pretty much dead and we are ALL getting our personalized info off the net? What happens when we no longer- in the real world-have many/any of the same shared info/experiences because our frames of reference have become so specialized? Is this good? Bad? More importantly, it's going to happen so what will the world look like when it does? Will we treat each other better? Worse? No different? What will tie us together then? Maybe we'll then have to start to talk about issues that are more universal regardless of where you get your news.

It also gets me wondering about my father-in-law. He is in his sixties but loves the net and uses it like a pro. Why in the world is he still getting his news from television?!?! Old habits die hard, perhaps? I will ask him next time I see him.

Ok, going shopping- chat soon. later ya'll!

David

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