Media Overload

By Phil Robibero on 04/15/2009

Question: How has new ACCESS to content online changed our media consumption habits?

Note From the Editor:
It's no surprise that our attention spans have shortened.

As media scholar Marc Prensky so appropriately stated, we are "digital natives." In this world of instant access to a seemingly endless variety of media messages, we have become multi-taskers across a vast media environment anchored by the web. The concentration of the Internet, and our growing time spent with it, has cause content from all other media to migrate online. This has opened up a world of new possibilities for how we access media, produce media, and interact with media messages.

In the following piece, sophomore film major Phil Robibero explores how we are shaping online content in what is fastly becoming a "post-TV age." Phil asks not only how such new access to online content has made us more distracted as a whole, but also how it is enabling us to be more efficient, engaged, and monitorial.

5 A's Framework: ACCESS
Ever since the inception of Youtube and to a greater extent Hulu, as an audience our TV viewing habits have drastically changed. Rather than the TV Guide schedule dictating when we should be sitting on the couch, we have the power to choose when to watch content. Online video outlets are a godsend, the Tivo without the collection plate. But time and careful observation paint a different picture. As I transitioned from the couch to the desk chair I found my computer desktop to be a menagerie of work and play. I was working in Word, wasting time on Facebook, and passively listening to the "Colbert Report" on Hulu. I wanted to do this all before my first class, and the only way to accomplish this feat was to do them all at the same time. It appears inherent to me that the paradigm shift from TV to LCD seems to be more akin to efficiency, than mere convenience. The corporate goal of absolute efficiency has trickled down to become our own personal goal to streamline our lives. Seemingly, multitasking is the popular truism of today and is the key to efficiency. While the permeation of said such axiom in our own lives is still under open debate, the growth of jack-of-all-trades systems (iPhones, Multi-tabbing internet browsers) positioned as time saving products is never ending. As software and hardware continues to expand on multitasking features, so does the content itself have to adapt to the shifting playing field. If you look at the most viewed Youtube clips of all time, you'll see that most of them are no more than five minutes in length. On TV, the shortest primetime shows are about 24 minutes and many of the popular ones (i.e Lost, 24) are an hour long. I doubt we will see a 5 minute TV show anytime soon, but there have been attempts to bring internet content to the tubes. NBC took a chance with "Quarterlife", which has largely set the stage for a new era of online video programming, better known as a webisode. Just as podcasting had revamped the radio, so is online video revamping TV for the internet generation. Online videos are subjugated to the new characteristics of technology, such as information hyperactivity. These characteristics position webisodes to have conventions of their own in order to appease the time conscious audience and satisfy medium it's playing on. Internet video is still taking its first baby steps and remains volatile. As the medium continues to grow, we have a rare opportunity to shape the future of internet in its infancy. Just as the first five years of a child's life are crucial to his development, the way we shape internet video today will set the standard of its application tomorrow. Some will argue that new media have led to a world of distraction, fragmentation, and shorter attention spans. Alternatively, new media are opening up avenues for media production and a diversity of voices that has never before been seen. Digital natives are wired differently than the TV generations of the past. Digital media platforms offer a platform for media makers and consumers to interact with content in time spans that cater to a wired existence. Anyone with a camera, computer, and free time can be a publisher. What this means for the future of traditional programming is yet to be seen. In the meantime however, programming will continue to lessen in length and expand in reach. We'll see if it leads to more distraction or a more vibrant array of media makers from all walks of life.

[Additional Photos: "iPhone", Apple Inc, 2009"; Quarterlife" NBC, 2007]