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TwitThisMedia Free-for-All
Jarvis doesn't fret over the loss of shared media experiences. "Was it really so grand that we all watched 'Dallas' at the same time?" he asks. And he sees blogs bringing together diverse viewpoints: "On my blog, I link to people I disagree with." But Sunstein maintains that often when bloggers do link to opposing viewpoints, "they do so in order to ridicule or cast contempt upon the other side." (Anyone who witnessed the hostile crossfire between blogs during the 2004 Presidential campaign can attest to this.)Another concern associated with the iMedia revolution is that as it barrels past the established media gatekeepers -- broadcasters, editors -- it may create a media free-for-all. Rights issues could prove thorny: If you create a podcast, can you use someone else's music? Not if he has a good lawyer, says Sam Whitmore, editor of Sam Whitmore's Media Survey online newsletter. "You can bet Disney would hammer someone who tried to use 'The Mickey Mouse Club' theme. I predict we'll see lawsuits, and somebody's going to lose his home over something he podcasts." There's also the privacy matter: If you shoot homemade news from the community center, is it okay to transmit your fellow townsfolk's images over the Internet? "We may be entering a world where there's no such thing as being off-camera," says Whitmore. "That's exciting to some and scary to others."
Meanwhile, who will become the next media gatekeepers? One scenario circulating via a film on the Internet prognosticates that the Big Media Boss of the future will be an entity called Googlezon (a merger of Google and Amazon), which will replace the press by funneling personalized news and information directly to customers. (Google web products director Marissa Mayer says: "I don't think we will become the gatekeepers; I think there'll be democratization of information.") Certainly, power will reside with companies that can manage and sort vast amounts of information and then redirect it to you, based on your preferences. Amazon already does this, using algorithms to create recommendations of which book you should buy next, based on what you've read before. News, entertainment, even advertising will increasingly be directed at individuals, based on their previous consumption or behavior. Says Bob Lutz, chief technology officer at Nielsen Media Research: "Your smart TV will know who's watching, and will decide which ads should be shown."
That strikes some as slightly Big Brotherish. "It raises issues about who gets to define who we are," says Joseph Turow, a professor with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. "I may not want someone making assumptions about me and deciding what I should be shown on my TV." Turow also worries that this kind of targeting could be used to discriminate, offering differing prices or services to people based on the desirability of their "media profile."
Perhaps the biggest worry is that too much media will cut us off from the life around us. People spend ten hours a day with media, according to a study by the media research company Veronis Suhler Stevenson. And time spent with solitary forms of media is that much less time spent with other human beings. Michael Bull, a University of Sussex professor who specializes in studying the behavior of iPod users (earning him the moniker Professor iPod), says that Pod People tend to live in a state he calls "absent presence -- you're there, but you're not really there."
Author Douglas Rushkoff posits that media yields a more productive and enjoyable experience when it "brings people together -- whether in the viewing itself or at the water cooler the next day." Since the iMedia experience fails to offer that, Rushkoff thinks people may gradually discover it's not as much fun as it's cracked up to be.
But few believe the movement is going to slow down. And even critics of iMedia say there are benefits to be reaped -- convenience, choice, information, an opportunity to be heard -- if we can manage the problems. Sunstein recommends that iMedia users make a conscious effort to expose themselves to contrary ideas and voices -- to break out of the bubble every once in a while. And Professor iPod has this practical suggestion: Now and again, try taking those buds out of your ears.
Dig Deeper
Some ways to start your own iMedia revolution:
- Free and a cinch to use, My Yahoo! will deliver personalized news right to your desktop. You get to define "news" however you want.
- Would-be bloggers looking for inspiration should check out Blogger.com and MySpace.com. The basics are free on both sites, so start spreading your message.
- For $39 a year, get access to 35,000 radio stations on RadioTime.com. Download your favorites to your digital music player.
From Reader's Digest - August 2005
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