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All hail the rise of anti-social media
Author: Simon12 Mar
Sue Unerman in her Media Week column this week talks about the success of the BBC iPlayer and how it is paving the way for us to all watch TV on our laptops, and concludes
The BBC is teaching us to watch TV on our laptops. It is also arguably hastening the decline of viewing as a family. While this represents a minority of viewing in our house, and is largely programme-led (Dr Who, The Simpsons, Soccer AM), we still gather on significant occasions to watch and discuss TV shows.
Chez Waldman, the iPlayer has no role. Once the children are finally asleep, it is bad enough that we both sit with laptops while watching TV, but the idea of sitting with laptops on our laps without the TV on, and with us both watching separate things…hell, that’s practially social meltdown!
We want to believe that media is becoming more social. And in many ways it is. But with individuals able to get what they want, when they want it, there is an equal and opposite process making media into something inherently less social.
As I sit there on the train watching The Shield on my iPod Touch, I have not only completely removed myself from my surroundings, but also carved out a bit of media consumption that is mine and mine alone.
But here’s the flip side - A few weeks ago, I saw a family of four sit down in the Starbucks in Cobham on a Sunday afternoon. They all pulled out their Nintendo DSs and sat in silence playing a game against each other. Is that the new form of family bonding?
I have stumbled upon
- Quick Tour of Firefox Add-On on Delicious
- Coolest Gadgets - reporting on the latest cool gadgets
- Big Ten
- James Nachtwey
- obczaj.net - Google Office
- Motorway map of England, Scotland and Wales
- Online Alarm Clock
- Video Killed the Radio Star - CollegeHumor video
- Apple: recent
- Improve your photography with classical art.
6 Responses for "All hail the rise of anti-social media"
The three of us do that with our DS’s. In restaurants. Me, my wife, my son. Specifically it’s Animal Crossing, so we’re often visiting each other’s virtual towns and chatting in the game. It’s brilliant fun - but you wouldn’t believe the looks of disdain and contempt we get from other parents.
would it be different if you were reading a book instead of watching a video on your ipod touch?
Interesting point about the book - I think the big difference is putting headphones on and being caught up in a moving picture…also , it’s a matter of momentum and direction: books through book clubs etc have if anything become more social, while TV is increasingly moving intot he personal space.
and lots of people talk on the TV series, latest episodes, either among friends or on the internet - and actually meet new people, either in real life or on the internet. (while i agree that tv is moving into the personal space). and also, a book can catch you up as well.
I am not saying that you are wrong. However, there is more to that than what you are saying. for instance, i read a lot and i have never been to a book club, and i personally find them stupid.
The point isn’t TV on the laptops, but the time shifting of TV on the laptops. Books largely aren’t time-slot specific devices, whereas the bulk of our TV viewing has been in the past and some mostly remain so. In our house sport and news are live TV events but almost everything else happens after its scheduled slot.
Interestingly if you look at the stats and numbers on 4oD the way that they’re viewed post-TX is very revealing of their core demographics. So most of the VOD viewing of something like Skins, where there’s a very young, highly social peer group, happens very very quickly (You wouldn’t want to be the only one in your group who haedn’t seen the latest Skins). But where there’s an older audience the viewing takes place over a much longer window and there are less pronounced peaks.
iPlayer is a big hit in our house, especially by contrast with the dreadful VOD service already available via our TV (Virgin in our case) The TV-based VODs have such appalling, slow, confusing UIs that they’re barely usable. Accessing TV via a web-like interface is a revelation. What I really want is iPlayer on the TV - I’m going to see if I can figure out iPlayer on the Wii. Also, our experience of iPlayer is different than yours: we tend to watch programmes as a family on the central (non-laptop) machine in the kitchen as well as peeling off to watch personal faves on laptops. I think the final pattern of use will be more complicated than Unerman suggests, with multiple household contexts overlapping and influencing each other. Fascinating.
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