Recess time in grade school meant children raced to the merry-go-round, swings and see-saws to secure a spot to ride and play on during our short time out in the fresh air and warmth of the sun before returning to the confines of our wooden desks, our crayons and pencils, Big Chief tablets and the smell of Old Colonial oil and sawdust on wooden floors.
It was important to rush out and grab a spot because there weren't enough spaces on the playground equipment for every single kid.
Media fifty years ago and media today can be seen and understood in playground terms.
When media choices were few, advertisements paid for all content, by easily, although expensively, reaching mass audiences. We school kids rushed out the door after school to watch one of three television networks or to listen to one of two or three AM stations that played the Beatles or Rolling Stones.
With the arrival of the Internet, media choices exploded and there are not enough advertising dollars to pay for all content or to reach mass audiences, which are dispersed among the new multitude of choices.
Advertisers now target selected audiences, the 18-35 year-olds, the golfers, the investors, the arts and crafts crowd, the vampire or zombie set, etc.
Mass content supported by ads becomes few in number, such as tonight's Oscar awards, the Super Bowl earlier this month, last summer's Olympics, the Presidential debates this fall, and the few dominating the mass market on TV, such as CSI, Glee, etc.
Specialized program content increases: subscription programs like Boardwalk Empire, Girls, Downton Abbey, which we receive through grants, donations and ads, stand side by side with open-source content like Wikipedia, You-Tube and blogs and Internet sites on music, film or any one of a thousand subjects of limited interest, sometimes but usually not supported by ads, now added to the pool of special-market, but-not-mass content.
Quality of entertainment on the playground was determined by the scarcity of our choices. We raced for spots because there were many of us who wanted to ride. When our choices for entertainment, news and information are numerous, it is important to notice what these changes might mean: We can slow down and decide more carefully where to spend our time, based on our interests at the moment.This is a sea-change in our role. We are the decider, as a former president would say.
The up-side to scarcity of content is that ad dollars once paid for quality mass appeal programming. We shared a national conversation about the episode of Bonanza or the film that aired on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies.
The downside to scarcity of of content is that left-handed tennis players were left out in the cold without their own magazine and Americans who were not mainstream were largely unseen, or possibly worse, only in stereotyped portrayals.
The upside of abundance of content is that any of us now have a place in the marketplace of ideas, it is up to us to raise and hold the interest of an audience.
The downside of abundance is our teachers are not on duty, and it is we consumers who are in charge of the playground, while many of us may be unaware or unwilling to step into our new roles as 'the decider'.
Ad dollars cannot support it all, so mass content quality can decline even as our specialized content increases.
What happens to the content is important. In the early days of the computer era, it was common to hear the equalizing explanation of the power of computers: GIGO (garbage in, garbage out).
A great post by Seth Godin helps to flesh out this sea-change in media and our roles in the marketplace of ideas. Seth Godin
