Seeking Out Versus Tuning Out

I certainly do not intend to write this blog every day, or anything nearly like it.  But to get started, I can generate content as needed.  Today's blog is on the dynamic change in access to entertainment.

When I was my youngest daughter's age (nine), there were still only four television stations in and around Buffalo.  It was a big honking deal on December 21, 1970 when WUTV started broadcasting.  A fifth station!  And one that broadcast afternoon Japanese cartoons such as Tobor the Eight Man and Astro Boy.  This was much rejoicing among my peers.

When I was nine I did not yet own my 200th book.  Or my 100th book.  Or my 50th book.  I was just discovering comic books which I could buy used affordably.  At the peak of my childhood comic ownership I had less than 200.  Given the 54 boxes stashed around my house, my wife can only dream of such a boon.  Or at least that they had appreciated in value.

My older children don't watch broadcast television, despite my lack of cable.  The library's blu-rays, Netflix and the internet take care of the need.  Every day more books are published than were published in the decade of the '60's.  Marvel Unlimited is an internet service that provides the subscriber access to more digital comic books than can reasonably be read in a lifetime.

As a child, my peers and I had to seek out and acquire quality entertainment.  We were not always the most diligent critics because there simply wasn't enough to be too choosy.  For my children's generation, one of their most important survival skills is tuning out the excess of quality entertainment.  The available material is far beyond the ability to consume it.

The response of the millennial generation is curious.  Instead of trying to harness the torrents of material, they generate their own content magnifying the excess of cultural material.  Why?  I believe they trust to the common judgement that will make anything important go viral.

I don't know that this is any better or worse than relying on other gatekeepers.  But it is different.  And now I find myself adding to torrent of free content, submitting the writing to the whims of viral popularity.  As long as I'm having fun along the way, I might as well take a chance.