My ‘New Media’ Obsession (January 24)

These are just a few of the shows I used to watch.

News broadcasts, TV shows, movies, podcasts, YouTube, Twitter, blogs, editorials, thinkpieces, press releases. There are so many different kinds of media, and there’s more than any one person could ever consume of any one of them.

There are also sciences, sports, arts, technologies, crafts, cooking, celebrities, entertainment, and so much more to pay attention to. If you tried to absorb all the information out there about the tiniest niche subject, there would still be too much to consume to fill a lifetime.

Most people have a few interests or hobbies that they spend time going fairly deep on. And those priorities are always changing and adjusting as lives change or circumstances evolve.

For example, there was a time in my life where I watched 25 TV shows every week, in addition to re-watching some shows when I felt like it. Now, I have a hard enough time keeping up with just a few shows. Both It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Mythbusters, have started new seasons, but i’m at now 2-3 episodes behind on each since I missed their debuts.

Recently, I have moved much of the entertainment I get to fully digital platforms. I listen to a ton of podcasts, and watch a whole lot of YouTube videos. Both of these media have a single spot where I can go (either a website or an app) and see what’s new since I was last there, or what I haven’t watched or listened to yet.

Compare that to the experience of trying to watch a TV show, where even if I wanted to watch later, I would have to go figure out which TV network aired a show, open the app where the show is, find the TV show, and see if there was a new episode. That model works for Saturday Night Live, because I know it’s on Saturday night, but other than that, I have no idea when shows air.

So I’m left with digital media consumption, and there’s more than enough of it to fill my free time. I would LOVE to watch Mythbusters, and It’s Always Sunny is something I will almost certainly watch eventually. But their distribution just doesn’t hold a candle to new media like YouTube or podcasts, where you can keep a running list of the things you like and get notified immediately when a new one comes out, and click a link to watch it.

ps. keep in mind that I currently have a cable subscription, and all the powers that come along with that, and yet I *still* find it impossible to try to keep up with television.