Kommentary on Media

All:

Television has loosened its grip on our consciousness. There’s more of it now than ever, of course, but we spend far less time staring at a physical object called a “television.” We carry our video on media players and are far less likely to navigate the feeds with some physical object called a “remote control.” We also are far less likely to guide our viewing experience by thumbing through a physical “tv guide” publication of any sort.

Television, like radio, newspapers, movies, books, and music, is just a pattern of mediated experience. All of it is just a deepening continuously updating collage of human expression and experience

Our consciousness is more mediated than ever before, but not through any distinct set of physical objects that have any deep hold on our awareness. Your iPhone and iPod will be obsolete by the end of the coming decade. Probably well before then.

Jim