Funny, as I flip through Tik Tok (I just downloaded to keep in touch and understand my kids), I realize we are losing the quality control that we have expected from the media in the past. Access to information has increased at an astronomical rate. For years, we complained about all the “in-between” parties. The magazine and newspaper editors, the record company executives and the publishers for limiting our access to talent. Now that we have access to everything, I have gained a new respect for all those parties for filtering through so much to provide us with a quality media experience. It is wonderful that everybody now has the ability to easily access the entire world as their audience. However, as a consumer of information, I have been disappointed. The price is awesome, but the experience is limited.
Andy Warhol was entirely accurate when he said, “everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame.” Unfortunately, it is no longer being limited to 15 minutes. We have lost the gatekeepers of media. When we paid for entertainment in the past, we understood who was getting paid and why. It may have not always been fair but at least there was a system. Now, everything is free but your buying habits and personal information have become the price of admission. Applications like Tik Tok have now reduced our attention span to 15 seconds. Drugs introduced to market, that were as addictive as this new form of media, would be banned immediately. Instead, it is being directly distributed to our children. Technology, in any form, can create efficiencies and ease the burden on many processes. That said, we must remain aware of the consequences of “too much of a good thing”.
