Consumption, Production, and Sharing Modern Media
I came across an interesting article on a blog (Here Comes Everybody) through my Friends page. It's a look at the modern media, time sinks, cognitive sinks, television, and participatory entertainment. When I resumed posting earlier this month after a brief, self-imposed hiatus, I wasn't sure of what my return would be like. variance made the excellent point of "if it's not fun, don't do it". At times, it can be a bit tedious to get new material up. On the other hand, it means I'm participating in the world not only as a consumer, but as a producer. The article goes into similar thoughts in more detail. A few lines that I quite liked:
"So I tell her all this stuff, and I think, "Okay, we're going to have a conversation about authority or social construction or whatever." That wasn't her question. She heard this story and she shook her head and said, "Where do people find the time?" That was her question. And I just kind of snapped. And I said, "No one who works in TV gets to ask that question. You know where the time comes from. It comes from the cognitive surplus you've been masking for 50 years."
"However lousy it is to sit in your basement and pretend to be an elf, I can tell you from personal experience it's worse to sit in your basement and try to figure if Ginger or Mary Ann is cuter."
"So I tell her all this stuff, and I think, "Okay, we're going to have a conversation about authority or social construction or whatever." That wasn't her question. She heard this story and she shook her head and said, "Where do people find the time?" That was her question. And I just kind of snapped. And I said, "No one who works in TV gets to ask that question. You know where the time comes from. It comes from the cognitive surplus you've been masking for 50 years."
"However lousy it is to sit in your basement and pretend to be an elf, I can tell you from personal experience it's worse to sit in your basement and try to figure if Ginger or Mary Ann is cuter."