Consumption Habits, Unknown Values and Our Evolving Relationship with Media

Linda Bozoian admits that she constantly consumes media. She begins each day informing herself through the same decades-old routine that has exponentially grown since the proliferation of the web. First, she'll listen to a KMOX-AM broadcast while simultaneously reading email newsletters and the Wall Street Journal. Then she'll pick up the pace and start scanning: local news on fox2now.com, national news on usatoday.com and Facebook for updates on anything interesting she's missed. She'll scroll through headlines on the News app on her iPhone, too.

“But that's only if I have time,” she said. Today, media is everywhere and all at once. It's in our back pocket, on a neighbor's loudspeaker on the subway or interrupting us in notification alert. Digital media has undoubtedly flipped media on its head. Pew Research center tells us that those most successful at separating facts and opinions in the news, are politically aware, digitally savvy and more trusting of the media entirely. So what would Linda do if forced to prove the validity of something she learned via one of those preferred channels? “I don’t know. I would just google it, I guess.”

What does all the information in the world look like? If it were all piled together would it tell the truth? When information used to be served on single HTML web pages, at dial-up speeds, “the spirit there was very decentralized. The individual was incredibly empowered. It was all based on there being no central authority that you had to go to to ask permission,” Sir Tim Berner’s Lee said in a July 2018 Vanity Fair article. “That feeling of individual control, that empowerment, is something we’ve lost.” He went on to estimate that half the world’s population will be connected online by the end of this year.

Peter Wyrostek, 30, is a software developer at transportation technology company in Austin and believes in a future that depends on blockchain. “I just don’t trust mainstream media. With the help of blockchain, I believe decentralized platforms would be more trustworthy.”

Corey Isaacs is also a software developer and believes truth lies in data. "I have a geeky fantasy of there being a giant, comprehensive, all-knowing database that would serve everyone. Because there's no such thing as partisan if it's all coming from the same database," he said.

In terms of what technology can do for media, some would still rather look the other way.

Though he would categorize his media consumption as 'constant', Rick Jones, a 60-year-old banker in Missouri, believes that digital media has completely devalued journalism throughout his lifetime. "I believe journalism's primary purpose is to enlighten mankind," he explained.

"A month or two ago, Bob Costas made a statement that we need to make changes to professional golf association so that it's better for the media, meaning if we can do this and that, it will generate more jobs, there will be more work to do, it'll bring in more viewers and increase revenue. I think this is wrong. It’s not good for the sport or the players, but it would only enhance viewership and promote golf. In short, media today and in my lifetime, is all about big business and making money, and bringing profit to the owners. I think the current trajectory is wrong."

It's been a bittersweet ride, undoubtedly. The web delivers factual answers upon command, but can mislead an entire population on the truth.