Michael Janzen

I’m not the first person to have this realization; and I’m sure it will be a few years before this becomes a glaring reality. The internet is doing a much better job of keeping us informed, entertained, and connected than the mainstream media. People are shifting their attention from the big media channels and refocusing on other people.

Shifting Behavior

I stopped watching TV a while back. I’ve also found that everything I want to know is quickly found online from an even wider range of sources. I also have a very strong opinion of the TV News. It’s like a terrible microscope for all that’s disturbing in the world. Watching the TV News now feels like subjecting myself to a slow torture.

Entertainment is also shifting to the internet. You’ve probably noticed that many television networks, radio stations, magazines, and newspapers are trying to compete for attention by publishing their content online. The trouble is that these giants have a faster growing new competitor that can’t be beat. We are beginning to entertain each other with videos, writings, photos, audio recordings, live chat, micro blogging, etc.

Every day more people are discovering and connecting with other people through the internet. We’re beginning to entertain and inform each other and our attention is being drawn away from the mainstream media.

The giants are quickly trying to modify their business models to account for this new competitor. They will always retain a market share but their size will inevitably shrink as advertising dollars move with the shifting audience and companies like Google are perfectly positioned to absorb this new audience.

The Near Future

The future trend is that more and more people will begin to migrate from mainstream media and focus their attention on their growing social networks. This will happen for several reasons:

• People will prefer to spend more of their time connecting with other people.
• People will loose their craving for news and commercial interrupted entertainment because they will already be getting the information they want from their social networks.
• People will become increasingly frustrated with the biased and diluted coverage of the television news media and prefer the flexibility of quickly checking multiple sources for facts.
• People will continue to reject paper as a communication medium.
• People will enjoy how they feel when they are disconnected from the one-way communication channels. The interactivity of the internet will be preferred.

I also think current media channels will be abandoned in this order… IMHO

• Print News (Newspapers & Magazines: already on a fast decline.)
• Television News (Beginning to face competition with free online news and social network websites like Twitter.)
• Print Entertainment (Newspapers & Magazines)
• Television Entertainment (More television entertainment will continue to be moved to the internet but advertising revenue will drop over time.)
• Radio (Radio can be easily ported to the internet without much disruption in advertising revenue.)
• Print Books (Books will last the longest because people make a personal connection to paper books.)

The Future Now

I’m personally looking forward to this peer focused future… in fact I actually think some of us are there now. All you have to do is turn off the big guys and start to listening to each other. It’s a bit ironic that making this simple choice and breaking old habits can instantly transport us to the future. I wonder what Einstein would say about that? Who knows… maybe time is just in our heads.

Just a quick ramble on an unavoidable truth… what we perceive to be real becomes reality. The news media seems to have a corner on this market and the stock market exists based on this simple truth. The imploding world economy and the devaluing of our assets (cars, homes, jobs?, time?) also seem to prove the fact that no matter how big and strong a balloon looks it is still filled with air.

The most important life lesson for the rest of us is to try an remember to take everything with a grain of salt and try to stay focused on what is really important like family, friends, shelter, water, food, and of course our freedom, which is often taken for granted.

I guess I’m thinking about this more today because the ill-conceived perception bombs are too close for comfort. Instead of getting caught up in the blindness I’m going to refocus on the positive and know that the real truth and know that the storm will pass and truth will eventually prevail.

I was amazed to see this in the news this morning… “Gas emergency declared across Europe.” Does Russia think turning off the gas supply to Europe is going to help get the folks in the Ukraine to pay their bills? Sounds like it… but is it worth some people in Europe freezing to death!? The three big take-aways for me on this are:

1. Russia is taking a very aggressive posture with the rest of the world which just seems incredibly dangerous, and…
2. This another example of how the economic trouble is going to escalate real trouble, and…
3. Each of us should take this moment to remember that foreign dependence on anything as critical as fuel to heat your home is a very bad position to be in. Unfortunately we’re all in the same boat. My heart goes out to those in the cold in Europe right now. I hope this gets resolved as quickly as possible.

I don’t know about you… but I’m thinking about getitng ready to hang on tight. I think we’re really in for a bumpy ride.