Smorgasbord v. Simple Spread

I acknowledge that at the age of 25, I lack credibility when I say things like, "When I was younger," but when technology turns over every 6 months, not surprisingly, we see persistent grow in the tech/digital entertainment sector. In a mere 25 years I have seen several complete technology turnovers (I gauge this mostly by the type of storage  media we use and their respective capacities 5" floppy to terrabyte external hard drive and everything in between...). The job market follows where the big money is being made, the more persons in a particular sector of the work force, the more man power is available to perpetuate the field. The result: In the 2010s, 900 professional films are released each year, an average household television carries a listing of 120+ channels and I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the number of gaming systems and games available.

Here comes the magic phrase...

When I was younger there were 4 national networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX-which launched in 1986), 2 mainstream game systems (Nintendo, Sega), a new Disney movie release was a national event resulting from 4 years of intense animation efforts, my computer was black and white with a monitor that was deeper than it was wide and there.was.no.internet.

It is a beautiful thing to live in a world where movies and tv channels exist for nearly all tastes. Continually advancing technology offers it's benefits to such fields as the military, medicine, education, entertainment, etc, and as a friend has often told me "The good of a good is not diminished by the abuse of a good," however, I feel this overwhelming smorgasbord of technological delicacies is depriving us of a certain cultural solidarity.

My sister sent me a video over the weekend of a computer game we played when we were children. The game is, Treasure Cove, an educational game published in 1992 by The Learning Company to promote reading, math, and oceanography. This rediscovery of a childhood gem unleashed so many fun memories of spending hours at the computer playing this simple, repetitive game with terrible background music. Since this game was released in a time when computer game selection was limited, it was a safe bet, that if we played the game, most of our childhood friends did as well. Take Oregon Trail; a game that defined a generation. I have yet to find a person who did not play or at least know of Oregon Trail.  In relating to others of my generation, there is a special connection between all groups when discussing a hunting expedition which resulted in 2000lbs of slain buffalo and transport capabilites limited to 100lbs, or weighing the pro and cons of fording the river verses traveling out of the way to locate a ferry. One of my favorite time wasters is a website called Sporcle.com and the most entertaining puzzle I have done is to name the components of Oregon Trail. It is infectious and as many times as I play that puzzle it never fails to draw a crowd and incite a meeting of the minds in attempt to recall the many aspects of the game.

TGIF was a Friday night ritual. To date there is not a single show that compares to Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Fresh Prince, and Full House. Two straight hours of family friendly television that my siblings and I looked forward to every week. There was no fighting about what to watch and all our friends were at their respective homes watching the same thing. I am fairly certain that while these shows were top notch, this TGIF movement was facilitated by the fact that there simply was nothing else on tv. Now there are new shows launching on a weekly basis and because they are instantly facing 120+ other channels of programming, these new shows are almost doomed to fail.

Feature films are being released on a weekly basis and if a movie doesn't make a killing in the first week, it is washed a side by the next wave of anxiously anticipated films. This does not allow for the Star Wars phenomenon where the majority of a society has all seen the exact same film. To this day, I remain shocked when I discover someone who has not witnessed the awesomeness of the Star Wars Trilogy (I don't buy into episodes I/II/III). Anymore, movies are spitting out so fast, I manage to miss hearing about hundreds of "blockbusting" films. I'll liken it to driving down the street and passing a Lotus, Maserati, and an Aston Martin. I cannot possibly pay adequate attention to all three cars. I am gonna miss scoping out at least one of the cars.

In sum, I welcome technological

advancements and were it not for the existence of hundreds of television channels, I would be without my daily reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 which I find on SoapNet in the mornings. I do, however, long for another Star Wars or Titanic, where no matter how many films are being released, they still manage to draw in the majority of the American population.

Solidarity Sister, YA!YA!