There was a time when content was not democratic

There was a lot of effort put into production. But distribution was almost dictatorial.

Set TV hours for each show.
The TV shows were decided by someone else
Their timings were decided by someone else
Their content was decided by someone else
Same for movies
Same for songs
Same for news
No one got to make them.
No one got to chose what to consume
No 10/20/30 second edits – either you consume all of it or you dont

People hated it.
I can understand why

So then came the biggest technology intervention that few talk about

Personalization

Content today, is a reflection of your interests, your reactions, your engagement.

Its constantly tracking you, and delivering freshly baked content to appeal to your senses.

To get you hooked!

Creating mini-you in the guise of that news item, that movie edit, that user-generated song, that viral forward

This scares me

Personalization is wiping out the ability for us to form opinions.

Technology was meant to help us see things from a different point of view.
Instead, machines are working to make us more and more enclosed in our worlds.
Making us believe that its the entire world

Thats why books are unique
A colleague mentioned this yesterday
I love books, because they are not personalized
They werent written for me. They were written by someone.

So we have no choice, but to consume the perspective of the author.
Accept or reject – but consume first.

Which is far better than being supplied stuff that endorses my point of view and never allows for a different one to set in.