Is technological customization beneficial or harmful?

“The creation and near-universal adoption of the remote control arguably marks the beginning of the era of the personalization of technology. The remote control shifted power to the individual, and the technologies that have embraced this principle in its wake — the Walkman, the Video Cassette Recorder, Digital Video Recorders such as TiVo, and portable music devices like the iPod — have created a world where the individual’s control over the content, style, and timing of what he consumes is nearly absolute.”- Christine Rosen

Rosen addresses the significant change in the person-technology dynamic. With inventions such as the remote control, and handheld consoles like the iPod, more power is given to the individual. With the ability of customization, people are allowed to have “tastes” when selecting music preferences and television channels. Although this may seem like an improvement, Rosen explains how in the long run, it narrows the scope of ones liking. These devices enhance individuality with choice, but also take away an individuals exposure to other types of preferences. They prefer their style of entertainment, their channels, and their music genre. Rosen labels this idea as “egocasting”

“…they contribute to what might be called “egocasting,” the thoroughly personalized and extremely narrow pursuit of one’s personal taste.”

Now of course, it is possible to seek out other “tastes” with such handheld devices but compared to the originals, (radio and televisions with turning dials) it is much easier to program today’s devices to only perform to ones preference. With the radio, if your song was not playing at the moment, well that’s to bad- wait till it is. If your TV show wasn’t on at the moment, that’s too bad- watch something else until it is. In this day an age we are able to play what songs we want, when we want and are able to record programs and have features such as “On Demand” to watch whatever shows we desire. Not only has this shift in technology changed the way we view predilection, it has also made us less patient and less willing to tolerate other liking's of entertainment if we don’t have to.

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-age-of-egocasting