Is Youtube the alternative of TV?
Today’s generation is using the internet as their source of entertainment, instead of watching TV programs and movies. Many of them now have found an advantage from social media not just for sharing information and a platform to communicate, but for entertainment purposes. One of the most used social medium is Youtube, a visual platform that started its path in 2005. The concept of Youtube is to form long content produced by professionals and featuring well-known personalities. People can interact with each other through likes, comment, mentions and direct messages.
After looking differently on technology, Youtube platform reminded of the techno globalism theory; people are getting closer to each other through this type of network, in other words, Youtube is transforming our world into ‘global village’. Companies are benefiting of people’s addiction to technologies and getting what they want. Yet, they are satisfying people needs and interests and increasing the economy on a global level.
As we have seen in class, that Television used to be the medium that gathers families around it. For instance, Tv reflects and constructs social relations via both discourses and material practices (Spigel, 1992). Edgerton mentioned in his book “The shock of the old” that all technologies have alternatives, but; is it the case for Television? Is Youtube the alternative of Television? Youtube is targeting people based on the new technological feature of the internet, collecting data of consumers based on their search history and interests; however, people have different needs and interests. Yes, Youtube has the same role as TV, entertain and inform people. However, Youtube is breaking the bond that TV formed previously. TV represented itself through the ads by the sense of being there and as a theatre so it requires a comfortable placed audience with a clear view of the stage (Spigel, 1992). The relationship that we have established with TV over time became a relationship of comfort of existence. In other words, we are uncomfortable if we are all silent in a room with no TV. However, if a TV is on, and we are all silent, even if we are not paying attention to it, it makes things smoother. This explains the drops in attention to ads on TV. Again, it does not depend on the newness of the technology, however it always goes back to the choice of consumers, which technology to use and how much to use it. For instance, whenever I watch youtube, I get interrupted by ads in the middle of the video which leads me to end the video. However, TV ads work differently, whereas they prepare you to watch the ad and not force you into watching it.
Edgerton,D (2006) The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900. Oxford University Press; Illustrated Edition (August 2011)
Spigel.L (1992) Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal In Postwar America. University of Chicago Press.
Picture reference: https://betanews.com/2015/09/22/dont-like-skype-here-are-5-great-alternatives/ Ballard.B (2015), Don’t like skype here are 5 alternatives
