When was the last time you and your family sat around your television to watch your favorite T.V. show? Had you been waiting a full week for the next episode? I remember when I was young my family would all sit together and watch the show Psych nearly every week. Now my family may watch the same T.V. shows but with the introduction of online streaming we all watch them at different times from the convenience of our beds on our computers or phones. It’s crazy to think that in the past not only did people have to wait for their favorite shows to release new episodes every week, but that people had to watch them as soon as they came out because there was no way to record them or stream them to watch on a later date.
This great change in the way people watch T.V. really only came to popularity in the past 12 years with the release of Netflix in 2007. This shift in the availability of T.V. content on online streaming networks has significantly altered the way that shows are written, the way that actors are hired and the way that people watch T.V.. How many shows have you “binged”? How often do you wait for the new seasons of shows to be released on Netflix, instead of keeping pace with their “real time” release. Many famous actors now have gained popularity from their appearances in Netflix and Amazon Prime specials. Even shows that were popular on paper view are now fought over by the major online streaming services.
The rise of technology in modern day United States, and the constant search for people to find the most convenient ways to do things has lead to people dropping their cable subscriptions and instead rely entirely on streaming services for their entertainment needs. It is important for people to understand this shift in the way people view entertainment because many peoples jobs rely on it. If television writers can’t write “binge” worthy shows then they will never write a successful show. If sport networks can’t find ways to make games available online then the sports television sector will suffer, along with talk show hosts, and producers and sports journalist. News networks has also needed to find different methods of broadcasting, few people now watch the 8 o’clock news, but a large amount of people watch the news reports on platforms like snap chat. It is difficult to predict how the television streaming network will change next, but it is interesting to investigate how changes within the past 15 years have completely transformed how T.V. is produced and watched.
I was considering doing this same topic myself! Netflix has become such a huge part of modern life and in many ways has taken over. I think that however you decide to approach your topic it will be relevant and interesting. Good luck!
Rose, this topic is really cool! I love the beginning of your post, it’s very familiar to me and really made me think about my own family (this is something I’ve noticed you do in all of your blog posts, you always add a personal aspect that makes it really interesting). I also thought the end of your post was really interesting, because it brought to light a lot of aspects of streaming that I never considered, though it feels like I should have. My mom and I constantly bicker about how I keep up with the news on Snapchat, while she reads it on news websites. There’s really no difference, but there’s almost a generational resentment towards this shift that might be kind of cool for you to explore. Hopefully we’re in the same Ted Talk group, I have a feeling yours will be very interesting!
I really like this topic choice because I can relate and say that my family and I used to watch TV shows together all the time for entertainment when we were younger. But slowly as we grew up streaming services have taken over entertainment for us and there is no longer the need for us to sit in the living room together and watch TV. I think that streaming services like Netflix are revolutionizing the personal entertainment industry and society will never go back since they can stream with such ease.