I thought I’d share this video I found on Lifehacker about how our society is currently at the next big shift from a very passive TV-obsessed half-century, to a more active and engaged future. It’s extremely fascinating.
So where do you fall on the paradigm? Are you still on the couch watching Gilligan’s Island?
Where do people find the time to do things like edit the Wikipedia? They watch less television, says author Clay Shirky in a fantastic, brief talk at the recent Web 2.0 conference. Shirky makes a compelling case that people are just learning how to deal with the “cognitive surplus” of free time modern life affords us. We’re waking up from the “collective bender” of mindlessly watching sitcoms and instead, we’re choosing instead to spend our free time volunteering, interacting, and Web 2.0’ing online. Hit the play button to watch Shirky make his case for the full effect, or hit the link below to read the text transcript of his talk. Next time your TV-watching friends make fun of you for opting to blog instead, point ’em to this talk.
Gin, Television, and Social Surplus [Here Comes Everybody]
You know, since I’ve been traveling, I’ve been watching much much less TV and I’ve been much more productive, writing a lot more, and I don’t really miss it. I do still watch DVDs every now and again, but at least then I’m not wasting my time with commercials…
I’m traditionally not a TV watcher, and haven’t been since I moved back to the states from Japan (maybe that’s just what happens when you travel?).
But, like you said, Francine, I enjoy the occasional movie/DVD, and recently (when I was recovering from the car accident), I watched a lot of TV shows on hulu.com. Hulu.com coupled with Firefox’s AdBlock Plus extension means commercial-free TV! Hooray!