Much has been made of our tendency to construct filters through which any and all information must pass before reaching our consciousness. These mental gates are born of prior experience, predisposition and assumption. They can be constructed consciously or unknowingly. Either way, they inevitably shape an individual’s information absorption, and in turn, the very nature of the information being consumed.
Our media consumption (and more recently in the wake of increasingly interactive platforms, our media participation) undeniably colors the lens through which we view “reality.”
Lately, I’ve been listening to every class lecture or discussion through a very focused lens. Two questions have occupied my mind and informed (or manipulated… take your pick) my aspect ratio.
Question #1 is a two-part inquiry: “When will the NFL adopt a 2 game preseason, a 45 week regular season, a 4 game playoff, and a 1 week offseason, and when they do… what the hell will I do with myself during the week off?”
The other question permeating my every thought may be slightly more relevant to MEDIAtion Way Station readers. Whenever a topic concerning future communication technologies is raised, I can’t help but ask, “how might this effect future advertising strategies and capabilities?” Research deadlines are lurking and this question is monopolizing my mind. But I’m also genuinely curious.
My filter was firmly in place this morning when the classroom discussion bounced from mobile projection to telepresence to nanotechnology to surface computing and back again, leaving the room dizzied and dazed. These and other impending innovations lie just beyond the horizon and could be game-changers for advertising agencies and the companies they represent— the Super Bowl ad all over again; except the ad is “everyware.”
The ubiquity of these new platforms has the potential to clutter our media landscape beyond recognition. But consumers will adjust the same way they have each time new technologies are added to our already lengthy media menu. The real question is— will they allow for more personal consumption of media and the advertising embedded in it, or will they instead increase the persuasive power of media and lead to an even more manipulated view of reality?
Will they help deconstruct our mental filters or reinforce them?
MEDIAtion Way Station 