Evolution of Entertainment

-(2011): Marked the beginning of the internet obsession and the popularity of “i” Products

-(2008):We were still following the news, magazines, tabloids, we followed the lives of people through the media for entertainment

-(1990’s): We were watching movies in our spare time, still renting from Blockbuster (Netflix? Ridiculous!)

What Are Our Interests Today?

Today we value sports, reality Tv (ESPN, Jersey Shore). Movies today are much more intense. We don’t see any new Disney movies coming out. Everything is much more graphic in every sense. We spent almost $11 billion on box office in 2011 and over $3 billion in 2012. The drastic change shows how much time we spend watching new movies.

Ten years ago, not many middle schoolers had cell phones. Today, it’s rare to see a kid without one in their hands. And not only do they have cell phones, they’re iPhones. Every person and their mother have some type of “i” device, and every retailer is taking full advantage of it. Starbucks, Best Buy, Target, Costco, etc. all have apps for our phones as well as every clothing store with a website. They ensure that we are able to keep up with them at the touch of a button, or rather, a screen.

How Does it Affect Our Generation?

Communication these days is a lot easier, with everyone having a phone and texting, not to mention FaceTime and Skype and all the other applications of the like, you would think it easier to talk to people. On the contrary, we use our phones as a distraction from other people so we don’t have to talk to them in person. The result being everyone has their own group of friends, and they don’t expand to other people. Another example would be going to lunch with friends, instead of having nice conversations, we are on our phones, constantly searching for the establishment's free wi-if password.

How Will It Affect Our Future Generations?

Those of us who grew up in San Diego, grew up playing in the street all day every day until it got dark, and woke up early to do it again. We didn't sleep in on the weekends because the Saturday morning cartoons were too good to miss. Kids today take for granted those things, they stay inside all day watching tv and they will never know what it's like to look foreword to Buggs Bunny tomorrow morning.  In '99, when we wanted a 'play date' it was wanting company on your explorations. Wanting someone to ride your bike with and climb trees with. Today, young kids have their friends over so they don't have to play video games alone. It's also a lot harder to eat a family size bag of chips all by yourself and YouTube isn't that funny when you're alone either. When I was younger, I had a whole different set of values than kids today. They value their phones, their new clothes, not the days mom met you stay out past dark. I grew up valuing my friends and my family, my home and everything money CAN'T buy.

Is This Evolution For The Good? Or The Bad?

Some might answer for the good, arguing that technology makes everything easier. You have information and photos with you at all times. It's nice to have technology at school, shoot, I'm writing this whole article on my phone! We are also evolving to use technology for eye opening medical procedures, your iPhone can read a malaria test for crying out loud.

On the other hand, many, including myself, say technology causes more harm than it does good. I, personally, love a good or a magazine every once in awhile. The screen on the computer gives you headaches and cell phones give off a radiation that is known to lead to cancer. Sure, it saves shelf space to have all of your books and music on one device, but what will happen to libraries? What will happen to that music store you love when you can pirate all of your music online? Think about what you loved before technology was in your life. Think about where you would be if you never had that iphone, that ipad, your laptop. Would your values be the same? Would your life be the same?