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July 15, 2003
The Boredom of Individualized Experiences
One of the promises of consumer technology is the completely individualized experience. Presumably I will one day watch a newscast made up of stories specifically catered to my interests, and read my own individual edition of an electronic newspaper, each with unique advertisements designed to manipulate me, and only me.
In an ever more self-centered and instantly-gratified world, these capabilities will make the experience much more enjoyable than today's shotgun-approach broadcast one-size-fits-all media, and cause me to spend even more money on stuff I don't even know I need. Or so I'm told.
If such a thing was possible, and it may very well be, it ignores the age-old saying: variety is the spice of life. One of the most exciting experiences of life is finding out that you enjoy something you run into by chance.
Maybe when it comes to advertising, I do want to make the experience as least-painful (they would say "as enjoyable") as possible, by seeing ads I'm inclined to be interested in.
But if I had to choose the barrage of information that's thrown at me, I can't say that's always a good thing.
Posted by pete at July 15, 2003 06:35 PM
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