A presentation by Michael Wesch of Kansas State Uni - definitely worthy of 30 minutes of your time...
His theme - how changing media changes us, both individually and collectively - isn't a new one. But it's a tale well told.
At the heart of Michael's argument is the shift from an industrialised, disconnected world - one where TV is the central unifying constant, and being on TV is your only chance for significance and to have a voice (hence the desire to appear on reality shows) - to the emerging interactive, social digital world, and what this shift signifies for us.
And you can have the charts as well...!
For me tho, the most compelling point made is the last one, where he looks at the changing role of the word 'whatever'
From the stoned disengagement of the late 60s, via the bored disinterest of the MTV 80s, to the self centred, narcissistic, 'I'm all that matters' role it plays today, he asks "where next?". How, in the social media era, can we reclaim 'whatever' and give it a new, positive change-focused meaning?
"I care - let's do whatever it takes...by whatever means necessary".
Which sounds good to me.
