Amazing new technology has us re-thinking entertainment. The way we get our sports, news, music, and television has been revolutionized in the last decade or so. That change has been a continuation of a cycle that goes back to the earliest days of electronic entertainment, and it’s paying some great dividends to viewers today.
Gaining Greater Control
There’s nothing worse than scrolling through the guide on your satellite or cable system and finding nothing you want to watch–unless it’s finding two things you want to watch at the same time.
While the 1980’s would have seen that situation as a VCR crisis, it’s not a problem anymore. Besides all the channel offerings, the ability to deal with this is one of the advantages of a Direct TV Genie, which can record shows simultaneously. You can also set long-term recording schedules, accumulate hours and hours of programming, and access the whole thing remotely via computer or smartphone.
You have greater control over content, too. If you have kids in the house, you can adjust settings to block certain channels, shows, or content. You can also find things you do want to watch by narrowing your search criteria with categories.
Greater Mobility
It’s no longer necessary to fret over delays of your Sunday dinner or Monday evening scout meeting. With mobile access to television, you can get real-time score updates and catch key plays when you have a moment here and there. You can also just excuse yourself from the room for a while and watch live. That’s your business. We won’t judge you.
Of course, sports and TV series aren’t life-altering content, unless you’ve bet your life’s savings on their outcomes. But if you’re stuck away from a television and you are dying to know what happens at Fashion Week before Twitter explodes with it, you can. Or to make it more mundane, think of the traffic jams you could avoid with access to local TV on your phone. The convenience is incredible when you know just as much on the road as you do at home.
Connecting With Others
When arcade games first hit the scene in the late 1970’s–followed quickly by home systems–they usually began a session with a question: One player or two? If there were two, the other one was standing right beside you.
Fast forward to today’s interactive games, where you can log into a system and play with gamers literally anywhere in the world. The games can go on for days or weeks, creating long-term connections with new friends around the globe. Who says gaming makes you unsociable?
Looking ahead, the possibilities are limitless. What’s most likely to make changes in decreasing costs and increasing speeds for mobile data. The ability to stream live TV from a mobile device without incurring massive overages would be a revolutionary development.
And given the changes in entertainment over the last few decades, revolutionary developments are almost routine.
