There are two interesting spectrums to plot progressions in how we consume media.
1) The device.
We've moved from Cinema screens to TV screens to Mobile Phones over the years as the primary way to consume media.
Each became smaller, but we got far closer to it.
Each became more interactive, each became more personal and more immersive. You watched a movie in a theatre with 100 people, a movie on your TV with 4 people and smart phones are to be used by just you.
2) The media.
The internet was first designed for text files, then images, and now for "video". The atomic unit of the web is now a 5 second video, not a blog post nor Instagram photo.
So when we extrapolate these, we assume that the next step is clear.
We move from mobile phones to something we get closer to, something more immersive, more personal, more interactive and connected to other people, not large organizations.
We move from a web built of video, to a web made of interactive, 3D, game like videos.
And thus the premise of the Metaverse is clear, the route looks inevitable.
The only thing is this killer questions remain.
Do people want this?
Is it even possible ?
Are S curves of adoption or new platforms inevitable?
Media is rarely canabalistic, it's typically additive. Movies haven't died, books have not died, Radio isn't dead, Newspapers still take up valuable niches. Homes still have furniture pointing at a TV, malls still are anchored by Cinemas.
What if smart phones were the ultimate form factor. What if the idea of putting things on our heads was intrinsically anti-human nature. What if we were designed to see the real world as our main canvas and screens as their to augment our reality, not as replacements.
Interesting times ahead, but I personally see far more people rebelling against spending more time online, using phones more as servants to their lives, not bosses to them. I see a giant wake up call. A movement to embrace the power and wonder of real life, and get our heads out of an algorithmically driven moroseness.
A force towards real human connection and presence, not living life as a scoreboard driven gamified experience, where likes mean more than meaning.
It takes humans about 20 years to understand the meaning of technology, happens every time, it seems now we may finally understand that the role of technology is as a tool to make things better, the role of technology is to make us more human, the role of tech is to improve reality, not to cover it up and replace it.
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