If you think you’ve said something like “Now, with social media…,” as if it’s new, which is easy for those of us of a certain age to do, here’s something to think about:
Facebook memories have been popping up for me of posts from 18 years ago.
To put it in media terms, that’s more than the time distance between the proliferation of television and the Kennedy-Debate. To put it in historical terms, that’s as long as the time between Watergate and Gulf War I.
Social media is no longer new.
Neither is streaming TV. Also on “memories,” I see a promotion of a political debate I worked on 16 years ago this weekend that was available via streaming. Consumers have adopted it far more widely now, but it was new in 2010, not now. Netflix has been selling streaming plans for that same 16 year time period.
And I keep hearing explanations about media from those who need to point out that political polarization is driven by the reality that “we don’t all share news sources anymore.” Usually, a line like “we don’t sit down to watch Walter Cronkite together anymore” makes its way into the monologue. Well, here’s another fact that popped up this week…
Fox News turned 30 years old. It has been around for 11 years longer than Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening News. When Fox News first went on cable systems, Bill Clinton was running for re-election. For a big chunk of the U.S. workforce, most Millennials and Gen Z, they have no memory of when there wasn’t an ideologically driven cable channel as a factor in information consumption.
Another thing we still here as “new” that isn’t anymore is smart phones. 20 years ago, I had a Palm Treo, that allowed me to keep up with email wherever I was and check news headlines. The iPhone hit the market just a year later and proliferated quickly. These technologies changed so much, but they just aren’t new.
For those of us who grew up without all things, it takes a mindset shift to think through communications challenges even now. But for those who have had them all along, they don’t know any other way. That’s worth remembering as things continue to evolve fast. Keeping track of what’s actually new will help everyone adapt.