Sunday, October 11, 2009

Change and the Channel...

Recently, I saw some 20 year old sports highlights on TV. I immediately noticed that the athletes were not as muscular as they are today. But even more surprising was the fact that the TV image was so uncluttered.

Back then, the were very few onscreen graphics. The corner of the screen didn't show the score of the game, the time remaining in the contest, as well as other scores from around the league. It was perhaps a bit more like watching the game from the stadium.

Today some might say we receive too much information while watching sporting contest. Quite a few NFL fans turn their dens into Mission Control centers where they can watch multiple games from anywhere in the country. For them, watching a game is about enjoying multiple contests simultaneously, monitoring the players who are in their fantasy league, and interacting with other fans through social media.

While part of me may miss the days of yesteryear where our appetite for information could be easily satisfied, it would feel weird to go back to the way things used to be. Like many forms of change, we don't notice how it can happen gradually as well as how adaptive we can be to new ideas. Think about this, the next time you're asked to take on something new and different in your life.

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