The Trap of Immediacy
As I get back from dinner to my room, I turn on my laptop (who watches TV anymore?) to tune into whichever NBA game is on that night. It´s the best moment of the day after six long hours of classes and an evening full of homework, projects, and emails all aimed at eventually reaching Mount Olympus for any college senior: getting that job.
I can predict the sequence above being a frequent scenario during my last year of college, which will start in a couple of weeks. Apart from playing basketball, working out, and other leisure activities, I consider these moments of watching NBA my “life” in the famous “work-life balance” equation, which is especially important in the last year of school. Basketball is HUGE for me. I´m just hooked to it. I started following and playing it when I was 7, started to write about it in my blog (which I´m not forcing you to check out, but you should) when I was 15, and have progressively increased my love for the game ever since. I put all of these details out there to highlight that basketball is an obsession of mine, and that there are few elements in my life more important than basketball. Yes, I´m that much of a nerd.
But there is a worrying phenomenon that is taking away from the pure enjoyment of watching basketball, or any sport, even for the crazy people like me who follow sports as a religion: immediacy. In a world in which people check their phones 80 times a day, according to the NY Post, being aware of the moment we are living is becoming impossible. I call it “immediacy”, but I could also call it “phones”. In my eyes, however, it´s the immediacy provided by our phones what hooks us to them. There is a sense of relief in having that device at your sight, knowing that no matter what happens, you´ll be connected to it because you are aware of what´s happening in every part of the world thanks to that wicked 4-inch screen demon. That is true in a sense, I guess, except that screen also makes you miss what´s most important: what´s happening around you.
Before you think “here´s another prophet proclaiming how bad phones are, we have enough of that” and jump out of this article, let me explain what disturbs me the most about phones, and about the immediacy they provide. I´ll give you a hint: they can prevent us from enjoying what a lot of us consider one of the most priced assets in our lives: free time.
Let me give you a rundown of how I see this process. The two (if not three, with TV, laptop, and phone)-screen situation is completely normalized today. The main screen (TV, laptop or tablet) displays the content we were originally interested in watching (not fully watching it anymore), while our phone, always with us, gives us the ability to check stats or facts about these shows, games, movies, etc., or more accurately, work out our thumbs and refresh that Instagram feed to check out what our friends are doing with their lives.
Phones are considerably reducing productivity in the workplace, diminishing live interaction between people, and distracting millions of humans that are turning into phone zombies. But there is another fact that might even be more worrying than these: phones are also taking away from our free time, and curtailing the enjoyment we might find in activities like watching sports by constantly interrupting them.
Let´s not fool ouselves: phones are great tools if used properly. In this particular context of watching sports, they provide us with access to statistics, highlights, or interesting facts about the game we are watching; they take us a step further, allowing us to become “insiders”, to know the most (un)significant details from a particular team or player, and look for certain trends or characteristics within a sport or game that might go unnoticed if we don´t chime in to notifications or read the preview of the game.
The problem is that phones are rarely used properly, and their potential to disrupt any activity obviously affects the process of watching sports as well. I have tried to be as consistent as possible in carrying out a strategy to get the most out of the enjoyment of watching a live game while not missing out on the access to useful and immediate content provided by my phone: the strategy consists in focusing on watching the game while it´s on, and turn to my phone during commercial breaks to keep up with everything that notifications, apps, and social media have to offer.
This “strategy” (such a flashy word for such a stupid tactic) is not easy to implement at all. Many times I´ll check my phone thinking commercial breaks have already started, while it was just an “in-game” ad, or something similar. Other times the commentators will say something interesting and I feel compelled to google it right away. Before I know it, I´m trapped in immediacy.
This situation is just an example of the process of disruption that inevitably takes place when there is a phone around us. I could explain dozens of situations of this kind. Damn, even as I write this post I have probably checked my phone every 10 minutes. It´s disgusting. But for the sake of brevity and focus let´s narrow it down to how phones are affecting sports-watching. In my case, as I described in my strategy, checking my phone while watching a game boils down to commercial breaks.
It is no secret that ads and commercials annoy us. Even the most brilliant adds get annoying after watching them repeatedly. Showing ads, however, is the only way for these companies to stay profitable, and in the end, we, as users, want that because we want to keep consuming that content.
Ads keep the engine running, I get that, but seriously, isn´t there a better way? Why can´t we watch 5 straight minutes of TV without hearing about the new Buick summer sale, saving 15% or more with Geico or the new damn Naked Chicken Chalupa from Taco Bell? Come on guys!
Attention is the new oil
We have repeatedly heard that data is the new oil, and that is absolutely true, especially in the realm of technology, finance, and other data-heavy industries. When it comes to media outlets and content producers and distributors, however, attention is their oil. Yes, they will use data to figure out which shows perform best and program their content around those stats, but data can´t exist without a previous attention from users that causes them to watch that specific show. The competition between these businesses is fiercer than ever before, and the amount of possibilities that consumers can choose from has never been greater.
I was recently asked what I thought the next big thing for content providers and sports organizations would be in terms of evolving to deliver content, and now that I have thought about that question for a while, I can say for sure that the next big thing is capturing and retaining attention. I know, I know, I´m a genius!
But seriously, think about what that would look like, and a fascinating discussion opens up: is capturing attention that even possible with humans heading towards having the attention span of a mosquito? Can networks eliminate commercial breaks to keep audiences hooked and survive with subscription fees alone? What will all these advertisers do if that happens?. Maybe the future is in sports broadcasts with split screens to show highlights while on commercial breaks? Maybe it´s about offering viewers unprecedented insight powered by wearable technology or unheard-of stats?
All of this attention-grabbing gets even more challenging with the presence of more devices. Yes, advertisers have gained access to more platforms, such as in-app ads, but at the same time they have to dealwith way more content and competitors than they used to.
And finally, there is the user. There I am, trying to watch the game, miss the ads, and take in stats or highlights thanks to this wonderful new invention, immediacy, and failing to do all three because I don´t know about you, but I can´t do all those things at once consistently. It´s exhausting, to say the least. What was going to be a fun and relaxing night of watching NBA turns into a profoundly stressful and unproductive situation because of this immediacy thing. Here is when I turn to my apocalyptic voice and ask: “is technology really making our lives better”?
The joy of (consciously) missing out
The New York Times recently published an article about “JOMO”, or “the Joy Of Missing Out”. It explains why maybe in this summer of 2018 we should take time to disconnect from the world. I´ll take that one step further: let´s enjoy the consciousness of missing out. From time to time, let´s make the choice of being aware of our sorroundings and not giving a f**k about that damn screen. The New York Times also recently published an article titled “How to Go Back to a Flip Phone”. Okay folks, that´s too much. But let´s find a middle point, let´s actually take time to get away from that immediacy, and cherish watching sports, a movie, or being with our family, because we don´t have a lot of time, let alone free time.
As users and people who hopefully have a life outside of consuming content, we have to come to terms with the fact that we will miss out on a ton of content that might interest us. And that is completely fine. Making a conscious effort to miss out and taking pride in not having checked out the latest episode of the top trending show, or in my case that stat I thought I needed to evaluate a player, or that sick highlight, might be the next logical step in staying sane.
