tv and you
an electric snow interview with Douglas Rushkoff


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Douglas
Rushkoff

(picture used with permission)



"The challenge for [advertisers] now is to create tension in viewers who refuse to be made tense by television."




"[TV] makes you feel connected to something and provides a shared dreamspace for culture."




Are you a screenager?


"The people I call screenagers, those raised with interactive devices in their media arsenals, are natives in a media space where even the best television producers are immigrants.

"Adults often mistake their ironic detatchment for cultural apathy. It's not. They do care; they're just unwilling to take on some character's anxiety and then swallow his agendas or buy his products."
Douglas Rushkoff in The End of TV Programming

electric snow:
How will advertisers and producers adapt to the needs of "screenagers"?

douglas rushkoff:
Advertisers want to program the behaviors of their audiences. They used to do it by identifying the target market and creating a set of expectations for them. Essentially, creating tension in their viewers. The challenge for them now is to create tension in viewers who refuse to be made tense by television.
The fact that young people might like to skateboard is more of an issue for producers, who want to create engaging shows. How do you make shows that seem real to people who have a better sense of reality? I suppose by making them about the media itself. Then, at least, they are at home.

electric snow:
Why do screenagers watch television in the first place? What does it have to offer?

douglas rushkoff:
Why does anyone? Television is, literally, remote viewing. It lets you see what is happening somewhere else. It makes you feel connected to something, and provides a shared dreamspace for culture.

electric snow:
In addition to Beavis and Butthead and MST3K, what are some other typically "screenage" shows?

douglas rushkoff:
See, you get into trouble when you use words like "typical." It's this sort of generalization that's not working anymore. I'd prefer to say that there's no such thing as a screenage show or advertisment.
Shows I happen to think will do well to address the new chaotic sensibility I've seen emerging in recent years however, include South Park, Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena and the Daily Show.

electric snow:
When this media-empowered generation "comes of age", how will the role of television change? Will tv ever become obsolete?

douglas rushkoff:
I think TV is a terrific tool, and the more we know about how it can be used to program people, the better equipped we'll be to use it for different purposes. The only thing that will become obsolete is programming and advertising.l The television's real function of remote viewing, education and mass spectacle will only get clearer.

Tell us about the way you watch television in our screenagers bulletin board.

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