Monday: Space, Time, & DVR Mechanics

SUMMARY

In this week’s reading, the author brings up the concept of excitement surrounding live sports, and the phenomenon of losing this excitement when an event is watched later. He explains it in 5 reasons. First, he says that without live skippable commercials, the viewer loses out on some of the drama. Second, he believes that watching it later disconnects the viewer from the reality of the content. Third, he believes that being able to fast forward or rewind gives the viewer too much power. The excitement comes with the feeling of being out of control of the situation. Fourth is that one can believe that their own personal involvement can affect the game, kind of like a superstitious idea. Lastly, he says if he hasn’t read or seen anything about the game online, it must not be worth watching.

OUTSIDE EXAMPLE

My sister is a huge fan of the bachelor. I’ve watched tons of old seasons with her knowing nothing about the winner and absolutely loved it. But this past season, with me being at college, I wasn’t able to watch it with her. My guy friends all got pumped for Monday nights and would inevitably let a name or two slip afterwards, or I’d see a spoiler on social media. I ended up not watching it at all.

CONNECTION

The funny thing is, I never found out the winner until about a week ago. I had plenty of time to come home and catch up with my sister, or even watch reruns. But for some reason because of the spoilers I got throughout the past month or so, I had no interest in it at all. Klosterman describes this exact feeling, but with sports. Watching it with someone who already knows the outcome of the finale is far less exciting than getting to experience that moment of surprise, anger, or confusion with them.

Today I will include a picture of my favorite contestant from the Bachelor/Bachelorette series. I love you Tyler.