The way me and younger generations consume has dramatically changed. A great example is with comedy. We are used to what I call “quick comedy” where the premise, set-up and punchline all happen within a matter of seconds.
The quintessential example of this is the dear departed app Vine (may she rest in glorious peace). In six seconds, creators had to get a laugh out of their viewers, and their creativity created a whole new culture of consuming comedy. Vine and other online platforms were new venues for comedians and other aspiring funny people to perform and share their work.
For many of my peers, comedy is consumed online,. rather than movies or television. Though, comedy television certainly isn’t taking a hit. Shows like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Bojack Horseman,” are doing just fine.
But there is a noticeable decline in more niche old-school comedic venues like sketch comedy or off-the-wall comedy movies. To be honest, the last few years of comedy movies have not been well-received. One of the main reasons is that they’re failing to draw a younger crowd to sustain ticket sales.
But this generational change might not be so new.
It can be seen in music: EDM is seen as confusing garbage for a lot of older people, just like how their parents thought Madonna was corrupting souls.
It can be seen in how the mode of enjoying music changed, from vinyl records to Walkmans to iPods to streaming. And while each change caused upheaval, new music kept being created, new anthems arrived, and artists still rose out of the fray.
This can even be seen in how younger people consume food. With services like Postmates or Hello Fresh, both ready-made and cooking ingredients are being delivered straight to your door.
There’s also a new emphasis on locally-grown products and restaurants being more experience-focused than the food itself. Everyone still loves food, but how we consume it and where we’re buying from is slowly changing.
So the transition from how one generation handles industries to how the other handles industries is often rough, maybe even scary. The transition that’s been happening for the past few years has been intense. Whether it’s accusations of millenials ruining industries or rants about baby boomers sucking the last few drops of American prosperity from the future, everyone can agree that it has not been easy. But the transition, however uncomfortable, comes with new advances, new outlooks, new everything, and that is truly exciting.
