Just over a decade ago, the internet helped thousands of Asian kids listen to Eminem music over torrent or internet radio. But today the same tool seems to entrap its users within local silos enriched with regional content. And I am not complaining, just highlighting the contrast in the span of a decade. So what caused this change?
And it is not the internet itself since it is just a medium without any physical existence. Rather it is the entities that feed the internet and the consumers who access the internet. To understand the underlying cause, we need to first acknowledge that like any other product, the internet also passed through phases of product lifecycle from early adoption in the nineties to its current maturity stage.
Over the last decade, a vast majority of our planet’s population gained access to internet. Whereas, in the early days, access was restricted to computer enthusiasts and working professionals of developed world. Hence, the demographics of the internet users exploded over the past decades. With demographics, the purposes also changed. For instance, think of the Television in your living room – your family members belong to different demographic groups and everyone prefers to consume different types of content. Hence, the internet evolved from critical emails and important NEWS to food photos!
Moreover, with ease of access, the purpose, or use case, also started to change. In the early days, bandwidth was limited and data was expensive. Hence, usage was restricted to transfer of information. However, as the number of users increased, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) invested in equipment to increase bandwidth and reduce data costs. And as data became more affordable, the cycle continued and attracted more users till the point when data was so cheap that one could consume a few gigabytes to watch funny cat videos in 4k!
But the phenomenon of regional silos is actually caused by economic development. USA is the most technologically advanced country on this planet. Hence, when the internet originated, most of the content creators and consumers were English speaking individuals. But over the decades as the developing countries such as India and China progressed, individuals from these countries also gained access not only to internet but also to content production tools such as computer hardware, cameras, microphones and so on. Hence today, I would not be surprised if Mandarin becomes the most used language on Social Media and Hindi becomes the most watched language on YouTube.
However, there is one more phenomenon that served as a catalyst to the creation of local silos. During my teenage days, when I utilised internet to access media, AI or algorithms did not dictate my content consumption. Rather I had the freedom to explore, mostly what was American culture, and develop my own taste. However, today the algorithms in search engines and social media have become spirals that capture the audience within, or around, their existing preferences, creating a boundary to their exposure. Further amplified by endless scroll; however, this is the topic reserved for another blog.
This maybe absolutely fine with majority of consumers, but I am just saddened by the fact that Gully Boy fans might never know the 8 Mile Story of The Real Slim Shady!
Header Image Photo by Steven Erixon on Unsplash
Savvy Munshi 