Looking forward, the entertainment content and popular media landscape will likely become more decentralized, interactive, and globalized. High-speed internet expansion and affordable mobile devices continue to bring millions of new consumers online across emerging markets, diversifying the global cultural landscape.
Then came Netflix’s 2013 gambit: House of Cards . Release the entire season at once. The “binge” was born. The psychological shift was immediate. Cliffhangers lost their sting because the next episode was fifteen seconds away. Watercooler speculation about what happens next was replaced by a frantic, spoiler-avoidant scramble to finish first .
Without a watercooler, there is no room for “it was fine.” Everything is either the greatest or worst thing ever made. Nuance is the first casualty of fragmentation.
