The Power of Technology Today

I found out some interesting facts today when reading The Daily Telegraph and an article in it that was titled 'How phones, iPads and laptops smarten up our nightly viewing habits'. Apparently technology is transforming our lounge rooms into a digital hive, where viewers are using their mobiles to interact with TV shows, stream movies wirelessly to their TVs and multitask entertainment. We, as Australians are connecting to the plasma more than ever every month, up to 6% more than last year to 113 hours and 38 minutes to be precise. In the US, a Nielson study gathered info to find that 90% of viewers with smartphones or tablets used their devices while watching TV. It's a similar situation Down Under where almost half the population have a smartphone. When you think about it, there is not always something thrilling on the screen and because of the tech savvy society we live in, we must turn to our phones for more entertainment. Sometimes during the ads, which can be annoying and repetitive, a challenging game on the iPhone is a much better option.

          A couple enjoying a typical night in front of the TV.

Some shows like Q&A on the ABC or The Block on Channel Nine encourage us as viewers to get involved in live conversations via social media such as Twitter. TV programming has also sucked us in where we also turn to Facebook to further comment on a singer on The Voice for instance.

Programmers are using the power of the crowd, with shows trying to create a new style where we share with fans, judge live performances and access other features about the show, and that way we continue to watch in numbers. It is interesting how it works but this is really the power of technology and social networking in 2012.