The troublesome era of mixed media

4K TVs are selling.

They have four times as many pixels as high-vision sets. In other words, I think that they look four times as good. I thought that terrestrial digital broadcasts already look perfectly fine, but it seems that greed was not yet exhausted.

 We want prettier and larger screens. One of our walls has become a place for a large TV. They are selling even though 4K digital broadcasts are still in the future. So what shall we view on them? Videos from the net. It’s more of a large PC than a television.

  In the US it’s already normal to watch shows over the internet on a TV. With the advent of 4K Japan will start to do so as well.

What’s more, 8K TVs are already on the market that are 16 times as attractive as high-vision. The size can be even larger than the wall of a house. Rather than in a house, it might be best for large groups to enjoy them on a wide street. It’s more of a movie experience than a TV experience.

However, recently screens have also been getting smaller.

In the past, the father was the champion of the household, but in recent years his position has slipped and the mother and children are the ones who control the TV remote. Fathers watch TV programs on their mobile devices. They can even watch while in the toilet or under the blankets.

Young high school girls refer to their tablets as “big screens.” So it seems that the point of reference has become the smartphone screen. In this world, a 50 inch TV screen is gigantic.

It has become meaningless to discern between different types of screens such as mobile, smartphone, PC, TV or movie. All of them connect to the internet. Everything is simultaneously a computer and a TV.

 Even without pointing it out, the audience is aware of this.

 While viewing a TV program, one can do a search on a PC and tweet something on social media using a smartphone. With many screen open at one time, broadcast and correspondence become confused, and communication is devoured. This all comes naturally to my son.

 It’s quite a situation.

 TV companies are broadcasting TV programs over the airwaves. Net companies are using communication lines to send web sites to users. Communication companies are sending information to mobiles wirelessly. However, the end user receives all of these at the same time, and can enjoy editing them.

 It has become a troubling era of mixed media.