Packetized media is now the dominant media system. It has altered the way we think and is in the process of reorganizing society. Disruption and opportunity await.
The media we produce and consume is rapidly getting more granular and dynamic.
- Books —> Essays and articles —> Posts (X, Reddit, etc.)
- Movies and plays —> TV shows —> YouTube —> TikTok and X
- Paintings —> photos —> Instagram and X
- Letters —> e-mails —> messaging —> slang and emojis
By packetizing our media, we are doing something similar to what the Internet does to data.
- Packetization deconstructs our information media into independently transmissible packets of facts, news items, ideas, feelings, and perspectives.
- Packets flow into the network like puzzle pieces, searching for a puzzle they will fit into.
- When we find a packet that may fit into a pattern we are developing (pattern matching), we pluck it from the torrential flow of packets streaming past us.
- We then stitch these packets together — as individuals or in collaboration with loosely connected networked groups — to construct larger social constructs.
Packetized media has rapidly become the dominant form of media, although it’s important to note that dominance doesn’t mean replacement since the earlier forms of media don’t disappear; instead, as we’ve seen, these older types will be integrated into the new dominant form. Here’s how this shift happened.