Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Consumption
There’s a word usage that’s common in my industry that seems wrong to me, and I’m not quite sure why. Increasingly, you will see references to people “consuming” media (movies, DVDs, songs, etc.) E.g.
I understand the utility of the phrase. If we collectivize movies, books, music etc. as “media” it is useful to have a single verb for the experiencing of them all – otherwise you have to write awkward sentences with “watching shows and listening to music and reading the newspaper.”
It is still like fingernails on a blackboard. Part of the problem is that in one of its meanings “consume” is synonymous with “use up.” If I consume a hamburger, it is no longer there. If I “consume” Bartleby the Scrivener or Born to Run, they’re still there. The fact that they exist independently of me and are not changed by my reading or listening to them seems a critical part of their nature.
My objections become less clear when we descend from the realm of high art - or to be more precise, from the realm of stuff I like. Does it bother me to think of people as consuming Survivor, rather than watching it? Not so much.
After a recent three-week journey . . . I was extremely happy to return home. But I was taken aback by what I found waiting for me there—a gigantic stack of magazines, a TiVo bursting with shows, the new Bob Mould CD, and the new Harry Potter book. It was enough to overwhelm even a media junkie like me.
It was a feast for the senses, to be sure. But how would I find the time to consume it all? (Jason Snell, Macworld, 9/1/2005)New ways to consume and use media are all the rage these days. (Thinking by Peter Davidson, 12/16/2004)
I understand the utility of the phrase. If we collectivize movies, books, music etc. as “media” it is useful to have a single verb for the experiencing of them all – otherwise you have to write awkward sentences with “watching shows and listening to music and reading the newspaper.”
It is still like fingernails on a blackboard. Part of the problem is that in one of its meanings “consume” is synonymous with “use up.” If I consume a hamburger, it is no longer there. If I “consume” Bartleby the Scrivener or Born to Run, they’re still there. The fact that they exist independently of me and are not changed by my reading or listening to them seems a critical part of their nature.
My objections become less clear when we descend from the realm of high art - or to be more precise, from the realm of stuff I like. Does it bother me to think of people as consuming Survivor, rather than watching it? Not so much.
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...and I always thought that people consumed marriages.... ;)
Seriously, the office cleaner was telling me the other day that people lived better in his home country, Mali, because they don't spend their time consuming.
Cheers,
D°
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Seriously, the office cleaner was telling me the other day that people lived better in his home country, Mali, because they don't spend their time consuming.
Cheers,
D°
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