Psychology of Media & Technology

Journalists and society-at-large do #Amazon and viewers a huge disservice by tagging kid-centric content as '#binge-viewing' as if putting the viewer in control of what he/she watches is a bad thing--not to mention that it has nothing to do with what Amazon is trying to accomplish with their programming for preschoolers.  

Creators working with Amazon have intentionally tried to step out of their adult bias and look through eyes of preschoolers.  Their goal is to create engaging content that triggers curiosity and creativity.   This is the same approach I advocate for storytelling and central to the persona development and audience profiling in the courses & workshops we teach via Fielding's Masters program.  The fact that Amazon streaming allows for viewer controlled consumption encourages other activities because there is no #FOMO by playing through scheduled broadcasts.  Seriously, how is this even remotely negative?  When will we get over blaming the audience for exercising choice in content consumption?  I get how this is disruptive to current business models and how media companies might not be thrilled at having to be more creative to earn attention and loyalty, but consumers should be celebrating not labeling and journalists should get on board.

Our brain is the original flight simulator.  Nothing is as powerful as the human brains' ability to visualize and imagine and fill in the storyworld of what we hear.  Years of storytellers have taken us on all kinds of journeys, from Lake Wobegon to War of the Worlds.  Very smart to hear that BBC Radio thinks of listeners as 'viewers.'