That’s Entertainment!

Imagine you’re sitting in front of the TV with your parents. You don’t like the programme, but there are only a few channels. You can’t go to your room and play an online game or text a friend because that technology doesn’t exist. You could call a friend on the family phone, but your parents complain about the phone bill. A bit boring? Well, that was entertainment in the 1970s.
How is it different today? Well, we connect to each other online and with mobile phones. People can use the media on the move: watching films on their laptops and listening to podcasts on their smartphones. We multitask – we post a photo on a social networking site while we’re watching TV. One result is that families spend less time doing things together. While one teenager is playing computer games in his room, his sister is in her room listening to music. Dad is uploading his photos and mum is checking her emails. However, when the family watch TV together, they’ve got a large HD screen and a fantastic surround sound.
What about the future? One thing we can be sure of is that we will use gadgets that are more advanced and faster and easier to use. However, we still don’t know how it will affect our family lives.