The Good City on TV's role in building community

Good post over at The Good City about the ways in which a shared media experience helps create community. While today's unlimited choice is a boon to media consumers, it comes with a big trade off: we have increasingly less in common with others.

When it comes to our media consumption habits, about the only nearly-universal shared experience we have left is the Super Bowl. Now I don't want to return to the days of three networks, but in those days, when the State of the Union speech was on, it was the only thing on. That led to a lot more water cooler conversations about the State of the Union speech, and the state of the union in general.

So Jon's wife is right when she says, “Television actually can help you make connections with strangers.” But it's less likely to happen today, and it's probably going to be even less likely tomorrow.