Well, for people upholding certain cultural values like me, which are not exactly too far-fetched, it's pretty obvious why an era where people watch live gaming in droves is depressing when contrasted with the decline of journalism.
I'd rather there was a citizenry that read the Washington Post more than watching others play video games (or NFL or whatever) more. Maybe people would have a better handle of politics, and the economy and what's going on around them.
> Well, for people upholding certain cultural values like me, which are not exactly too far-fetched, it's pretty obvious why an era where people watch live gaming in droves is depressing when contrasted with the decline of journalism
I think you're just getting old - and I don't mean it in an insulting way. You can be certain that the Greatest Generation weren't pleased with how the baby boomers were not "upholding certain cultural values" when they were listening to Rock n' Roll instead of "real music"[1]: and yet now Rock n' Roll has it's own cultural cachet. Culture is dynamic. I do empathize with you, but complaining that the younger generation is losing values is an old, old phenomenon.
Personally, as a DC native now living far away, I think a citizenry reading WaPo seems like a frightening bunch of conformists. Yes I am aware of what they did in the 70s. Different paper now.
Sure, but that's in theory. In practice we have tons of uninformed people -- which one can see not just in personal encounters but in all kinds of polls and research --, and a heavy increase in shallow entertainment.
That's implying that it hasn't always been like that. The masses are usually looking for things to enjoy themselves with, it's not like a century ago people were more well-informed about what was happened.
>That's implying that it hasn't always been like that.
I don't ascribe to the "culture is always the same constant thing quality-wise, nothing ever changes but fashions" viewpoint.
From all I've read from others and experienced personally, I see that even if that well-informed culture in the past only concerned/involved like 5% of the people, the equivalent 5% is worse off today.
At least in my country, along with the usual entertainment stuff, 20 or 30 years ago we had several excellent newspapers with big circulations. Editorial standards now are at an all time low -- and even worse for the internet outlets that replaced them.
Same with TV -- the quality of TV product has shrank considerably, from high brow movies and talk shows to the equivalent of Oprah or reality TV.
TV news for example, started with a couple of presenters giving an overview of current events in a somber tone and well written copy, and it has since the late nineties turned into the equivalent of a Geraldo show, with "dramatic" music, overdone titles, and the hosts having guests in PIP windows arguing at each other.
I don't hold the idea that it's the news sources fault. Even with all the crap on mainstream media, there are more than enough excellent sources (including free) and a lower than ever barrier to access them.
So, I consider it like I would consider a lack of caring of the environment, or for helping people in the streets, or inversely, an increase in racism etc: as the fault of the people not caring -- not of others that failed to convince them to care.
The #1 thing for a citizen is personal responsibility.
It's better to have ways that work with human dopaminergic feedback system instead of hoping for good-will and perseverence of the few gems of society. We are flawed as biological creatures. Our motivations are few and far. Good tech should warrant use onto itself. Good governmental systems should warrant good use onto its citizens. And good news/media/information systems should warrant good knowledge and information and affinity for that - upon its users.
That's part of what's depressing.