7 Convergence: When it all comes together

Throughout this book, we have been talking about various media, from books to television to social media.  We have discussed a little bit of history, a little bit of how those industries exist right now, and the ways we experience them.  The next step is to see how they all come together.  This chapter is really about discussing what we are all experiencing every day – the convergence of all of our media into one seamless “thing” (I really have no better word for this at the moment).  The written word intersecting with music intersecting with photos and social media feeds and movies and video games and … you get it.

The Essentials

• We are going to get deep in the weeds with this one. When you see the word “convergence,” and if you are a smart phone person, think about that phone.  Consider all of the things you do with it at the same time.  Now consider that all of those things you are doing are communicating all of the other things that are on that phone at the same time.  Convergence is not just about how are media are all happening at the same time – it is also about how our data is being traded and, you guessed, it profited from.
• Convergence discussions can easily lead to “dark side” conversations about the evil of the media. Keep in mind what we start the book out with – the media “is”.  It is a tool and a thing that serves a function.  It is all about who uses the tool that matters.  Just something to keep in mind.

What do we mean by “convergence”?

            The term “convergence” has been around for a while.  This term is often used to describe how our media merge, not just the types (newspapers available online, watching TV on your phones, etc.) but the media itself.  The idea that we can do all of it through one device or one login or at one time through one thing is also “convergence.”  Our messages and channels we receive those messages have converged – they have merged into one.

            Henry Jenkins really landed the idea of convergence in his book Convergence Culture back in 2006. Just the book cover suggests how provocative it was at the time … and how quaint the idea is now.  In 2006, the idea of the smartphone barely existed.  We had the Handspring Treo in 2002, which was more of a personal data assistant than an actual phone (yeah, I may have had one).  But the idea of the smartphone really began with the first iPhone in 2007 and the first Android smartphone (the HTC Dream slider) in 2008.  Streaming media was hardly a thing.  There were ways to listen to music and watch videos, and also download those files, but the networks were not there and the quality was less than great.  There was “high speed” Internet in 2006, true.  However, the ubiquity of it – the almost necessity of it – was not quite there yet.  Once we start to see smartphones (and this is more than the terrible internet browsers we had on our phones at the time) become intertwined with culture (thank you, advertising and Apple), the converged reality that Jenkins was talking about slowly begins to develop.

            Today, our media is truly all around us.  Check your pockets, your music playing devices, your TVs, your smart speakers, everything.  Is there ever a time when at least one or more is not playing something?  I know I have talked about how I am surrounded by various media.  I would show you a 360-degree photo of my home office … but that might be a little too much (this place looks like pop culture ate too much then came in here).  Needless to say, we have: two TVs (one also serves as my monitor), my laptop, a smart speaker that is currently streaming NPR, more than likely.  Stacks of CDs (yep, those), books, an old Voltron, framed concert tickets, and the list goes on.  Now, imagine all of that in one converged device.  Sound familiar?  THAT is convergence.

How does convergence affect our media products and us?

            Now that we have an idea of what convergence is, let’s take a look at how it has affected our media products and usage.  During the lockdown portion of the pandemic, our reliance on our devices hit a level that no one had ever expected, yet it worked.  We worked, played, visited, listened, watched, created, vented – everything, all through our devices.  The movie industry tried capitalizing on it.  They released movies that were meant to be summer blockbusters into streaming platforms as tests (Black Widow, part of Disney’s MCU franchise was the first big movie to try this.  It worked – sort of).  Musical acts who could no longer tour played concert in living rooms and basements, streaming them for anyone to watch – first to just keep playing and then to try and make some money from their crafts (music sales have gone down dramatically in favor of streaming services over the past several years, so playing live is really one of the only ways bands are able to at least break even).  Production, however, completely stopped while studios and society worked to figure it out.  We were stuck in our homes – but we had our devices.

            If we look at consumer electronics over the past five to ten years, we can see a dramatic integration of “smart” functionality into everything that you can buy at your big box store or online.  The user interface (the way you interact with a thing) of our smartphones has become a default in device development and design.  Rather than personal computers influencing the look and feel of our phones, it is the other way around.  “Apps” have become how we do things, rather than software.  Haptic response – that little vibration you experience when you touch a screen or feel a notification come through in your pocket – is how our “FOMO” (fear of missing out) is now just part of our everyday experience.  Does this conversation you have had with yourself sound familiar:

“Why has my pocket not vibrated?”

“Did I miss something?”

“I had better check” … again.

If it does, then you are experiencing exactly what the design of our media-centered world was meant for you to experience.  Remembering that media by and large is meant to make a profit (at least in the US), both devices and content need to attract you to the latest and greatest and keep you there … until the next latest and greatest.  By clicking, touching, playing, looking at, scrolling, watching, and listening, or even “missing out”, data is being collected. The more times you check that device, the more data you are providing (think back to the discussion about data above).  How has convergence affected our devices and our content?  Data collection.

Fast forward to right now – As a result of living through our devices even more than before the lockdown, the media products that are created by and for us inevitably adapt to those devices.  Now, video and audio content that we stream and download is “shaped” to work best within the parameters of our phones, tablets, and monitors (we can include “televisions” under the heading of “monitor” at this point – the only difference now typically is the existence of a tuner in the device and higher graphics processing for those that are using their monitors/TVs for gaming purposes).

            If there was ever a more clear demonstration of what convergence truly is, it was during the lockdown.  We were stuck in our homes for the most part, and our devices and what they could do became a lifeline.  As discussed above, our “black mirrors” become THE medium of choice out of necessity.  So, now that we are on the other side, we can ask the question: how has convergence affected our media products and, more importantly, how we interact/interface with them AND each other?  We are at the point of reflection, both personally and societally.  I do not have any answers here.  I am in the same place you are.  I have a suggestion, though: check the questions and strategies that I introduced above.  I am using that list of questions (and others) to help wrap my head around what our media lives (and, really, just our lives) look like right now.  Perhaps the ultimate closing for this section is “stay tuned for further details.”

One Word – “Algorithm”

            When you log into your Spotify account, do you use your Facebook profile?  Are you using Amazon or Google for shopping, watching TV, listening to music, reading books, or booking travel?  Do you wonder why something you were talking about suddenly shows up in your Instagram feed?  Does it seem like all of your digital spaces are talking to each other?

Fun Fact: They are.

Yes – all of them are talking to each other.  I give you “the algorithm.”  When Google first started, it toted the idea of “the algorithm” – this super-secret mathematical equation that helped link you with things you think you like based on the things you have searched for, posted, said, and – well – liked.  The more of this you do (remember that data that we have been discussing throughout the book?), the more “accurate” the algorithm becomes, resulting in the more actually accurate the algorithm can be at posting advertisements for products for you to look at, click, purchase, and further enhance your algorithm.

            Are your phones and smart devices listening to you?  Probably. After all – how do you think Google Assistant, Echo, and Siri work?  They listen and, through fairly standard voice recognition and computing software, respond to your questions or requests.  All of these questions, requests, and the like allow your company of choice (Google, Amazon, Apple, Samsung … the list can continue) to collect more and more data on you, both as an individual and a member of various demographic groups.  All of these devices work to create a digital “you.”

Wait – demographic data?  Absolutely.  While your data is important, the part you play in your demographic areas is equally essential to this process.  Age, weight, interests, status, photos, etc. – all of these further enhance how reliable the algorithm can be at reporting and, dare I say, predicting what you are thinking about and when you are thinking about.  As much as we want to embrace our uniqueness and individuality, we also often embrace the groups we belong to.  As we shop, post, and search, all of that begins to paint a data-based picture that can then be commoditized (given a monetary value) and sold.  This is how things like Facebook and Twitter are “free.”

How does this connect to convergence?  Well – if your searches, views, likes, etc. are all collected and used as data, where do you think it all comes from?  Yep, our little devices in our pockets, on our bookshelves, hanging on our walls, in our cars – you get the idea.  Converged media is not just about the media we consume (e.g., TV, music, reading, video games) and the media we produce (posts, pictures, likes, comments) but also our clicks.  If you are logged into something, you are creating data through your cookies and clicks. All of these are part of our converged media landscapes.

Is there an upside to convergence?  A downside?

This one is a question that we more than likely would respond with “it depends.”  The upside is that we can access everything – everywhere – all at once (yep, I am quoting the title to the 2022 movie AND it is exactly the right phrase for this moment).  With one device, a myriad of media are available at any time – when YOU want.  You are able to listen to music, podcasts, the radio (as long as your radio station is streaming online since FM receiver chips have become few and far between in smartphones) and whatever else peaks your fancy.  The same is true for any video content you wish to watch.  Many of the more straightforward video games are even available, and even the more complex ones have stripped down versions of the same titles so that you are never without access to that gamespace. On one side, we have true convenience because of our converged media …

… Yet, on the other side, we have a lifestyle that has been more and more co-opted by our media precisely because it is everywhere.  In our pockets, on our wrists, in our ears, in front of us, next to us.  Truly – everywhere.  There are fewer and fewer major players in the content creation and offering game.  Those that are owning more and more are no longer the just the creators of the content – they are the owners of the channels that we receive our media through.  Their goal is to keep you consuming the content they own that is flowing through their channels, meaning they control the content that is being created and the way you get to access it.

I think about the latest iteration that the NFL (National Football League) has created: NFL+.  The idea is that you can stream any local market game on your device, which you can easily do on other streaming services.  However, with the contract with Dish Network ending after this football season, it is pretty easy to see that soon all NFL content will move exclusively to NFL+ once contracts begin ending with the likes of ABC (Disney), NBC (owned by Comcast), CBS (owned by Paramount), and Fox Sports (owned by Rupert Murdoch and Fox Corp).  This control of content is a small example of what convergence can do to content, in particular who gets to access it and how.

Right now, Twitter has moved from being a publicly traded company back to being a private platform owned by Elon Musk.  As I am writing this, Musk is actively trying to figure out what to do with this thing now that he owns it.  He has laid off half of his staff (and, by some reports, begging/asking some of them to come back).  He has monetized identity itself – and made it easier for users to steal an identity and create content under a moniker that is not theirs.  He is learning what those that have studied social media since its inception have been stating for years … that a truly free public sphere is not easy and often pushes against the idealized spaces that were once envisioned by The Well^[1] and others.  At the same time, Twitter (even though it is one of the smallest social media/microblogging spaces currently – we will see what happens with Mastodon) started as a way for brands to promote themselves in a new way then quickly became an open platform for comment and discussion.  It is, for the most part, much more open than the other current platforms.  It has converged with our television, our politics, our music, our sports, our interests, and our ideas.  Convergence is not just about the tech – it is about the media and the tech and us.  Twitter (and other social media) helps us better understand the response “it depends.”

The decision point within convergence – what should we and should we not put out there.

            There is one element we have not discussed yet.  In this converged space, since we are both consumer and creator, there are some moral and ethical questions we are confronted with.  These are questions about what should we put out there, what should we not put out there, and how do we figure this out.  This section discusses those questions and concerns.

There is no denying the power that these decisions represent is something that anyone with access can use.  Keep in mind that it has not been very long since the vast majority of us had to get up and use a phone that was connected to a landline to contact anyone (yes – cell phones existed even in the 1970s and 1980s, but they were not EVERYWHERE as they are now) in an electronic way.  The idea that one device can be used as a phone, a camera, a video camera, a recording device, a computer, a gaming platform, a production studio, and even a health tracking and diagnostic tool was something that even Star Trek did not have (they still had communicators and tricorders separate, remember?).  With these converged technologies, it just becomes so easy to record anyone or anything, edit that to your liking, and post it … whether you had permission or not.  It is just as easy to create content meant to harm others and get it out there for the world to see, read, or listen to.  As we know, once something is “out there,” bringing it back is nearly impossible. The effect … or damage … is done.