No one "consumes" TV. You watch TV. Whether on a flat-screen HD TV or on a smartphone.
No one consumes a book. You read it, whether in physical or electronic form. Same with newspapers, web sites, magazines and billboards.
You listen to the radio, to iTunes, to your iPod, Pandora and Spotify. Not to mention live music, lectures and speeches.
None of this changed with the invention and popularization of the Internet. And yet... we are now said to be "consuming media," as in these simple examples pulled from the web:
- How Kids Consume Media: Business Insider
- Pew conducts a periodic "Media Consumption Survey"
- Mashable: "3 News Ways to Create and Consume Media"
In fact, it appears that "consume media" and "media consumption" are the most popular and obvious forms of this usage. We have not yet (thankfully) made the transition to "consuming" types of media, as in my examples above, so that "consume" replaces those fine words that refer to the senses we use to experience various forms of communication.
"Consume" is a great word but it means something far afield from reading, watching or listening, all acts that leave the thing we are reading, watching or listening to intact. The first three dictionary definitions of "consume" lay out the problem:
1. to destroy or expend by use; use up. 2. to eat or drink up; devour. 3. to destroy, as by decomposition or burning
Consumption is a transformative act. At most, the final definition offered by dictionary.com hints at the way this word has been co-opted: "to absorb; engross." Yes, when I am at a Springsteen concert I am absorbed in it and engrossed by it. But I have not consumed the sounds or sights. They remain intact for others to enjoy (and bootleg).
And yet... this usage appears to have taken hold. Some of the links above are already a couple of years old.
"Consume media" seems to have slid into the lexicon as a sort of high-tech phrase for experiencing all media in general, not one type of media in particular. Further, I can't think of another phrase that it is displacing, so what we have here is a "neologism" - one of my favorite words. As dictionary.com will tell you, that's "a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase." BTW, "neologism" is pronounced nee-OL-uh-jiz-uhm. You're welcome.
1. to destroy or expend by use; use up. 2. to eat or drink up; devour. 3. to destroy, as by decomposition or burning
Consumption is a transformative act. At most, the final definition offered by dictionary.com hints at the way this word has been co-opted: "to absorb; engross." Yes, when I am at a Springsteen concert I am absorbed in it and engrossed by it. But I have not consumed the sounds or sights. They remain intact for others to enjoy (and bootleg).
And yet... this usage appears to have taken hold. Some of the links above are already a couple of years old.
"Consume media" seems to have slid into the lexicon as a sort of high-tech phrase for experiencing all media in general, not one type of media in particular. Further, I can't think of another phrase that it is displacing, so what we have here is a "neologism" - one of my favorite words. As dictionary.com will tell you, that's "a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase." BTW, "neologism" is pronounced nee-OL-uh-jiz-uhm. You're welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment