What Entertains You in the Digital Age?

With a multitude of platforms to sample the latest entertainment offerings on, how do you get your kicks? Do you go to work listening to your music player or perhaps you watch the news on the move? On your lunch break, there's always the internet to browse through a range of programming and then the gadget savvy can come home and relax with a choice of hundreds of television channels. Whether it's 'Crimewatch', an old episode of 'Fawlty Towers' or a live football match, we're spoilt for choice.

This has now become the atypical 'day in the life' for the majority of us who consume different types of media. In the past, we may have sat at breakfast, leafing through the newspaper delivered every morning or flicked through a magazine. As our lives have become increasingly rushed, we're more likely to order a traveling latte while scrolling through online content on an iPhone.

Amazingly, despite technological innovations, it's still possible to become bored with what's on offer. There are even websites plying their trade online to help us fill the spare moments of the day.

Of course, there are always advances to try and keep us entertained. New video games, new phones, new computers and new gadgets. According to the results of the 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey, '73% of people own digital cameras, while 62% own mobile phones that have access to the Internet; while near the bottom, only 27% have cable television and 9% use a Blackberry or PDA.' (in the UK)

These figures may have changed in the last couple of years but the trends will probably remain the same.

We're a world who demand entertaining. Indeed, most sports are no longer treated as such by those 'consuming the product'. Rather, a new breed of fan demands to be entertained, seeking immediate gratification.

In this digital age, some form of entertainment is never further than the click of a button. Compatibility is key and the majority of platforms are interlinked to the extent that you can hook up a PC to a TV, browse the internet from a phone and take photos from a phone or digital camera, ready to be uploaded to a PC and then a digital frame.

The digital age has brought incredible breakthroughs to both entertain and enrich our lives. For the innovators, boredom simply isn't an option.

William Geldart is a freelance writer and writes a blog over at http://www.armchairsanddeckchairs.blogspot.com, commenting on the issues concerning High Wycombe and Bournemouth. He is also working on scripts for radio and television and loves to hear your thoughts so drop him a line at willgeldart@hotmail.co.uk.