Media consumption coalesces; media consumption refragments

You'll probably have seen by now the new economic theory of "hedonic" marriage from Betsy Stevenson and Justin Wolfers -

"So what drives modern marriage? We believe that the answer lies in a shift from the family as a forum for shared production, to shared consumption...the key today is consumption complementarities — activities that are not only enjoyable, but are more enjoyable when shared with a spouse. We call this new model of sharing our lives 'hedonic marriage'. 

...Hedonic marriage is different from productive marriage. In a world of specialisation, the old adage was that “opposites attract,” and it made sense for husband and wife to have different interests in different spheres of life. Today, it is more important that we share similar values, enjoy similar activities, and find each other intellectually stimulating. Hedonic marriage leads people to be more likely to marry someone of their similar age, educational background, and even occupation. As likes are increasingly marrying likes, it isn’t surprising that we see increasing political pressure to expand marriage to same-sex couples.

...the high divorce rates among those marrying in the 1970s reflected a transition, as many married the right partner for the old specialization model of marriage, only to find that pairing hopelessly inadequate in the modern hedonic marriage."

Thus, hedonic marriage. Alas, just as we arrive at this happy point in human history where people come together and form families not to optimise their productive capacity but to enjoy themselves more, Sue Unerman and Simon Waldman come along to smash it all up again. Unerman:

"The BBC is teaching us to watch TV on our laptops. It is also arguably hastening the decline of viewing as a family. While this represents a minority of viewing in our house, and is largely programme-led (Dr Who, The Simpsons, Soccer AM), we still gather on significant occasions to watch and discuss TV shows."

And Simon:

"Chez Waldman, the iPlayer has no role. Once the children are finally asleep, it is bad enough that we both sit with laptops while watching TV, but the idea of sitting with laptops on our laps without the TV on, and with us both watching separate things…hell, that’s practially social meltdown!

We want to believe that media is becoming more social. And in many ways it is. But with individuals able to get what they want, when they want it, there is an equal and opposite process making media into something  inherently less social...

...But here’s the flip side - A few weeks ago, I saw a family of four sit down in the Starbucks in Cobham on a Sunday afternoon. They all pulled out their Nintendo DSs and  sat in silence playing  a game against  each other. Is that  the new form of family bonding?"

It seems that what economic prosperity gives us with one hand, technology takes away with the other. Qua the Stevenson / Wolfers hedonic marriage model, it makes sense for our friends / wives / badminton partners to be people with whom we share interests - increasingly so as we move inexorably (if largely unknowingly) into a leisure economy. But as technology attenuates the very definition of "friend" and gives us 24/7 access to thousands of these acquaintances, the idea of sharing media consumption only with the people who happen to be in the same location as us begins to look quaint and foolish. Sure, as I sit down to watch Shaun of the Dead for the hundredth time I can try and make my wife sit through it with me, but with friends who are big fans of the film only a text message away I'll probably end up talking to them about it instead.