a random audience thought: practice

The Matrix, 1999

So I was in this brainstorm about males 16-24, and the idea of 'practice' came up. I think this is one concept that is rapidly losing its value to this audience. When I was little (1989), Jean Claude Van Damme spent fully more than half the movie KickBoxer just training. Now, in the Matrix (10 years on, 1999), Keanu simply downloads every martial art instantly into his brain and, 5 minutes later, bests Morpheus in combat. This sums up the attitude of this iGeneration/generation-N : that training and practice are generally not the smartest or easiest way to get something. There's no need to study hard just to retain knowledge when you can look up any fact in the world on the Internet. Similarly, the instant graftication of digital media e.g. getting free songs off P2P, and also the communities which exist to help you, mean that the simple act of typing a question on a forum and waiting to read the answers is about as hard as things get.


Kickboxer, 1989

While some brands exist in this 'practice' area, I think they miss out the crucial link between the practice and the tangible benefit it brings - e.g. I feel like sports brands often big-up training for training's sake, assuming that their audience see the grit, determination and sweat as positives.

Just thought I'd put this half thought here because there wasn't anywhere else for it. I guess it's another instance of don't assume the audience has the same values as you.