‘Innovative’ Things That Are Taking Steps Backward

Innovation is an inevitable part of Science and Technology, and it is what keeps the global business alive. Without innovation, there would be no blooming trades or flourishing markets. It is all connected with one group of people producing new products with the other group purchasing those new products and vice versa. And this further results in inventing and discovering newer stuff and move forward. However, the thing doesn’t turn out to be as simple always, and there are a few times when Innovative ideas take a step backward rather than moving forward:

Netflix’s Content Is Getting Mediocre By The Day

When Netflix started its business in 1998, it was one of the few services that had begun offering DVD rental online. The idea was new, and with just over a 1000 titles, Netflix rose to become the best streaming service ever with tons of content. However, moving an approx. Of 20 years ahead to 2020, Netflix still has tons of content but is also faced with tremendous competition.  With the most anticipated launch of Disney + streaming service, Netflix has suffered a significant setback in its customers’ accounts. To make the situation worse, there are other streaming services like Hulu, HBO Now, Amazon Prime, Sting TV, and the list goes on.

With the world we live in today, people don’t have time to watch TV except for the weekends. The preference would be a choice of streaming service that would not cost too much and have quality content. If we talk about Netflix, there were some honourable mentions by Netflix’s own production house like Orange is the New Black, Marco Polo, and Bojack Horseman. But after that, it started losing customers as it could not deliver more quality content. The revival strategy of Netflix was to include tons and tons of second-rate content like Fuller house, Uncut Gems, Sandy Wexler, Murder Mystery, to name a few. It seemed that some Hollywood actors like Adam Sandler were now working for Netflix as a 9 to 5 job, acting in whatever role offered.

This run-of-the-mill content seemed to work for some time as the target audiences were the housewives and retired people who had nothing much to do, staying the house for days. This also gave rise to pathetic game shows where all the participants seemed to have issues and came from poor societies and participated in striking rich. Even worse were the Big Brother reality shows, which surprisingly worked and became the talk of the town. This encouraged Netflix to pay attention to the quantity of different and original content rather than quality. More ludicrous content includes The Circle, Dating Around, and Terrace House. And the final result would be rebooting and stretching of older soap operas, which would mean more of The Bold and The Beautiful related content.

Also Read: Technologies That Can Create Future Disruption

1)  Podcasters Are Going To Meet The Same Fate As Radio Hosts

There was a time when 50% of the world was hooked on the Radio, and some Radio celebrities like Joe Rogan had become household names with people trusting them more than anyone else. Many radio hosts tried to awaken the people by exposing facts and figures in between playing songs and other entertaining talk shows. Some of them were heard, and others abandoned. Those abandoned started recording their voices and started circulating through the internet, and this gave rise to the concept of Podcasts.

Podcasts have become immensely popular, with millions of people tuning in a particular website or channel to hear what their favourite Podcasters have to say. Some of the most popular ones are My Favourite Murder, The Bill Simmons Podcast, and finally, the Joe Rogan Experience. The hosts of all the popular podcasts are becoming richer per second and have started creating YouTube channels as well, which is, of course, increasing their income.

The same pattern was observed with the old Radio Hosts, who eventually created TV Shows, but the question is what happened to them finally.  With the innovation of Podcasts, something new was introduced, and this lead to the Radio industry drift away slowly into oblivion. The same can be predicted for Podcast hosts where the number has increased exponentially, and everyone other guy is trying to express his/her feelings expecting others to listen. Many good Podcasters will also get lost in the current ocean of Podcast, and slowly this innovative technology will have to step backward, giving rise to something new.

Also Read: Top Emerging Technologies: What’s Hot In 2020?

2) Cryptocurrency Will Disappear For Sure

When I heard of Crypto Currency for the first time, it sounded like striking gold out of thin air. There was no buying and selling and nothing visible, and yet some people became rich overnight. This lead to others investing in the Crypto business, and then all of a sudden, everyone incurred a loss. The game did not end with this, and as in a real computer game has many levels, so did the Crypto business began introducing new challenges. Some of these challenges included hackers being able to steal your Crypto and Crypto miners being able to use your computer to generate more Crypto.

Speaking of mining, most metals are mined from their cores found in the Earth’s crust, including Gold. The number of Gold reserves was earlier used to determine how much money a country’s government could print and could also get a loan from the World Bank. The physical aspect of Gold provided a sense of assuredness about the amount of money one had. But with currency being mined in computers, it is just a digital number that is being increased or decreased. There is no physical aspect, and neither is it linked to the Gross Domestic Product of any country or based on Imports and Exports. In short, CryptoCurrencies will soon vanish as they appeared out of nowhere.

Also Read: Technology Fueling Or Resolving Depression? A Sneak-Peek Into The Hassle.

3)     Spotify Has Changed From A Commercial-Free Music Streaming Service To A Normal Radio Station

A hell lot of commercials was the reason for people shifting from Main Stream Radio Stations to music streaming services like Spotify. This helped people to stop wasting their 60% of radio listening time from commercials to songs that they wanted to listen to. Listening to the radio was being at their mercy and listening to those songs that were played by the station. What if there was something specific you wanted to hear today without having to pay for the entire CD? That is how Spotify got famous, and it also devised an algorithm to pick out songs that were similar to the user’s choice and suggested them in the recommended songs section.

This helped Spotify to achieve a user base of 200 million customers, and this led to the idea of generating money by creating Premium accounts. In contrast, the non-premium customers could listen to free music, and something else – You guessed it right – commercials. Well, someone had to pay for all those free songs. It is still better than those radios because, after the hellish ad, you always get a choice in Spotify to choose your songs.

I prefer to take some time out from my busy life and select a few songs from YouTube and download them for Offline mode. This way, I save battery and internet data and can listen to my favourite songs. The effort is to take out time and listen to an extensive collection available on YouTube and download them for later.

Also Read: Spookiest Ways Technology And We Are Evolving Together!

The Final Word ‘Innovative’ Things That Are Taking Steps Backward

Everything is susceptible to change as the law of nothing remains constant stays prevalent in our world. And with that, all innovations and technologies popular today will either lose demand or disappear entirely from the face of the Earth. The reasons for changes taking a backward step are not always the result of a better technology discovered but often the monotonous style which people get bored of and, most importantly, the attempt of monetization of innovation while letting unfavourable factors like advertisement funding the free version.

Follow us on social media – Facebook and YouTube. For any queries or suggestions, please let us know in the comments section below. We would love to get back to you with a solution. We regularly post on the tips and tricks along with answers to common issues related to technology. Subscribe to our newsletter to get regular updates on the tech world.

Suggested Reading:

Addictive Technologies That Took Us By Storm

Best Technologies Unveiled And Launched At CES 2020 That Blew Our Minds