Hopefully, the coming days will see more perspectives, nostalgia and curtain raisers on the Olympics appearing in various sections of the media possibly invoking interest in sports among the youth. If you are not aware that the Olympic Games are just round the corner, one is not clear as to exactly who to blame. For, in the glorious past – which refers to a bygone era before the advent of smartphones and social media – newspapers, magazines and television channels would be awash with stories, features and nostalgic recollections about the Games by now that most people would be waiting to watch the opening ceremony on River Seine.
Of course, the opening ceremony of the Olympics became a visual staple for most of us only after the black and white television came into our drawing rooms. So people cuddled together to watch the breathtaking spectacle unfolding in some place like Los Angeles or Moscow or Seoul or Barcelona in front of television sets in either their own homes or a neighbour’s or a friend’s or a relative’s and marveled at it. Yes, not every home had a television set in those days when the Olympics kept the people in thrall. It was in those days that the youth, school children and college students, also played some games.
It was then that the maxim ‘All work and no play make Jack a dull boy’ was taken rather seriously by at least schools that earmarked periods for physical education. So children played some game or the other and even developed an ability to cope with failures – most of us failed to win because there were just three levels in the victory podium and successful sports persons had a tendency to reap medals and trophies. Nevertheless, we played whenever the sun shone. So when the Olympics happened, the media went to town featuring the sportspersons, giving background stories, providing data on records, medal tallies and so on.
People, too, lapped up all that the media dished out – initially in print and then on television – for most of the events were familiar to them. They know high jump, long jump, pole vault, sprint, long distance running and everything that happens on the playground, which was a familiar rendezvous for them. But today, as the world gears up for the XXXIII Olympiad, opening at Paris in France on July 26 and the participating athletes having already packed their bags, most people of this digital era seem to be oblivious of the globe’s biggest sporting event all set to unfold.
For, we have so many other things to know and update. With social media algorithms ensuring that we get automatic access to only those information that we had evinced interest in the past, the spectrum of content gets narrowed to suit individuals. Since an algorithm decides what is of interest to us, we, too, most often wallow in what is dished out to us in social media, which is different from the days when newspapers and television channels served as windows to the world. They provided the same view through a wide window to all of us and did not open personalized peep holes for individuals to view disparate images, by missing out on the whole picture. Now someone watching the never ending wedding show of an industrialist’s son will keep seeing it till the drama is over.
The point is that traditional mainstream media, be it print or electronic, offered a smorgasbord of news stories and features, curated by professionals and not an algorithm. So even those not keenly following sports will get a glimpse of the Olympics by flipping through the newspaper and just glancing at the headlines. But in social media everything that a particular consumer has not shown interest in will be blacked out by the algorithm that will show only things that they had expressed interest earlier.
So, someone depending only on social media – that tribe is growing day by day - for news updates might not have been alerted about the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris and someone who had shown faint interest in sports or athletics or Olympics would have been flooded with information on it. Perhaps that suits many of the modern generation youth who are selective in knowledge acquisition, least bothered about what happens beyond the walls of their gated communities and digitally guarded office complexes. But the Olympics that happen once in four years should evoke enthusiasm in a wider range of people because it could develop an overall liking for sports. By sports, I mean the real sports that one will get to watch at the Olympics and not those promoted by digital marketing companies.
Only by watching such mega events will children want to try playing traditional sports and games, which in the present day scenario might not be as popular as in the past. How well can one perform in whatever pursuit it is to achieve excellence in it is an inspiration that one can draw from the Olympics motto, ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ (faster, higher, stronger). That ‘Communiter’ (together) has been added to it shows that the Games could not be played in isolation ignoring the stark political realities of the world. But that is beside the point. What is important is that the Olympic spirit fosters an interest for sports among the young people. And the sporting spirit is something that is missing in the digital era.
