More societal change due to technology

There's a report out today on Yahoo! News about the movie industry and trends in it: Movie crowds dip to 16-year low as apathy lingers I think this is both the result of a few factors, at least, going on now as well as technology. First, the article states that movie attendance is down ever since James Cameron's breakthrough "Avatar" blockbuster. Fine. That's one thing. More things are that computers and "smart phones" and ipads are giving people (younger people mostly, so far) access to more entertainment and "distractions" like movies and videos and just things to occupy their time. This, largely, combined with the lack of good films, in spite of their large--huge?--quantity, makes for these smaller audiences, too, I think. That and the downturn in the economy so instead of paying to go see a movie, you just stay on your computer/iphone/ipad/"smart phone" or whatever. Here's another thought, too--what if, sadly, we are getting shorter and shorter attention spans from these things so we either don't want to or can't commit our attention spans to a two hour movie? (Yikes. Let's hope not). Here's another thought--like the slow decline of bowling and all that social interaction, what if we are becoming less publicly social this way, too, so we go see less movies at theaters? Finally, it is SO much less expensive--and comfortable--to stay at home, put a movie on the TV--likely a flat screen with it's beautiful picture--and watch there. And this is all before the movie theaters themselves go fully digital, too. When that happens, the movie makers have said they want the films to be released for viewing in people's homes at the same time they "open" in movie theaters. So, the movie theater? Let's face it, it's doomed. Link to original story: http://news.yahoo.com/movie-crowds-dip-16-low-apathy-lingers-153925810.html;_ylt=AhN5c4UXK6SF0Lq2PfJg_was0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTRkc2ZrdjR0BG1pdANTZWN0aW9uTGlzdCBGUCBFbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50BHBrZwM3YWEzM2YyZi01MWQyLTM5M2UtYTIwNS0xMGUyODM5NTJlMDMEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhU2VjdGlvbkxpc3QEdmVyAzVlOWI4MzkwLTMxNmEtMTFlMS04ZGZmLWNlM2RlNzVhZDg0Ng--;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3