When I was younger I would gain my sports media “diet” from talk shows such as First Take and Undisputed, while also watching Sportscenter. Social media was just getting popular so talk shows and news articles were the main sources of me getting informed on current events in sports. These outlets would often go into depth about topics and debates were often a factor in talk shows. 

My sports communication “diet” now consists of me getting my sports information from Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. These outlets include clips and posts informing me about news and discussions instead of full segments and articles. These often did not go into depth and instead relied on headlines and clickbait to gather a larger audience. Many people, such as myself, often use these to gain information fast. These outlets aren’t always reliable but they’ve gotten popular in recent years because of how easy the information is distributed among people on social media. 

In the next five years, I think it will continue to involve clickbait and headlines that allow people to access information faster even if it isn’t always reliable. I also think a lot of sports media will get more opinionated. While on Twitter especially, most people I follow will ignore analysis on sports and instead get their opinion out. Although stating your opinion on subjects is always fine, I would prefer if more analysis was used in discussions. I also believe that humor has played a huge role in modern sports media. This is because it usually results in more clicks. 

 If I could wave a magic wand and make one change to the sport communication landscape it would be to make analysis of actual games and strategies prevalent again, instead of narratives being pushed to create clicks and controversy. This would help younger fans gain more knowledge on the game, while casual fans will be more informed.