So, what is the Future of Digital Media? Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Panel Doesn’t Seem to Know Either

Written by Midnight Adams, MSc Humanitarianism, Aid and Conflict.

Amelia Dimoldenberg’s recent event on the future of digital media at the Southbank Centre in London proved that even the current kings and queens of the digital world are uncertain about its future.

The selection of panellists was at best eclectic, and at worst out of touch with younger creatives. The panel featured Ione Gamble (Founding Editor-in-Chief of Polyester Magazine), Bisoye Babalola (founder of Holiday Club Studios), and comedian Tom Austin.

Amelia’s humour, backed by Tom’s genuinely good comedic timing, saved the day for an event which seemed to struggle to place its own target audience.

Amelia recently announced she will be moving away from Chicken Shop Dates - the web series that built her career over the past 11 years. Instead, she expressed an interest in moving on to more serious work, hinted in her brief mention of a future collaboration with the BBC. 

The panel, therefore, felt like a slightly awkward shift as she began to present herself with a little more nuance and seriousness. 

But the evening did offer important insight into the development of the algorithm over the past decade, as well as an increasing weariness over social media, which Ione perfectly encapsulated when she said: 

‘I think we are sick of constantly being bombarded with straight up advertisements or brands trying to be relatable.’

She later added, 'It's really depressing that smart and funny creatives are having to tailor their content to what the algorithm wants.’

And this pressure of the algorithm determining both what is made and how it is consumed also clearly plays on Tom’s mind as a creator.

‘I hate how the endless scroll continues,’ he noted, adding: ‘a few years ago you curated [the algorithm], you worked hard to find a certain video. But now it’s just what you are told to like.’

Clearly the comedian of the group, he had to draw on his own experience as a creator, saying:

‘A few years ago I was doing this piece where I was a goblin in my room, and the engagement was high, so for six weeks I was basically schizophrenic with this goblin.’

While there’s still some room for creativity, the suppression of alternative political messaging was of greater concern to both Ione and Amelia, as Ione reflected: 

‘The way that we interact with anything online is becoming so tightly controlled, from political censoring to brands, it’s not a democratic place anymore.’

While algorithms took centre stage, the panel notably avoided making any reference to the growing use of AI across digital landscapes - which is surely the biggest conversation point when it comes to the future of digital media.

Perhaps they felt that ignoring the issue would make it go away, but it feels amiss to not at least consider the impact that AI is having on newer creatives. 

As more and more jobs across the sector are being taken over by machines, surely the future of digital media needs to better consider how adaptation to or rejection of AI are going to shape the next decade of media. A group of homegrown creatives was the perfect opportunity to centre this debate, and the evening certainly suffered without it.

Feelings seemed mixed as Amelia closed the panel by asking for opinions on the future of the internet - a precarious question to say the least.

‘I see a bright future,’ offered an optimistic Bisoye, who has somehow been able to manufacture a community of positivity and hope out of the digital world.

But Amelia’s perspective was perhaps a more honest reflection on the politics of social media, as she reflected:

“Sometimes I think there will be a world where everyone is in a social media rehab.”

“It’s my job and it’s given me so much. It’s a canvas in which we can all create but I think it’s also a beast as well that needs to be controlled.”

A beast is definitely one way to describe the digital medium, and as AI content creators seep into platforms across the globe, it seems likely that beast is only going to become more unpredictable.

Maybe the future of digital media is, indeed, a detox from it all.