Some of these choices are frivolous: you choose to take a later train. Some of them are major: you choose to attend Northwestern. Except each choice, no matter how small, has the potential to be life-changing. The later train could get delayed, be where you meet a new friend or just someone who shows you a slightly different side of the world. Such small choices like these are exactly what make up the media landscape in a world of such immense choice and options. Do I watch T.V. or listen to my iPod? Do I see this movie or that one at the 18-screen megaplex? Or do I simply rent one on Netflix or iTunes? These choices make little difference to the viewer, but are worth everything to media outlets.

Why does someone choose to see that movie over the other? It is a question of survival for media and advertising in terms of dollars. But what if something greater is at stake than money? It makes no difference to the viewer which studio gets their dollars, but it does make a difference to them whether they see something life-altering, like that passenger on the train. If we are in control of something that could change lives and the world by making people care, these tiny decisions are everything. Sitting in a movie theater but still learning about the water crisis, hunched over a computer screen reading about genocide in Darfur: how do audiences end up here? Why are WE here? To make their answers mean more than the chance that they just happened to sit down and see it.