I don't know if you've heard, but Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. Wild news, I know. I'll give you a second to process this. 

Kidding of course, there's not a person alive with access to the internet that didn't hear about this story minutes or hours after it transpired. The Will Smith/Chris Rock incident is the most exaggerated example of the fruit fly life cycle of major stories covered in today's media. 

The news cycle spins faster than ever with everyone plugged in at all times. With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and others, there are more social media platforms than ever before. That means there are more voices, more opinions, and more chatter than we've ever had. Never mind the countless podcasts, radio shows, studio TV shows, and all of the content platforms that need the fuel of big stories to fill the time. Because of this, we chew up stories and spit them out so fast that it makes our heads spin. 

Think about this, and I have no data to back this up, but just follow me here.

How long did it take you after last Sunday night at the Oscars and the infamous incident took place to become absolutely repulsed by the number of people that commented on it? For me, it was roughly 12 hours. And that's probably pushing it. We're talking about 2 of the biggest celebrities in our culture getting into a physical altercation at one of the most prestigious gatherings of the year, and it was all broadcast on national television. Even with that, we became tired of that story so fast.

In order to keep it afloat for those in the entertainment industry, there had to be new wrinkles, back story, Jim Carey and other celebs chiming in. The story has pretty much fizzled out already. It's a footnote, and now we move on to the next thing. Keep in mind that this was only a week ago. Yet, it feels like every angle of this story has been uncovered, every meme that could be posted has been, and in some ways – it has become old news. A 7-day old story, filled with all the drama you could ever ask for, is met with a collective "yawn, what's next?". 

This phenomenon is no different in the sports world. We talked about Russell Wilson getting traded for a good year plus, then it happens, we tire the story out in 24 hours, and it's onto the next. Tom Brady shocked the world when he chose to retire, and then subsequently unretire. It's one of the biggest sports stories ever, and did we really let that story marinade in our industry? Or did we chew it up, spit it out, and move on to the next QB on the move? Brady announced his return to the football field on March 13th. A full week hadn't even passed and we were on to Deshaun Watson getting traded. 

Just this past weekend Coach K lost in the Final Four, it will be the final game he'll ever coach in college basketball. Yet, I guarantee we won't spend more than a day on it before we feed our insatiable news palate with something else like "will Tiger return to play at the Masters?".

And poof! Our attention is diverted once again. 

This is the reality of our business now. What I can't figure out is if it's healthy or not. Is it serving us well to keep it moving or are we creating a landscape where we tire too quickly on stories and we are not appreciating them or covering them properly? No doubt, the news cycle today spins faster than ever, and I suppose that as long as the news itself keeps flooding the marketplace with interesting content, we'll be able to keep up with the rapid way in which people digest the news. We'll have to wait and see if the content bubble ever bursts, but for now, I guess we should just enjoy the ride.