In 2008, the Summer Olympics were held for the first time in Beijing, China, with over 4.7 billion people worldwide tuning into the television coverage. Currently, the Summer Olympics are taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but more people are watching the Olympics with a more modern approach rather than the standard television.

This year, many people around the world have tuned into events such as professional sports games, March Madness, and stream live shows on their mobile devices. The convenience, reliability, and high-definition of these devices makes it appealing to users. In this year’s Summer Olympics, more people are now tuning into their favorite olympic sports through live streaming.

Sophomore William Poss has enjoyed watching the Olympics this year on his phone.

“Live streaming is allowing me to watch the soccer games, and it is very easy to access. It is allowing me to watch what I want for free, and there are more events available on my phone,” said Poss.

During breaks at Grady, students are able to use their time to check up on events they missed. Sophomore Reed Fazenbaker takes advantage of free time at school to use his phone to live stream the events he missed.

“For at least thirty minutes per day, I am able to check up on soccer games that I may have missed out on,” said Fazenbaker.

As a result, there have even been questions if live streaming may take over television as a whole. Unlike television, live streaming has many events going on at once and can be used anywhere. However, junior Sho Dixon has different ideas about the potential live stream takeover.

“I highly doubt live streaming will take over television,” said Dixon, “because of the fact that why watch it on your phone when you will have a big screen right in front of you with more people watching it, too.”

Despite the easy accessibility and convenience of live streaming, television still remains the more popular and comfortable way to watch this year’s Summer Olympics. Fazenbaker and Poss both mentioned that live streaming can get a little uncomfortable on their eyes due to looking down at the small screen and bending their neck. In addition, they added that television has more entertainment values and can be enjoyed with more people. On the contrary, both noted that they still loved the fact of watching soccer games live on their phone without missing anything.

This is the first year Rio de Janeiro has hosted the Summer Olympics and the first year any South American country has hosted the Summer Olympics. With more people tuning in to live streams of the Summer Olympics than ever before, sophomore Scout McDaniel thinks there is no question in the increase of the popularity of live streaming.

“I think live streaming will become much more popular for sports watching because of its easy accessibility for people and the fact that people don’t have to miss a game they really want to watch, “ McDaniel said. “Pulling up a game on a mobile device is very desirable because it allows you to watch something as it’s happening, as opposed to having to wait until later when it’s already over.”