Imagine a world where computers, cellphones, televisions, movies and music did not exist; a world where this idea of ‘media’ was not even thought of. Walking down the streets not a single billboard would appear, not a single phone would be ringing, and no emails would be sent… A world completely disconnected with one another.
Today we are all accustomed to sending a quick text, email or phone call when we are in need of reaching someone. Try and think back to the last time you had something you needed to tell someone so you walked to their house to update them? Was it hours, days or months? Whichever it is, slowly we are losing grip of a media free world.
To me personally I believe that the media has a significant impact on my worldview – everyone’s for that matter. No matter where you go some type of media is influencing your world. For example, when I was in elementary school we had a monthly newsletter sent home to every student. However now, elementary students are now emailed a file of the newsletter. Also the same sort of technique is being done with online parent teacher interview sign up forms. When we were kids this sort of thing would never have happened. Not every person owned a computer, however, now it is next to impossible to hear of someone not owning a computer.
Another example of how media impacts our lives now like it never had before, (again with the school examples) is with online attendance and automated phone calls home. At my high school now attendance is done directly on the computer sent directly to the office and if someone is absent a machine calls home and leaves a message. This sort of thing wasn’t even considered possible years ago. Everyday Media is advancing in ways we never thought possible.
So the big questions… “So what?” So what is the media works in ways that it never did before? So what if our lives revolve around technology? Well here it is, we all rely on technology and media so greatly now that if it was taken away from us tomorrow most of us would not know how to function without it. How many times have we heard someone say, ‘I could never live without my phone!’ We all have to sit back and remember that not everything we read, see or hear is true just because it is plastered across every billboard across the world. In the same sense though it helps people and nations stay connected.
Media and Culture 