Evolution
is a key aspect in the functioning of societies and ultimately, is inevitable.
All known societies work toward advancements that allow living to be easier and
more available to communities. When the advancement of technology became
prevalent it opened up many doors for communication, and led to a new way of
living. The use of media and technology in society in the fields of allowing broader
communication, providing information, and granting creativity illuminates the
idea that the use of advanced technology produces a positive impact for
cultures universally.
When
Johannes Gutenburg first invented moveable type in the fifteenth century it
marked the very beginning of mass communication. People were able to write
stories quicker by straying away from the previous hand-written method, and
once pictorial prints were being mass-produced they were used to help the literate
culture visualize what they were reading. Once printing was invented, short
stories, known as chapbooks, were being mass-produced along with the novel,
which was a new type of book that included life experiences and presented
morality through numerous themes written in serial form. These stories were
spread everywhere, to the furthest expanses of their range, positively
influencing the general population by increasing literacy rates just through
exposure. The phenomenon of printing, in consequence, marked the start of the
industrial revolution. “The development of printing, which led to the spread of
literacy to the middle classes, and the emergence of trade commerce caused
major cultural changes in Western civilization” (McGraw-Hill). When the industrial revolution became prominent the
workweek was shortened, allowing more leisure time and, as a result, sports,
reading, and entertainment became an important part of American culture. As
things became more popular they became mass-produced which, correspondingly,
led to the expansion of a majority of goods to all societal classes, and, in
turn, a vast decrease in the elite culture. As time advanced, so did the
technology in culture. Social media became very important as it allows society
to communicate on a broader spectrum. “Communication is a process involving the
sorting, selecting, and sharing of symbols to help the receiver elicit from his
or her own mind a meaning similar to that in the mind of the communicator”
(McGraw-Hill). Some may argue that technology ruined life’s experiences,
however, social media has allowed people to express themselves and open up to
the world of how they act, eat, dress, etc. and additionally allows society to
exchange and share ideas of what they desire and don’t desire. The main
advancement in social media is the elimination of the limitations of distance.
Online communication is achieved in ten seconds of what used to take multiple
days or even months through hand written mail. This express form of
communication is an undeniably positive advancement on a universal scale as it
allows business to be done more availably as well as speaking with a loved one
miles away. In the documentary Craigslist Joe, a man named Joe Garner began
a month long venture out in to the world with nothing except for the clothes he
was wearing, his phone, computer, and Craigslist; he presented his thesis
stating his concern of how America may be too invested in themselves and wanted
to discover whether or not there is still any community out there. When the
month ended his mother asked him to sum up his experience in ten words or more
and he said it was, “By far in a way the most inspiring experience of my life.
The generosity of people, the stories they shared, and the connections I’ve
made in one month was so deep and just meeting everyone along the journey and
having people invite a complete stranger in to their homes and feed me and go
out and share themselves and their lives with me, it was truly inspiring on
humanity, to know that we can take care of each other” (Garner). By creating
relationships with people across America and having them provide for him while
Joe would provide his emotional support and company, this Craigslist experience
proved that empathy is possible via the technological interface and that there
is in fact a community still very prominent in America. The use of technology
only aids society’s ability to communicate on a broader level. These pieces of
evidence provide justification that technology has been, and continues to administer
positive connections locally and internationally.
Not
only does the evolution of technology allow the media and society to
communicate on a broader spectrum but it also provides the ability for America
to stay in touch with what is happening around the world and to remain
informed. Empathy is key in helping people to connect with each other. If a
person can sympathize with another’s life experiences they immediately connect
on a deeper level because we relate our emotions with theirs. Within Roman Krznaric’s, The Power of Outrospection, he states, “Instead of the age of
introspection we need to shift to the age of outrospection, and by
outrospection I mean the idea of discovering who you are and what to do with
your life by stepping outside yourself, discovering the lives of other people,
other civilizations, and the ultimate art form for the age of outrospection is
empathy”(Krznaric). Empathetic bonds come
from the ability to show solidarity and share common experiences with people,
as this allows cultures to relate to each other. As an increased amount of people
reach out to each other more empathetic bonds form. Within Jeremy Rifkin’s, Empathetic Civilization, he
indicates, “We are soft wired to
experience another’s plight as if we are experiencing it ourselves” (Rifkin). Dr.
Rizzolatti, an Italian Neurophysiologist, discovered that neurons fire through
observation, which has been deemed as mirror neurons. Advancements in
technology are used by the media to stimulate these mirror neurons, which causes
emotion in their audience and motivates them to contribute to their cause in an
act of empathy. For example the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals) or UNICEF (United Nations Children Fund) enhanced the
advancements in commercials by making them horribly depressing because they
know that looking at a sad child or puppy will provoke those mirror neurons to
fire, and as a result, the chances of someone donating money raises because of
relation to the expressed cause. Additionally, donating money will allow for
the donator to feel better about himself or herself because they’ll believe
that they’re actually helping someone out. An example of this is the company
TOMS that includes the one for one program where when you buy a pair of their
shoes, another pair is shipped off to a third world country and is given to someone
in desperation. However, by performing this act, many people feel better
because they believe they are helping out by attempting to relate to the
situation when in reality they don’t completely understand it. Buying a struggling
person a pair of shoes is great and generous but in the end the person is still
in the same position they were in before they had the pair of shoes. This
proves that a person lacks understanding of the intensity of the situation they
are relating to because they aren’t contributing to their full extent, or supplying
the correct items. Within Slavoj Zizek’s, First
as Tragedy, Then as Farce, he mentions that, “The worst slave owners were
those who were nice to their slaves” (Zizek). There comes hypocrisy of charity
because people who give could do better instead of just doing enough to make themselves
feel better because they believe they are being empathetic. It would be best to
experience the situation in which the person being helped is in because that
way it can be better understood how it is being helped and how impactful the
help provided was. Through experience empathy is gained more extendedly. While
it may be difficult to experience a situation personally, technology has
allowed people all over the world to view the countries in need, which allow
relation to people and their daily strife.
While
the use of advanced technology for the media and society allows for expansive
contact and worldly knowledge, it conjointly grants people the capability to
get in touch with their creative side. People are able to express themselves
freely with the use of advanced technology because it takes away life’s various
limitations. Within David Dworsky and Victor Kohler’s 2011 film, PressPausePlay, Seth Godin explains
that, “People don’t become artists
because they want to become rich. They become artists because they have an idea
to share or an emotion to share” (Dworsky and Kohler).
After carefully examining and analyzing this feature, it can be
concluded that it is pro-democratization, meaning that it contributes a lot of
positive material to the idea that everyone believes that they are an artist,
and furthermore everyone has equal access to the distribution of their art.
This new age is known as popular culture. Popular culture makes up most of
society and due to its rapid expansion it has wiped out most of the elite
culture, which had laid claim to the idea that only the wealthy have the
ability to do what they please. However,
the desire to be individualistic rather than conform to pop culture has led to
numerous sub cultures such as the ‘Trekkies’, ‘Goths’, ‘Thespians’, ‘Anime’,
etc. and once media caught on to these subcultures, products and events that
were thought to attract that subculture were created and once again pulled them
back in to the orbit of conformity. While many people, especially those in the
subcultures, think this is unfavorable to conform it isn’t because it keeps
innovation flowing and exposes people to all kinds of forms of creativity, allowing
people to try many different masks of identity on until one that fits is
finally found. While there is a physical identity for every person there is
also their online identity, which mirrors their personality in a magnified
extent. In Stephanie Vie’s (E)Dentity, she
explains that, “Many of these digital
traces are created unconsciously” (Vie). This statement explains that people
have little to no control over how they act online which produces the most raw
form of themselves for others to see. Rationalizing the concept of unconscious
creation of “(e)dentities” it can be easily concluded that people act in the
way of unconscious creation because they aren’t being faced with direct
limitations or consequences for what they make themselves out to be and,
therefore, are able to truly express themselves. The creativity that people
have is often only expressed online through their (e)dentities because of
restraints presented in everyday life. The school system is seen by many as a
constricting factor among the population who attend. Within Changing Paradigms, Sir Ken Robinson
speaks about how the outdated school system negatively affects the minds of
children. “There are two types of
people: academic and nonacademic. Smart people and non-smart people. And the consequence of that is that many
brilliant people think they’re not because they’ve been judged against this
particular view of the mind” (Robinson). Technology is setting a precedent of
infinite creativity that the school system is failing to match because it is
made for a generation that has long been graduated. Digital interfaces are more
commonly used now by students opposed to other interfaces like books because of
the push by the public to integrate digital methods into the school systems.
However, even with this push for technological incorporation, school systems
across America still fail to keep pace with electronic advancements that
positively impact children outside of school. By virtue of technological
advancements, imaginativeness is higher than it’s ever been and people are free
to express themselves with out bounds or societal constraints.
The
use of media and technology in society have not only allowed for more leisure
time due to a shortened workweek, but it has allowed for civilians to tap in to
their inventive side, communicate with others around the world, and keep in
touch with the politics of numerous countries. Each of these improvements has contributed
positive impacts to the way the public functions as a whole because they
accommodate specific lifestyles. Therefore
technological and media advancements are necessary because they provide more
positive results than negative.
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