1. HISTORY’S TRANSITION
BETWEEN WRITTEN AND ORAL HISTORY
"In
most early societies information and knowledge first circulated slowly through
oral traditions passed on by poets, teachers, and tribal storytellers" (Campbell,
7).
“Early
tensions between oral and written communication played out among Ancient Greek
philosophers and writers…Many philosophers who believed in the superiority of
the oral tradition feared that the written word would threaten public
discussion by offering fewer opportunities for the give-and-take of
conversation” (Campbell, 7).
http://home.comcast.net/~bhafer/images/cave.gif
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OINa46HeWg8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OINa46HeWg8
- This semester, as our
class spent a lot of time discussing the effects of images on how we perceive
the world, I have come to better understand the effect that modern media has on
me, personally. I have found that I am
very sensitive to emotional influence, such as through ads that target the
limbic brain. Because the world around
us is much more visually oriented than it has been in the past, I find that I
need to be more self-aware of what inputs are going in, in order to take care
of my physical and mental well-being. I
find that face-to-face communication, much like that of the Ancient
philosophers, allows for me to connect to the world in what I personally find
to be a healthier, more engaging way, without rejecting visual stimuli that
could be found through other mediums..
“At
the cultural level, movies function as ‘consensus narratives’, a term that
describes cultural products that become popular and provide shared cultural
experiences. These consensus narratives operate across different times and
cultures” (Campbell, 267).
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A screenshot of my
stepbrother’s Facebook page. Through
technology, it is easier for me to understand my family and cultural roots, even if my
family is far away, physically.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv-sY_z8MNs
“The social and cultural transformations
ushered in by the spread of printing presses and books cannot be overestimated.
As historian Elizabeth Einstein has noted, when people could learn for
themselves using maps, dictionaries, Bibles, and the writings of others, they
could differentiate themselves as individuals; their social identities were no
longer solely dependent on what their leaders told them or on the habits of
their families, communities, or social class” (Campbell, 350).
Particularly due to globalization,
the cultural identities of people around the world are both more easily
understood and are shifting rapidly. It
is extraordinarily easy for someone on the other side of the planet in, for
example, Spain, to rapidly communicate ideas to someone in the United
States. Language, space, and time are
much less of an obstacle than they have been throughout history. Programs like Google Translate can translate
for people efficiently (although the quality leaves quite a bit to be
desired).
3. ACCESS TO INFORMATION THREATENS
THE STATUS QUO
“Government criticism
and public dissent were not tolerated, especially if such speech undermined
‘the common good’ – an ideal that elites and rulers defined and controlled” (Campbell,
548).
“Despite the First Amendment’s provision that “Congress shall make no law” restricting speech, the federal government has made a number of laws that do just that, especially concerning false or misleading advertising, expressions that intentionally threaten public safety, and certain speech restrictions during times of war or other national security concerns” (Campbell, 551).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3vgGqlZGGE
In looking at how China and other
countries attempt to censor the internet, the question arises: why? Why is it so important to control the
information that people have access to?
And I am inclined to believe that those in power recognize the strength
of ideas. As I mentioned earlier in this
project, understanding of oneself comes from being able to access others around
oneself. By allowing unrestricted access
to people, you allow access to ideas of self-governance, malcontent, and
historical and philosophical ideas that have changed the world.
4.
MODERN MEDIA CONTRIBUTES
TO CONSUMERISTIC SOCIETY
“We
live in a society in which often-superficial or surface consumer concerns,
stock market quotes, and profit aspirations, rather than broader social issues,
increasingly dominate the media agenda” (Campbell, 475).
“…we
should remain critical of what advertising has come to represent: the
overemphasis on commercial acquisitions and images of material success, and the
disparity between those who can afford to live comfortably in a commercialized
society and those who cannot” (Campbell, 415).
http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/candcads24.jpg
http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/candcads24.jpg
With the rise of modern technology,
like televisions, radio, and particularly the internet, corporations have found
new and innovative ways to sell what they produce. Because our personal information is so
accessible to companies, it is increasingly easier for them to customize the
products being sold to consumers. The
internet allows for increasingly more visually invasive ways of grabbing one’s
attention, while, in the past, commercials on TV and radio were some of the
only ways to advertise.
5.
IT IS OUR DUTY AS CITIZENS OF THE WORLD TO SEEK
INFORMATION IN ORDER TO EMPOWER OURSELVES
“…when corporate executives trim news budgets or fire news personnel,
or use one reporter to do multiple versions of a story for TV, radio,
newspaper, and the Internet, such decisions ultimately reduce the total number
of different news stories that cover a crucial topic and may jeopardize the
role of journalists as watchdogs of society” (Campbell, 454).
“As
an informed citizenry paid more attention, it became more difficult for large
firms to fool the press and mislead the public. With the rise of the middle
class, increasing literacy among the working classes, and the spread of
information through print media, democratic ideals began to threaten the
established order of business and politics-and the elite groups who managed
them” (Campbell, 424-5).
Particularly prompted by the movie, We Steal Secrets, that we watched in class, my thoughts on
education have changed quite a bit throughout this year. Although classical education is important
(there are some disagreeable aspects of society that are necessary to succeed),
I have come to see that at many times throughout my life, the questions I have
are not necessarily answerable by asking the people around me, but instead
require my own action. Questions on
faith and how to live my life were unanswerable by the secular prison that was
my high school, but I was able to grow and become more powerful by seeking out
those at my church whom I trusted, in order to find the answers I was looking
for. In this same way, I believe that
people cannot merely sit by and accept the simple-minded nonsensical amusements
that might come from the internet, but rather that it is our personal duty to
give ourselves control by questioning the world and seeking out the answers for
ourselves.
6.
YOU ARE YOUR OWN MEDIA COMPANY
“Social media are helping advertisers use such
personal endorsements to further their own products and marketing
messages- basically, letting consumers do the work for them (Campbell, 398).”
“Companies
and organizations also buy traditional paid advertisements on social media
sites. A major objective of their paid media is to get earned media, or to convince online
consumers to promote products on their own” (Campbell, 398).
Watching Generation
Like certainly prompted me to think differently about the social media
platforms I use, especially like Tumblr, which might inadvertently turn me into
part of someone’s marketing scheme. The thought
of being used in that way is unsettling and distasteful. It is one thing to utilize a website like
Craigslist or eBay in order to purposefully sell a product, but another
entirely to participate in something online that seems like a lot of fun, but is
in actuality supporting an organization or company that I might ethically
disagree with.
7.
THE PERSONALIZATION OF
MEDIA
“Beyond
improving signal reception in most communities, the cable era introduced narrowcasting-the providing of
specialized programming for diverse and fragmented groups. Attracting both advertisers and audiences,
cable programs provide access to certain target audiences that cannot be
guaranteed in broadcasting” (Campbell, 202-203).
“Some media critics even posit that having
more choice actually makes us more engaged media consumers, because
we have to actively choose the media we want to consume from the growing list
of options (Campbell, 14).”
It is the intent of modern media to send different messages
to different people based on their preferences.
However, specialization is something I have studied in my economics
courses, and have found to be bad, in some ways. It particularly allows for markets to become
smaller, with those who are less competitive falling to the wayside. I find this worrisome because I believe that,
overall, competition and fair trade in a market is extraordinarily important socially,
culturally, and economically, in a society.
|
This is a
screenshot from my YouTube Channel Page, where videos and channels are
recommended to me, based on previous video views.
 |
8.
IN ORDER TO HAVE ACCESS TO
INFORMATION, OUR PRIVACY IS SACRIFICED.
“Since the inception of the Internet, government agencies worldwide have obtained communication logs, Web browser histories, and the online records of individual users who thought their online activities were private. In the United States, for example, the USA PATRIOT Act…grants sweeping powers to law-enforcement agencies to intercept indviduals’ online communications, including email messages and browsing records” (Campbell, 68).
“When you
watch television, listen t the radio, read a book, or go to a film, you do not
need to provide personal information to others.
However, when you use the internet,
whether you are signing up for an email account, shopping online, or
even just surfing the Web, you give away personal information-voluntarily or
not” (Campbell, 68).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU3AShATV6A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU3AShATV6A
“There is no such thing
as a free lunch is a quote very familiar to economists and Economics
majors. Essentially, it means that in
order to gain something, there must be a tradeoff. In terms of media revolutions, that means
that in order to have the information we now have access to, we sacrifice the
privacy we once had. We provide
information about ourselves, knowingly or not, to businesses and governments,
who monitor our actions for consumerist and security purposes, respectively.
9.
EVEN NEWS ORGANIZATIONS
HAVE FALLEN AWAY FROM PROVIDING INSIGHTFUL INFORMATION, AND INSTEAD FOCUS ON
ENTERTAINING VIEWERS
“For most journalists, balance means presenting all sides of an issue without appearing to favor any one position. The quest for balance presents problems for journalists. One the one hand, time and space constraints do not always permit representing all sides; in practice this value has often been reduced to ‘telling both sides of the story." (Campbell, pg. 502)
“So rather than having each radio station, TV
station, newspaper, and online news site generate diverse and independent
stories about an issue, a media corporation employing the convergence model can
use fewer employees to generate multiple versions of the same story (Campbell,
12).”
Because information has
become so highly coveted and valuable, due to improvements in modern
technology, news broadcasters of all types have been influenced by the money
involved. Unfortunately, this means that
the type of information that the majority of people receives is sub-par, and
meant to entertain rather than challenge and inform. Just as I mentioned earlier, this makes it
increasingly more important for people to seek out information and to question
the information they are receiving.
10. CONVERGENCE ALLOWS FOR ALL OF THE INFORMATION WE NEED AND DESIRE
TO BE ACCESSIBLE IN MULTIPLE WAYS
“"The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels- the magazine articles, radio programs, songs, TV shows, video games, and movies now available on the Internet through laptops, tablets, and smartphones." (Campbell, pg. 11)
“"The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels- the magazine articles, radio programs, songs, TV shows, video games, and movies now available on the Internet through laptops, tablets, and smartphones." (Campbell, pg. 11)
“For much of their history, media companies have been part of usually discrete or separate industries…But the Internet and convergence has changed that-not only by offering a portal to view or read older media forms but also by requiring virtually all older media companies to establish an online presence (Campbell, 467).”
Modern technology has become involved in nearly every aspect of our lives because of the concept and occurrence of “convergence”. The massive amounts of information we now have access to not only are found on the internet, but on television, on our phones, on the radio, and in every other unsuspecting nook and cranny of our everyday lives. Because it is everywhere, it impacts us in ways that we might not recognize. However, that just underlines the importance of being aware of the information we are receiving and absorbing. Although knowledge is power, it is important that we understand the strength of that knowledge, and respect it.
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