The medium is the message!

Reading about everyone's different experiences with the new technology for the reading in week 20 really made me think. When I was growing up I never used too much technology, I never had a mobile phone till I needed one in high school, never watched too much Television and the family computer wasn't for social networking sites or games as it would have been then but for school work. It simply never interested me yet at the age of 14 all of that changed. I started texting my friends, using sites such as Myspace and now Facebook and I watch Television so much it worries me. I had never really thought much of it as to why it had all changed but now that I do think about it the evolving hasn't really ever stopped. Now that I live away from my parents I'm on Skype every week mostly to keep my mother from panicking but still I'm using the software.

In a way I can also see how it's changed my family's lives too. My mother who isn't really good with technology went on to take a computer course so it wouldn't affect her ability to work. My father who also doesn't like computers has adapted to use them for his job and even in their home life. Both now with smartphones and a laptop can use basic knowledge on the devices. This is a drastic change from say six years ago. I would get so frustrated with them constantly asking me how to do this, or how to email photos and so on only because the thought that this was a new way of living to them hadn't even crossed my mind. I forget that this is new to them, I forget that they were not brought up with technology or the fact that were not taught this in school.

The questions provided on the hand-out enabled me to study this further. I asked a few people the following questions:

1. How have developments in the media technology altered your environment?
2. Have these alterations led to you changing the way you behave?
3. How do you feel about these changes?
4. Do you feel nostalgic for times prior to the current media you use?
5. Do you develop your coping mechanisms related to media use?
6. Has your perception of space and time been transformed by media?
7. How has your experience of culture changed (e.g image, text, sound, consumption)?
8. What values and emotions do you connect with your media use?

After asking other people their thoughts on the matter it was clear to me that it was not just  me who was affected by this but many others had never thought too much about it either. They too had to be given food for thought. Their lives had also changed considerably since many, like me, didn't have parents who knew the technology, however it was interesting to find that some didn't like the technology at all stating" I don't even use my phone. I hate it. I use it when I have too. The whole lot of it scares me" This was one of my flatmates.

I can't help but make connections to the work of Dan Gilmor who coined the term "We media" If media is changing the way our culture by introducing new technology then surely they changed themselves? We media is media by the people for the people so surely the step from technology to media is simple? You give out more technology for us to consume and we become a prosumer. We have the basic knowledge and technology now to put ourselves into the media and make out own.

I think this is kind of like cycle. First we get the basic knowledge by consuming all of this media for years, then they advertise the equipment to which it buy and then because we're making our own it becomes harder for the media to please us because we are no longer an passive audience but an active audience with basic knowledge on the media and if we don't like it....we can simply make our own.

I find this subject very interesting and will probably put further thought to it.


References:
Turke, S (2011) Alone Together: Why we expect more from Technology and less from each other. New York: Basic Books

Gilmor, D (2004)  We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People. California: O'Reilly.