The Use of Media in Daily Life - Essay Example

THE USE OF MEDIA IN DAILY LIFE Media has got a very imperative place in our modern life. It has not been limited for a specific purpose but it has completely changed our life and it has completely dissolved in our day today life. Even for a smallest purpose also we need the assorted means of media. Life seems to be unattainable in the absence of media. The compass of media is not only limited to our social life but it has also occupied our day today life. For example, Can we think a life without phone, Television, Radio Newspaper, music, computer, mobiles, Theatre? These have become the basic requirements of human life. The modern life has totally changed and it has now become maximum media oriented life. It has changed the views of the world. The people with different status, position and situation use the media and technology in various ways. Everybody uses media as per his or her own needs but it is not possible for anybody to keep themselves totally isolated from media. Everyone uses media in their day today life from cell phone to cyber space, from radio to raves, or from iPods to internet. Technology is shaping rapidly all around the world. Thus in our daily routine we have to encounter with media for different purposes. If we don’t get ourselves in touch with media we feel like withdrawing from the world. Thus we cannot avoid the role of media in shaping our day today life. The purpose of this article is to approach media and communication technologies from the point of view of day today life of individual. The subject of this article deals with exploring what type of daily routine people have regarding media ad technologies and how much importance media has acquired in the daily lives of the people. Here we will do the analysis by comparing the two different groups and their uses of media. Let’s consider the two different groups here. One group is of the teenagers and another is of the working professionals. Let me explain it with two examples Sally, a 20 years old student is pursuing her first year MBA from a very reputed institute. She is an extrovert kind of person and this is the reason her friend circle is very huge. Sally is cell phone obsessed person and always involves in sending jokes through sms to her friends and always chat with her friends through sms. In the morning before going to college she spends at least one hour in smsing her friend. Sally’s mother gets concerned about the huge bill of her mobile phone. Sally is happy- go- lucky and a very cheerful person. She has a deep interest in listening music. She has her laptop with her and she uses internet for surfing, downloading her favorite songs, and chatting with her friends, especially when she is in college, she gets a wi fi connection in her college campus. So she can use it not only for entertainment but also for her study. She is MBA student and Very frequently she uses online library as well as the articles from different websites for her study. She doesn’t visit the library because according to her she gets the enough study material from internet itself. She basically likes to buy the fashion magazines. She has her account on orkut and in her leisure time she used to answer the scraps. She has uploaded her latest photographs on orkut and get immense offer for modeling because her face is very photogenic. Sally’s mother is very particular and doesn’t like Sally’s behavior. She wants that her daughter should be an academician, and should do her career in educational line. Sally also has a flair for writing and acting and she has done the theatre as well as her article has been published in a newspaper. In this article she has written the review of her most favorite stage program which she had attended recently. Stella is a working professional of about 35 years old. She is a lecturer of communication and organizational behavior in a reputed institute. She has to do the two jobs simultaneously and those are looking after the family and domestic chores and going for the job. In her busy morning schedule Stella spends at least 15 to 20 minutes for reading the newspaper. And during her weekend she likes to read the newspaper thoroughly. She completes her house chore and leaves the home at 8.40 a.m. It takes almost 45 minutes for her to reach to her college. She leaves the college at 5.30p.m. She then calls her husband on his mobile and he comes to pick her up. In the night after the dinner Stella spends 2 hours in a very unusual job and that is online teaching. She works as an online tutor also. Watching television is her hobby and in her leisure time she spends most of her time in watching television programs, listening music, and reading books. And for getting the books she uses online library as well as her regular library. She also likes to watch the movie and Julia Roberts is her favorite star. She has watched almost all the films of Julia Roberts. In these two different cases we find that the designation or the status of the individual is different but the usage of media done by them is almost is same. If we take review of their daily routine we find that these two ladies are totally different from each other as far as age, social status, profession, social position is concerned. Sally in her day today life is using the media devices like cell phone, magazines, and laptop. She is also related to media through her writing and arranging different events in her college. Sally is a representative of the modern college going students and through her example we can easily realize to what extend the media is used by teenagers and the young generation. Mobile phone, internet has become the inseparable part of Sally’s life. Same thing is in Stella’s case. In her daily life Stella uses telephone, mobile, TV, internet, film etc. The purposes of the usages of media are different in these two cases but the means of media using by them are almost same. Stella is the representative of the working class of the society and their uses of media in their day today life. The academic life of the students also has been occupied by media. The modern classrooms are equipped with maximum use of media devices such as speakers, microphones etc. On higher study level the students use the laptop during the period in the classroom. They have wi fi connection in the educational institutes. They have access to the online libraries from where they can get study material and different books. The concept of e-education is thus emerging rapidly. Proper degrees of eminent universities can be obtained by distant learning courses also. You don’t need to attend the class but just you have to be accessible online and you can get the degree. The online tuitions are also available for the students. The teenagers are basically involved in various events which frequently take place in their college. Like Sally many students participate in the events, some of them organize the event and through this they get the practical training of event management which also very important part of media. In Sally’s example we learn that how cell phones have become one of the necessary things for them. Students’ life cannot be completed without the use of cell phones and for communicating to their friend circle they need mobile phones. Let’s have a look at the daily routine of the students with the use of media. If we just take a review of their daily life we can easily imagine how they have succumbed to the various means of media. It is a very interesting task to know how the teenagers use media both at their study time and in our leisure time. Right from the time when they start their day we start it with the media itself. They use tooth paste, tooth brush, soap, shampoo, face wash. All these essential commodities are the blessings of media itself because it is the media which makes us informed with the various products available in the market. The students are very much obsessed by the iPods which make the various songs of their interest available to them. As Stella is a working professional her use of media is different. Here if we consider their usage of print media we will find that their likings are different but both of them use print media as well as electronic media in their daily life. Stella likes to read the newspaper unlike Sally who is interested in fashion magazines. Whatever news she wants to know she gets it from the net. Here the needs of both of these ladies are different but one thing is common that they both cannot keep themselves away from the use of media. The use of internet of Sally is different from Stella. Sally uses internet for entertainment and education while Stella uses it for her entertainment as well as work. Our use of media in daily life is somewhat similar. Today’s most important and handy media instrument according to me is cell phone. When we start from our home to our work place we never forget to take our cell phone with us. It has become our need to be in contact with each other continuously and for that no other mean is as comfortable and feasible as cell phone. This small instrument is like a magic box in our hand which makes us connected with the people always. When actually you arrive to your workplace you have to handle the different devices of media like telephone internet in your office. If the power failure happens your whole work is put up on hold because the office work cannot be completed without telephone and computer. So at every moment of your day you have to be in touch with media constantly. You have no choice but to rely on media. In the evening when you return back to your home television is must. If you are boasting for being Television avoider you might be the music obsessed person and then turn on your record player or iPod and start listening the music or other programs of your interest. Or you will spend your time in chatting with your friends or loving ones and again for this purpose also you need the help from media. Without internet it is hardly possible. At the time of chatting you will forgot the distance of the opposite person you are chatting with. Television is one of the most dominant audio visual medium has a greatest impact on individual life. Television has become the inseparable part of our life. We can hardly think the life without television. It is the medium of information and entertainment as well as education. We enjoy the different programs on television. Very often we participated in the television programs directly or indirectly. The media figure has been given a very important place in our life. They have been our role models. We always imitate them. Our small children cannot stay away from cartoons and other entertaining programs. The animated figures have become their role models. Young generation constantly gets informed with the latest trend and fashion. The contribution of television is great in educating the women to be perfect housewives. Right from the recipe to home decoration they get every information from the television. News channels are running for 24 hours and they are always punctual to inform us with the latest news from the world. Definitely these are the very positive influences of media on our life. But some major drawbacks are there which cannot be neglected. Many of us get restless if we turn off our TV or our radio. It has been the major concern of the parents whether their children are watching right things or wrong things. Television programs have become a routine for most of the people and if they cannot watch it by any reason it makes them so much irritable and upset by the break of their routine. Face to face communication has become scarce. Due to the media direct and person to person communication is lacking. Thus the life has become fast and so instant communication is the need of the time and here media plays a very crucial role. Like Stella many people nowadays are involved in doing different online jobs like online writing, online teaching, data entry jobs etc. They are earning money from these jobs. We can also get access to the different jobs and openings through internet. Getting jobs has become comparatively easy process now. The candidate can easily send his or her resume via email and thus he can apply for the job in a moment. Telephonic interviews can also be arranged and thus he can get a job just through the media and communication. The object of media has not just been limited to transfer the data or information from one place to another but on individual level also media and technology has got tremendous importance. How frustrating your life will be! If we just start imagining at least a week without any connection with the outside world without any means of communication, it would be like a very atrocious punishment for us. And at that time we will realize to what extend we rely on media for fulfilling even the smallest thing also. In this context I would like to mention an example given by S. Elizabeth Bird in her book “The audience in everyday life.” She writes, “I began with the time honored “media deprivation exercise.” (Dardenne 1994; Mastrolia 1997), asking the students to avoid all media for a week, and write a journal about their experiences.” She further writes, “A mother talks about how she is accustomed to watching a particular TV program with her teenage daughter, and then talking about and “around” it in a comfortable moment of connection. This week she had missed that terribly, and her daughter was irritable and upset by the break in routine.” (Page 2 & 3, “The Audience in Everyday Life, by S. Elizabeth Bird, Published by Routledge, 2003) Thus in every stage of our life we need media. Our needs have expanded and they cannot be fulfilled without media. The present generation is getting more and more media oriented and in future the importance of media will increase. For individual growth media is mandatory and without including it in the day today life the individual growth is never possible Read More