New Media in the Digital Era - Essay Example

The Digital age The world of 21st Century is completely different from the past centuries. The digital media has experienced a major explosion and it seems the talk of the entire society today. Nobody wants to be left behind; there is a constant desire for networking through the digital space. In fulfilling this need, social media, online entertainment, web 2.0 among other platforms are experiencing a huge turnover. These digital platforms present diverse implications to the society; some of which are beneficial while others are detrimental. They have affected how people communicate, how they transact and generally, the way people live. There has been a change in lifestyle that has been brought by the social media and other digital platforms. The future technology is expected to have instant solutions to humanity. From the onset, I applaud the role that the digital space is playing in the society and more future promises are evident. Therefore, the new media in this digital era is a landmark development that should be embraced by all courtesy of the benefits thereof. The new media is shaping the way people live their lives. Social media has been the most prolific mode of network communication and both personal and business levels. Internet platforms continue to evolve and are introduced to the market on regular basis. The largest social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, You Tube, and Tumblr. A majority of social site users are young adults. Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world with an industry command of up to 67% of the total internet users and boasts over 1.15 billion subscribers (Duggan and Brenner 1). Social media has many uses, a majority of which is beneficial while a few are detrimental. In a positive way, social media have revolutionized both personal and business communications. The new communication technology has been used in advertising, delivery of news, chatting, sharing of photos and images as well as facilitating academic work. Social media have also, for millions of people, enlarged their social space. On the detrimental side, social media have facilitated cyber bullying, bad publicity, and the spread of propaganda among other problems. Overall, social media has facilitated globalization through creation of vast interactive networks. Sites such as LinkedIn provide a platform on which professionals share their ideas and research work resulting in synergistic results that might not occur otherwise. More growth is expected in the social media industry and its effects will continue to be felt at both the personal level as well as in the corporate arena. Social networks have influenced in a great way how people go on with their usual duties. Verbal communication has greatly declined while the social space has widened; individuals do not have to meet others to feel their company; it can be found online. However, the social sites have been faulted for causing addiction, which has resulted in loss of productive man-hours. The new media has brought a great revolution in the communication sector. The era when the mobile phone technology was not developed, communication was hectic, tedious, and cumbersome. The mobile phone came and made it easier for people to communicate from whichever part of the world. The technology has gone a notch higher to involve diverse aspects of communication. The use of internet in communication is a landmark development in the communication industry. The internet presents one of the most affordable means of communication today. It is possible to call over the internet; both through voice calls as well as video calling. In addition, it has become possible to organize and have a meeting virtually; video-conferencing is becoming a hit in the market. This is characterized by the fact that people have become busy and have no much time to keep on travelling. The internet also hosts the social media which has brought revolutionized both personal and business communications. Communication has turned out to be more of virtual than physical. Though people may be geographically separated, communication is not a bother. Much more in communication is expected to be seen in the future including the ability of people to traverse through space. The new media has enhanced convenience and accessibility to information. Today, information is available in a wide array of media platforms. The internet is the largest database in the world; it has so much content that can be accessed easily and conveniently. Even when an individual is in a crisis, there is always a way out, they are likely to get a solution from the internet. The rapid growth in the new media has continued to bring information to people at the most convenient time and through the most appropriate channel. As compared to the television, the social media is claiming more followers. This indicates that the mode of delivering information is likely to change in the future. It is likely that the developments that shall be experienced in the television industry will have to create a link with the internet. For example, on-line broadcasting will be vital, an aspect that will translates to use of slightly bigger gadgets that have a good visual display such as iPad and tablets. This revolution is making information available even to those that have many commitments in a very convenient way. The other issue is the facilitated accessibility of any form of content that one is in need of. There is less struggle in getting what precisely one wants, through a touch of a button, the information appears instantly. Historically, technology has been progressive and remains to exhibit further development in the future. The explosion of knowledge and the rise in technology is nothing new. Every generation of people is capable of developing something that is unique from their predecessors. For example, the 20th century was characterized by massive scientific discoveries while the 21st century seems to be occupied with technology and communication strategies. The world has become a global village where people are able to communicate, share ideas and develop while they are far from each other. Therefore, the new media has not changed the course of history in any way. It is also expected that the next generation shall have something unique and more developed as compared to or generation. Human development will remain unquenched and there will never come a time when development shall cease. In addition, the needs of the society are evolving; this means they need to be countered with appropriate interventions, one of them being a change in technology. In order to evolve with the human needs, there arises the desire to have more advanced strategies of dealing with them. Through the advancements in the new media there is much that has been achieved and much more remains to be attained. The future is very promising for technology-based developments, this is because the groundwork has already been laid. In the near future, more advancement is likely to be seen, which include the ability to develop gadgets and devices that will facilitate the delivery of information. The chip technology will advance to another level where aspects such as implants shall be the order of the day. In the far future, it is quite imaginable what might happen, some of the science fictions we see today may be operational. For example, objects may begin to be transmitted through the space, they disappear at one point and reappear at the destination. Humans may also beginning to exhibit non-verbal communication through their chip implants. In conclusion, the rise of new media has left the world a different place altogether. The 21st century-development of new media and the increased use has brought a paradigm shift in the way people go on with their daily lives, this includes the way they do their businesses, their socialization, politicking among many other diverse aspects. There is no single area that has not been affected. New media has received universal acceptance and have truly made the world a global village. Individuals are able to communicate everywhere at their own convenience. The benefits derived from the new media are enormous and more growth will mean better living standards. Works Cited Duggan and Brenner (2012). The demographics of social media users. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_SocialMediaUsers.pdf Read More