New Media and Onset of the Information Age through the Internet - Essay Example

Instruction: Task: The Internet. The internet has come to revolutionize the way that we communicate, and interact in the contemporary society. With the onset of the internet, the world has been subjected to revolutionary means of sharing data that has resulted in the world being viewed as a global village. This is in reference to the relative ease of communicating and sharing data from one corner of the globe to the next. In many aspects, the cyber space has been extremely revolutionary and has brought with it various idealizations in line with the different opportunities that come with the internet. As such, there are various advantages and disadvantages that are realized, and this forms the basis for an analytical analysis of the critical inferences that can be drawn from readings that touch on various implications that the internet has presented to the contemporary society particularly in line with cultural implications. In light of the above, What is the Elephant in the Digital Room is an article that tries to look at the different changes that have characterized the digital revolution. It compares the rate at which information and media is being created in the current world of digital supremacy against the pre-existing rates and definitions that demarcated the creation and sharing of media. To this end, there is the realization that the digital revolution has greatly transformed the very element of life in relation to how we interact with technology and how we partake media and online data. From the amount of information being created particularly for the online platform, to the sheer amount of time that we spend online, the digital revolution is depicted as having changed the way that we consume information and data. Additionally, the internet started off as a tool to ease communication and the availability of essential data. However, it has now transformed into a form of necessity that nobody can exist without. In many situations, the internet is no longer optional, and is in fact becoming some form of basic need that almost everybody needs in order to survive. In many respects, mobile communication and the advent of the internet has had more implications on humans than any other form of development in the entire human history. This highlights the relatively staggering levels of adoption that has characterized its intake in almost all factions of human life. While other inventions and developments could catch up in certain parts of the world and fail to catch up in others, mobile communication and the internet has caught up in every aspect of human life. Basically, it is increasing and showing exponential rate of growth from any angle that it is viewed. In consideration of this, mobile communication and the internet have the potential to change human culture by a very wide margin. From the rate at which it is changing, it is safe to conclude that in a matter of few years, all our activities will be defined by the way that we are connected to the internet. Given that the internet is the culmination of hundreds of innovation, its true potential is yet to be felt, and its potential is yet to be fully felt across the numerous spheres that define human life. Additionally, Cyberspace and the World we live in by Kevin Robins tries to look at the various tenets that define the cyberspace in line with how it fits into our society. The cyberspace in this sense refers to the framework upon which internet-based platforms exist. Therefore, the cyberspace brings with it a form of idealization for life that is somewhat surreal. It gives humans the possibility to explore more than they are able to in the relatively limiting scope of reality. This is one of the major reasons for the increased penetration of mobile communication and the internet in the society. This is particularly in consideration of the different yet unlimited possibilities that come with life on the cyberspace. This unlimited aspect is what drives the growth of internet penetration, as more and more people are able to achieve and exploit more than the real world is able to offer them. In fact, this also explains the increased amounts of time that people continually spend on the internet platform. Moreover, this explains the idealization of the internet as utopia, it is a world in which everyone is able to control the different facets of life as they so wish, as opposed to having to deal with a lifestyle in which you have to conform to the laid expectations and rules. While the internet gives us the impression that we have total control over how we live, the reality still remains that we are in a world defined by institutions that we may not generally have control over. So as much as the internet gives us some control over the type of life that we would want, the underlying truth is that reality is much stricter. This rigidity means that we have to be able to correlate the differences that exist between reality and the apparent utopia brought forth by the internet. Through this, the cultural elements that define life can be maintained, as the reality is much more significant than the promise of utopia that the cyber space offers. This is based on the fact that over time, cultural elements are far more important than the internet or communication based lifestyle that has characterized human life. In light of the above, YouTube, Politics, and Pedagogy by Kellner Douglas and Gooyong Kim tries to look at the relationships that can be drawn between the essentials of the internet and characteristics of education and politics. This is by evaluating the way that individual development is connected to the social elements of the society. As such, the educational approach that factors in the cultural and social changes of a society is best suited for exploiting the opportunities that come with everyday life. This points towards a form of education that evaluates all sources of knowledge in a society, and relates these sources to the cultural definitions of the society in such a way that the best relationship can be realized. However, as much as this should be the core definition of education, the real situation is that education is confined to the elements of imparting knowledge basically for the needs of the job market. This has been the basic identification of education as an institution in the society. However, the onset of information technology has brought with it the restructuring of the education systems in such a way that anyone has the ability to partake any information. Therefore, the real optimization of the power of the new media is highlighted by YouTube as a major source of transformative yet critical pedagogy. The characteristics that make it so resourceful are the universal access points and the perceived ubiquity. In all, this eases self-education and social transformation by a fairly large margin. Therefore, new media and the onset of the information age through the internet has really changed the way that we view various cultural elements. From any perspective, there are lots and lots of elements that touch on how the internet has changed existence. Through all these different idealizations, societies must be able to look at the various distinctive characteristics and view them in light of the various inferences that could be drawn from them. This gives an insightful approach for evaluating the underlying mechanisms of social, political and cultural definitions of life, as brought to light by the three foregoing articles. Works Cited. Robins, Kevin. “Cyberspace and the World we live in.” Cyberspace, Cyberbodies, Cyberpunk. London: Sage, 1995. Pp. 796-808 Kim, Gooyong and Kellner, Douglas. “YouTube, Politics, and Pedagogy.” Emergent digital Cultures. Pp. 625-632. “What is the Elephant in the Room?” Digital Disconnect. Pp. 1-22. Read More