New Media And Society - Essay Example

New Media And Society Introduction The term New Media is used to de the ability to access content and information from any geographical location, at any point in time through several devices that are digital in nature and can even be interactive. Technologies that are categorized as new media are those that can be easily manipulated by different users, connects different individuals and even promotes interaction between different elements of the society. Various examples of new media include web 2.0, social networking websites, television as well as entertainment that is available over the internet. The acceptance of new media in the society can be traced back to the period of 1980s when computers started becoming accessible by individuals throughout the world. Since then new media has been accepted and used by people all over the world and this media is increasingly becoming a part of every society member’s life. According to Boone, internet users throughout the world account for 2.7 billion of the entire population of the world. This shows that internet which is one of the examples of new media has gained social acceptance throughout the world. These figures even show that since the new media has been accepted on such a large scale, it has even impacted the society (Boone 137). There has been heavy debate on whether new media is positively or negatively impacting the entire society. New media has positively contributed to the society and will continue to do so in the shorter as well as in the longer run. New Media has helped in development of communication, changed the course of history and is building a better future for the entire society. Body One of the most important areas in which new media have been heavily criticized is communication and development of communication skills. Those who believe that new media has negatively impacted the society argue that new media is hampering the development of communication skills of individuals who are still in their youth. They believe that face to face communication is the only way through which communication skills can be developed as in face to face communication the sender and the receiver of the information can get a better idea regarding what communication strategies prove to be useful and what communication strategies are harmful for development of social relationships. Although, new media restricts face to face communication but new media is surely enhancing communication skills of individuals rather than being an obstacle in the development of an individual’s communication skills. New media has especially helped those individuals in developing their communication skills who are either scared of talking in front of the public or who have an introvert personality. People who fear speaking in the public believe that they do not have those communication skills that are regarded as socially acceptable. They believe that if they will speak in public, they will be disliked and others will laugh on them. A study was conducted by Campbell on the subject of whether social media is assisting or hampering the development of individuals who are scared of being social. Campbell argues that the respondents of the study were afraid of social experiences and they were using the internet to socialize because they believed that socializing over the internet was less risky and it help them in rehearsing their communication as well as social skills which they later use in face to face communication (Campbell 79). This means that individuals, who do not socialize in face to face communication, tend to use the internet to socialize and learn communication skills that are socially acceptable. They tend to identify how people react to the way they communicate and if their method of communication was being accepted by their internet friends, they tend to use the same way of communicating during face to face communication incidences. Another concern pointed out by those who believe that new media is negatively impacting the society is that new media is hampering the relationships between different individuals and is leading to increase in divorces and breakdown of relationships. They believe that people are so involved in new media that they tend to ignore their relationships in the real world and due to this their relationships are being hampered. This may not be entirely true because new media is not hampering relationships; it is rather helping in developing new relationships and is even helping in strengthening already existing relationships. New media has rather made history or changed the course of history in the context of relationships. It has helped in changing the mindset of the masses and has made those things acceptable to the society that used to be once frowned upon by the society. For example: new media has helped in gaining society wide acceptance of interracial marriages which once used to be frowned upon. While people interact through new media outlets such as the internet, they can develop relationships with people all over the world and with people belonging to different race as well as religions. This increase in interaction with people from different worlds has assisted the society in removing misconceptions that different groups had about each other and it has even helped people from diverse backgrounds in understanding each other in a better manner. According to an article authored by Hayes, interracial marriages have increased to 8.4% recorded during the period of 2010 from the low of 3.2% recorded during the period of 1980 and people have started finding their matches over the internet and these matches belong to different races (Hayes 1). This shows that internet dating websites have helped in encouraging marriages taking place between individual belonging to different races. This even proves that the previously held biased view of individuals belonging to a certain race being considered as better as compared to people belong to other races has started to diminish. Internet has enabled individuals to locate people who have certain characteristics that might be liked by people of other races and this might have helped in changing the previously held biased opinions. New media has not only positively impacted the current environment of the society and has not only altered the history; it is even expected to positively impact the future of the society. One area in which new media is positively contributing is the area of literacy as well as education. Education has always been thought of as an element that was easily accessible to a few members of the society who belonged to the advantaged groups. This is because; it is believed that the disadvantaged groups do not have the required resources to access this virtue of education. New media, such as online education has enabled individuals throughout the world to easily access education and has helped those in accessing education who did not have the required resources and even those who did not have the time to educate themselves. According to Beldarrain, distance learning enables individuals to access knowledge and information from any place, at any point in time and has helped to enable interaction between students and teachers at a much broader scale (Beldarrain 153). This means that with the help of new media such as computers and internet, a person sitting in one end of the world can obtain education from an institute located in another end of the world while receiving all the benefits of being in a physical classroom. Conclusion New media technologies such as internet as well as social networking websites have positively impacted the society. New media has helped in development of communication as well as communication skills of members of the society. Those members of the society, who are afraid of talking in public, use social media to practice their communication skills and then they apply these skills in the real world. New media has even helped in eradicating previously held believes and has changed the course of history. For example: it has enabled individuals from different races in understanding each other in a better manner and this has resulted in an increase in interracial marriages. New media even positively impacts the future of the society by educating the underprivileged members of the society who once did not have the resources required to attain education. Works Cited Beldarrain, Yoany. "Distance Education Trends: Integrating New Technologies to Foster Student Interaction and Collaboration." Distance Education. 27.2 (2006): 139-153. Print. Boone, Louis E. Contemporary Marketing, Update 2015. S.l.: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print. Campbell, AJ, SR Cumming, and I Hughes. "Internet Use by the Socially Fearful: Addiction or Therapy?" Cyberpsychology & Behavior : the Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society. 9.1 (2006): 69-81. Print. Hayes, Ashley. "Study: Interracial marriage, acceptance growing." CNN, 2012. Web. 6 Mar 2014. . Read More