Intergenerational Use of Media - Term Paper Example

Intergenerational Use of Media Introduction The growth and development of communication technology has changed the shape of people’s daily life. Theuse of media plays a very significant role in maintaining relationships in daily life. The development of media and communication technology in the past few decades has brought a radial change in the lives of people. The development of media has seen a huge progress and this is evident in the mode of communication. Previously television, radio, newspapers were the principle modes of garnering news and information. Communication devices like cordless phones were available during the 1980s while subsequent decades witnessed the development of swanky mobile phones, internet, emails as convenient ways of maintaining communication. This paper compares and contrasts the use of media between previous generation and the youth of today. For this paper, I have taken an interview [see Appendix] of my mother who was born in 1967. The purpose was to learn the mode of communication that she used when she was young (the 1980s) to maintain contact with her friends, relatives and acquaintances, and also the availability of media forms during her time. It became clear from this interview that communication and popular media has gone through a huge transformation in the past few decades. Since my mother was born in the late 1960s, therefore she talked about media use in the 1980s. During her time there were no smartphones and she could use only cellular phones or beeper. Since social networking sites were not available, many people lost contact with old friends and acquaintances. Unlike today, my mother and her contemporaries had to depend on the library to read books for studying. Today, with the proliferation of the Internet and social media networks it has become easier to find information for education or any other purpose. During the 1980s, newspapers and radio were the only forms of media that helped people to learn about national and international news, while today television and the Internet have become major sources of news of information. The advent and development of smartphones in the past few years have made life easier as it has become one of the easiest ways to maintain contact with other people by facetime and also pictures can be shared through Internet. The invention of smartphones is being viewed as indication of bringing a radical change in the mode of communication and social life. In 2009, it was estimated by the Research group Wireless Expertise that in the year 2013 there would be more than 420 million smartphones sold around the world with an approximate 1.6 billion users (Cronin, 2010, p.51). In the past few decades the use of the Internet has grown tremendously, and has become an integral part of human society especially for the young generation. The invention of the Internet is without doubt one of the most important inventions in the previous century. Global communication facilitated by the Internet transmits instant news and information in every part of the world. The young people use the tool as easy access to information and knowledge, as well as communicating with friends through social networking sites. It has brought drastic change not only in the mode of business activities, but also communication mostly among the adolescents. It has changed every aspect of human life from studying, working to shopping and socializing. Internet use is becoming most popular in adolescents and young adults, and so these groups are increasingly facing problems related with excessive use of the Internet. The development of the Internet came as a result of advanced knowledge in computer technology. During the 1980s, individual computers were connected by the Internet through telephone lines. There used to be tiny threads knows as “fiber-optic cables” (Brill, 2009, p.56), and these threads helped in transformation of information at the speed of lightning. However, during this period the use of Internet was more popular among government agencies and university research departments. Also, 1980s have seen the development of other computer related devices like scanners and fax machines. These machines helped in scanning letters and faxing them to people living in distant places (Brill, 2009, p.56). They were very useful during that period since letter writing was still a common phenomenon which has now, to the large extent, been replaced by emails and social networking sites. Today emails and social networking sites have become the most commonly used media forms for making communication and maintaining relationships by the younger generation. Internet is rapidly gaining popularity among the young population especially for communication with peers. Although it can broaden the social circle of users, there is also an attached high risk which is Internet addiction. Excessive use of the Internet strongly affects personal relationships of adolescent users as they begin to prefer online communication to face-to-face interaction. The popularity of the Internet as channel of communication with peers is same among the youth in every country although the pattern may be different. Internet is used by youngsters not only to maintain contact with current friends or to renew communication with old friends, but also to establish new contacts. As per a survey conducted in 25 European countries, 30 percent of young Internet users communicate with previously unknown people (Smahel et al., 2012, p.382). The growing tendency among the youth to use online services to maintain relationships is becoming an issue of concern since it can lead to psychological problems like Internet addiction disorder. This kind of psychological problem is extremely common today among the young people. This kind of addiction was unheard of during the 1980s and 1990s, and therefore this is one major difference that can be considered between my mother’s generation and my generation. It has been seen that young users of virtual chat rooms are more susceptible to Internet addiction as for them Internet becomes the main source for maintaining social life. Also, those who are shy in interacting with people face-to-face use virtual chat rooms as places to behave in less inhibited manner, and this makes them want to use Internet more often (Smahel et al., 2012, p.382). Thus virtual chat rooms and social networking sites have become an extremely popular mode of communication of the young generation of the twenty first century. The popularity of social networking sites involves participation of millions of Internet users all over the world, mostly the young people. These sites are becoming rapidly more popular among adolescents to enhance communication and maintain or renew relationships. Another major difference that can be seen between the 1980s generation and today’s generation is the manner in which Internet is used. Previously, young people depended mostly on the traditional libraries in order to get access to required books and information for the purpose of their education. The main disadvantage of libraries was that books needed to be returned within a stipulated time which was an extra pressure on the students. Today, Internet has become a major educational tool in schools, colleges and universities. Majority of students today believe that the use of Internet in universities have enhanced their educational skills since it is an effective way of increasing their interest in studies. Moreover, they believe that by increasing their Internet using skills, they can secure their future job prospects. In the context of general learning, it has been seen that the use of Internet in universities increases students’ motivation to study, enhances their verbal communication skills, and also helps to stimulate their thoughts (Gialamas et al., 2013, p.1). Today, global communication has become indispensable in human society as it determines the relationship between people belonging to different nations and cultures. An important mode of communication is the email. It is an electronic method of transmitting messages from one part of the globe to another part in a matter of seconds. It was in 1978, when a 14 year old boy Shiva Ayyadurai created the first email (Chopra, 2013). With the advent of the email, it became an easy mode of communication for the young generation of the 1980s. It had definitely brought a new dimension in human communication and interaction. The invention of the cordless phone in the 1980s was another development in the communication sector during the decade. However, in the initial years there was a common problem of cross connection which means conversations could be heard from a neighbour’s line. This phenomenon created a dent in the market demand of cordless phones. It was in 1984 that the first “handheld commercial mobile phones” were launched in the American stores. But, since the price of mobile phones were so high that they were almost beyond the reach for most of the customers (Brill, 2009, p.57). Email and mobile phones have not lost their glory as they are also common among the current generation. Conclusion The use of media has always played an important role in the daily lives of people. Since information and communication technology is rapidly evolving, therefore the products and gadgets that are available today were not even heard by our previous generation. This paper has explored uses of different forms of media and how they have evolved from the generation of 1980s to the current generation. Today, with the proliferation of social networking sites and the advent of smartphones, maintaining communication has become easier and convenient. References Brill, M.T. (2009). America in the 1980s. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books Chopra, D. (August 30, 2013). The Anniversary of the Invention of Email, Huffington Post, [online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/email-invention_b_3840956.html [Accessed June 11, 2014] Cronin, Mary J. (2010). Smart Products, Smarter Services: Strategies for Embedded Control. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press Gialamas, V., Nikolopoulou, K. & Koutromanos, G. (2013). Student Teachers’ perceptions about the impact of internet usage on their learning and jobs. Computer & Education, Vol.62, pp.1-7 Smahel, D., Brown, B.B. & Blinka, L. (2012). Associations Between Online Friendship and Internet Addiction Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults. Developmental Psychology, Vol.48, No.2, pp.381-388 Appendix Questions that I asked my mother :- 1. Do you have smartphone when you are in my age? No 2. What kind of mobile phone do you use when you were young? They used cellular phone or beeper at that time 3. Have you used email or facebook to contact people? She only used email for few times. 4. Where do you know news when you were in my age? Listened to radio, read newspaper 5. How can you find resources when you are study? She went to library and read book to study. 6. What is the most difference in media use between your generation and my generation? When she was young, they did not have television, so they only can read newspapers and listened to radio; however, in my age, we have smartphone、television、computer and so on 7. If there has no cellular phone, how can you contact people? The most popular way was Write letter, but it was very slowly. 8. Is writing letters very popular in your age? Yes, It was very normal. 9. how many old friends will you contact in normal when you have smartphone? Just few old friends. Because in my mother’s age, the information transfer was not modern, so she lost many other friends contact information. 10. what do you think of the coming of smartphone? It is very convenient for daily life and enhances my mother’s life quality. Smartphone can facetime with other people; can send pictures to people through Internet and so on. Read More