The Technological Revolution Is Seen in the Field of Social Communication - Essay Example

Introduction: The technological revolution seen in the field of social communication since the 19th century have been phenomenal. The major ones are the radio, followed by the movies, the television and the internet. “In the 1950s FM radio was supposed to offer better reception and more diversified content than AM radio. In the 1970s, cable TV was supposed to offer a wider range of choices than the bland offerings of the three broadcast TV networks. In the 1990s, the Internet and the World Wide Web was supposed to offer individual choice, low-cost publishing, and a broader range of diversified, non-commercial content than any other conventional media.” (Preecs 2008). It is surprising that each of the above is still relevant and have their own following and preferences by people. The level of public interest in each of these has been constantly changing. In fact “The average person spends more time listening to the radio than watching TV, according to the latest figures.” (Radio More Popular Than TV. 2001). There is no real evidence that any of the above will become redundant in the near future even though the internet has grown in capability to such an extent that it can include all the other three into its fold. This paper is an attempt to study the threat of the internet on TV. In the process the paper will try to provide answers to the following questions What challenges for the television does the internet pose? How do these challenges impact the information society? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both the mediums. Since both the above are closely related to the society, it will be studied with reference to one of the prominent social theories that have been introduced during the same timeline mentioned earlier. The theory that will be used in this instance is Marxism Marxism: Karl Marx was unarguably one of the most influential thinkers of the modern history. (World Marx The Millennium’s ‘Greater Thinker’. 1999). Arguments may arise as to the positive or negative impact the theory propounded by the man, but no one can deny that it had an influence on social, political and economic aspects in the society. Revolutions took place in many part of the world, governments and monarchy were toppled and countries went to war over the issue. The Russian monarchy of the tsars disappeared because of the revolution. “For Russia just as for the other European countries, Marxism expected and urged the great Russian bourgeois revolution which would follow the path of the English and French revolutions, just as the one in 1848 which inflamed and shook all of Central Europe.” (Marxism and Russia: Russia Against Europe in the 19th Century. 1997, p.9-24). The United States fought alongside South Korea in their belief that communism which is based on Marxist principles should not spread in the world. The United States and the erstwhile USSR nearly brought forth World War III on the issue of the Cuban missile crisis. The words of President Kennedy were “any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere is an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response against the Soviet Union.” (Part3: The Missile Crisis). This is enough proof to support the statement about the impact of Marxism in the world. The Webster’s dictionary defines Marxism as “A system of economic and political thought, originated by Karl Marx, and elaborated by others. It holds that the state has been the a device for suppression of the masses, allowing exploitation by a dominant (capitalistic) class; that historical change occurs through class struggle; and that the capitalist system will inevitably wither away to be superseded by a classless society.” (Definition of Marxism. 2008). It is not hard to imagine how this sentence has created so much of fear as well as jubilation among human beings in the world ever since it was propounded by the legendary theorist. It is not intended to verify whether such a classless society is practical. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union, the unification of East Germany and West Germany into just Germany, the increasing capitalization in China may indicate a downfall of the Marxist Communist ideologies at least for the present. Hence, the intension is to take aspects from the definition and apply it to the topic in question. The focus of this research paper will be mostly on the last part of the definition namely, a classless society that might exist in a real or virtual world. According to Marxist theory class in society is created by difference among people living in one area that is a result by historical precedence mainly of production, how they are related to the production process (as fixed by law in most cases), and the wealth they accumulate in the society and also how they accumulate it. (Marxism and Class: Some Definitions). Classes have been defined in different contexts by people from varied fields. An economist would define class in terms of income or a sociologist might define class in terms of race or ethnicity. The government would define class according to their income levels, race etc especially for providing some benefit (or for not providing some benefit) to them. The unemployment insurance scheme provided by the United States Government provides monthly income to a class of unemployed people in the country. For this paper, classless is meant to be a state where any difference in whatever context does not exist or is not relevant. This stand will be made clear in the next section. Another aspect of Marxist thought (whether it exists in the real world or not) is the concept of freedom. Marxist thought mainly dealt with the freedom of labourers from the clutches of capitalists. “Though there are important lacunae in Marxs thought, his view of democracy, the presupposition of his socialism and communism, always included individual rights in freedom of speech and expression, freedom of assembly, unrestricted voting, eligibility of every citizen for public office, equal access to free education, and separation of church and state.” (Easton 1985). For the sake of convenience, this paper will take the above mentioned types of freedom for the purpose of the study. The third important factor in Marxist thought is that the destruction of the capitalist state, achieving freedom and realizing a classless society is achieved through struggle and revolution. “Engels speaks here of the proletariat revolution “abolishing” the bourgeois state, while the words about the state withering away refer to the remnants of the proletarian state after the socialist revolution.” (Lenin). The revolution should in effect abolish the capitalistic structure and not just let it whither away. Classless society and the internet: The aim here is to see whether a classless society does exist in the virtual world of the internet. According to Michael Strangelove, author of The Empire of Mind and also an authority on online publishing, “The Internet is not about technology, it is not about information, it is about communication – people talking to each other, people exchanging email…The Internet is a community of chronic communicators.” (Wellman and Haythornthwaite 2002, p.19). The explanation above shows that the internet is primarily used for communicating (which is a social factor) through email, social networking sites, blogs etc. The classlessness on the internet can be shown by giving a few examples below. A social networking site will not (in most cases) debar anyone from becoming a member just because he belongs to a particular country, race, class, income group etc. A member may be debarred only if he or she behaves in that virtual world in a way unacceptable to common social norms. It could be among many things, for using offensive language or for writing racially abusive things. These are universally unacceptable ways of behaviour. Debarring a person for such of behaviour has nothing to do with class. It is applicable to every member irrespective of whether he is white or colored, rich or poor, a laborer or a capitalist etc. Another instance is websites content is enhanced by users themselves. The popular sites with the name ‘wiki’ added are examples. Such sites allow users to upload content according to their level of knowledge on practically any subject in the world. Such user enhanced content sites do not debar anyone on the basis of any criteria that can be thought of. Users even have the freedom to edit or comment upon already published material on the site. Content will be removed only if found offensive or in some cases when it is inaccurate. It should be noted that the whole of the internet is not like that. There are networking sites which allow people to register only if they have a certain qualification or belong to a certain race, community, profession etc. But still, there is a classless society that exists in a vibrant fashion on the internet. The home page of the popular social networking site has the words ‘Sign up - Its free and anyone can join.’ (Facebook Helps You Connect and Share With The People In Your Life. 2008). Freedom and the internet: The World Wide Web and internet is virtually unrestricted as to the content that can be published. In other words, “the World-Wide Web remains uncontrolled: any individual or institution can create a website with any number of documents and links.” (Albert, Jeong and Barabasi 1999, p.130). The situation more or less remains the same even today. Moreover the cost of hosting a site has come down considerably and most people can host one if they have the inclination or need to do so. A search of the internet will throw up websites dealing with practically any subject in the world. There is even the freedom to publish incorrect information, or sites related to terrorism, hate, racial abuse, and pornography. The freedom is unlimited here without any distinction of class, colour, or creed. There are even sites that offer free space for publishing personal thoughts and opinions like blogging sites. So right from publishing to creating content, there is near total freedom for human beings who are members of the ‘internet society’. Revolution and the internet: The internet can certainly be considered to be revolutionary though not in the way Engels had envisioned. The struggle in building up the base and the technology, the revolution, and the possible withering away of the TV and other technologies all exists in the case of the internet also. The only difference is that it was not violent, there was no bloodshed, and the withering away of the TV will be gradual. “The internet represents a fundamental and extensive force of change that will leave few areas in our lives unaffected.” (Magnusson 1997). This is called revolution. Classless society, freedom, revolution and the TV: Whatever may be said about the advantages of television one thing is certain that it is not possible to communicate with that medium to the extent one communicates through the internet. In majority of the cases, the communication is one way and the user or the viewer is passive in the whole process. There exists low level two way interaction in TV, like requesting a pay per view service movie (between viewer and technology on not between viewer and viewer. (Pagani 2003, p.101). It is common knowledge that freedom to own a TV set and watch programs is there, but it is severely restricted by statute in some societies. In comparison, the internet is still relatively free from such interventions. From the above level of interaction in TV, it can be concluded that the internet comes closest to the Marxian ideals of a classless society, the revolution it created and the freedom enjoyed by the society. Drawbacks: The unlimited freedom available in the case of internet has its own drawbacks. Abundance of incorrect information is there is the World Wide Web. There are also sites that inflame passions of people for selfish gains. Other problems include pornography, misleading of youngsters through social networking sites, addiction of a lot of people to such sites and to the internet as a whole etc. But the internet is still creating revolutions through new technology, applications, and convergence of other media into it. This convergence of other media includes music, video, education, entertainment, and even the TV itself. The concept of Web 2 technology where interaction between society and the hosting company and also the interaction between people is increasing day by day. (Rich User Experiences. 2008). The internet has its own drawbacks, and many areas are still not in conformance with the three ideals mentioned above. But concepts like social networking, blogging, and email (all used for communication) are integral to social life in the twenty first century. It looks as if the internet will live up to or even exceed expectations. The internet and TV: Social networking sites: The impact of internet that influence the society as classless, casteless and without boundaries and ages. The influence of internet among children is strong and tremendous. At one end they gather knowledge and relations and on the other they are a threat to their parents and society. When comparing to the TV, though both are common in the community, internet is challenge the TV. “It may seem only logical that differences in power and status affect how people communicate with each other and the internet is no different than other cultures in that respect. Wellman and Haythornwaite report that those who were adept at internet usage originally were constituted of white, middle class, young adult men in major universities.” (Fischer, p.3). The upcoming sites with feature: The sites like You tube etc brings TV programs which have been telecast previously into the online medium The arrival of broadband technology have made viewing streaming video more enjoyable because it is now possible to watch movies and clips seamlessly (without breaks for buffering the file). “A study by analysts Jupiter Research suggested that broadband was challenging television viewing habits.” (Broadband Challenges TV Viewing: TV Challenged. 2004). Potential impacts of internet on TV viewing: There is a strong argument prevailing among the media personnel that internet will dislodge TV watching or it will lead to the reduction in number of television viewers. The functional displacement hypothesis states that an existing technology can be displaced by a new technology to the extent that the functions of existing technology can be performed by the new one with added value. In this concept the functions of TV as information and entertainment media can be displaced effectively with the internet. Along with these basic functions of TV, internet support additional functions such as social communication. Contents diversity and individualization is other own features of internet. TV does not support the functions of internet such as communication for personal and social purpose, getting the right information at the right time and facility for leisure time playing. At the same time internet has the capability to provide all of the functions of TV with much better ways. Interpersonal communication activities such as online chatting make the communication process more interesting. Internet as an entertainment media makes challenge to the TV as people displace their entertainment choice from existing medium to a newer medium. (Kraut et al). The positive advantage of TV as an information media is that it gives direct home delivery of entertainment and information freely. Television programs are based on governmental and commercial interest. This prevents the media from information exchange on a social interest basis. These kinds of restrictions are not faced by internet media. Internet is focused to the entire global community. Thus a socialistic approach in information and entertainment exchange can b established through internet. The technology behind the internet supports global social interaction whereas television does not support information exchange on global basis. (Soong 1999). Surveys on the impact of internet use on television explores that most of the internet users are less using TV for entertainment and information gathering purpose. Video games are another threat on TV. The child viewers are reduced due to this internet facility. To fulfill commercial interest, online advertising becomes more effective than TV adds. Internet has taken over major part of time of the citizens of digital era. Demographical factors have influence on this trend. (Hansell 1998, p.1). The participatory nature of online journalism (blogs and wikis) makes it as an effective tool for social communication and interaction at the easiest and cheapest way. It displaces the contemporary model of social communication that a few communicate to the many, by the more energetic and effective model of communication by both the publics and audience have equal hand in social communication. (The Internets Impact on News Media). By supporting express opinions in the wide range media, publics are more integrated with the social system creation. Internet is considered as more individualistic than TV media. Through the pod casting method multimedia files of audio and video programs may be transacted through internet. Thus the viewers can watch and hear the program on their right time. Advertising is the primary income source of any TV channel, for the reason that without they cannot exist. All other programs are only secondary in nature. So also is the case of information exchange. Thus only peoples interesting information would be included in this media. Social disorder may be caused with violent actions in TV programs. Weakness of Internet: The quality of interaction of viewers may be restricted in cites. Internet is considered as large service provider and not all the service through internet is in good quality. Business and commercial interests are also influence the internet by disadvantaging to social community interests. The free access of internet is not fully employed in the internet where a major part of the content are made available only with credit card support. This commercialization makes social exchange of information and the social communication also will be restricted. (Verzola). In the social context, it is seen that internet access diverts the minds of young people, especially teenagers from watching shows on television. Research has shown that “64% of them go online while watching TV, and 49% of US teens do so frequently, anywhere from three times a week to several times a day.” (Internet Grabs Kids’, Teens’ Attention and Affects TV-Watching. 2008). It is seen that internet has become a part and parcel of modern life, and their social networking. It is seen that internet provides for surfing, online and other forms of chatting which may not be available under television. (Quan-Haase and Wellman 2002). Deregulation of TV channels: The competitive stances between channel Television and internet has been going on since the advent and exponential growth of internet. It is feared by television that one day, it may supersede TV as a medium of communication and entertainment. Therefore television needed the help of government in order that greater enforcement of control and domination by government over internet could stall their tremendous growth prospects, given the fact that the captive audience of internet could be larger than that for Television, but there are greater user scope for internet, given its user friendliness, economy of use, acceptability and addictive culture. It is believed that many people have made internet a part of their lives. At the time when channel television was deregulated during he 1980s, the threat posed by internet was just beginning to be felt. However, with the “development of video”, this threat became real and apparent, and also for the social point of view, the coming of age of video internet was seen as revenue hindrances for TV, especially with regarding to taxation also. (Owen 2002, p.87). Role of regulatory system in these entertainment spheres: It is seen that regulations play a very important aspect in the matter of entertainment electronics, whether it be radio, television or internet. Television came into existence after the World War II, and has since eclipsed radio, in terms of receptivity and number of viewers. But it became an organ of governmental control in terms of limitation of channels, governing revenues generated by TV channels, and quality of broadcasts. Now internet has joined the fray for information dissemination and entertainment. Although regulatory measures are still not very robust, it is believed that, once it become s strong challenger for TV, it would be necessary for government controls and regulatory regime, not only in terms of regulating revenues and enforcing taxation, but also in terms of protecting the business well being of powerful economic interest groups, and cartels. Again, it is also seen that in order to protect television interests, it would be necessary for government to institute and enforce regulatory measures on internet, not only to curb its increasing popularity and usage among all sections of the community- young and old, rich or poor, educated or not, in urbanized, or rural settings. If this is not forthcoming, it would not be long before televisions would be marginalised and Take the second spot after internet. As of now, channel television is threatened by the enhanced use of video internets, which could later prove to be the undoing of CTV. However, it may take some time for internet to offer strong competition to CTV. This is because of socio- economic reasons, especially with the introduction of digital technology instead of conventional analogue. Digital technology is all set to revolutionise electronics, given wider bandwidth and clear receptivity, with minimum interferences. With greater use of DTV, it is believed that a better fillip would be anticipated in use of TV for domestic and commercial purposes, given their clear and trouble free reception. The aspects of use of internet in TV could also be promoted, in that TV’s could, to a certain extent, take over his role of internets. How Television impacts upon internet: It is now necessary to delve into the effects of television on internet. One of the main attributes of internet is that it draws people away from television viewing, or even from other forms of indoor and outdoor activities, sports or entertainments. According to the latest statistics provided by Internet world of a population of 60,943,912 in UK, nearly 41,817,847 are internet users, with user rate of 68.6%, and growth rate of 171.5%. (Internet Usage in Europe: Internet User Statistics & Population for 52 European Countries and Regions. 2008). Coming to the television scenario, during 2002, it has been seen that nearly “85% of men and women watched television everyday.” It is also seen that while senior age group preferred “factual programmes”, the younger generations preferred “entertainment programmes.” (Interest in Television Programme Type by Age: Social Trends. 2002). Conclusion: It could therefore be said that, at the moment, with TV being a well established and robust industry, with large chunk of viewers, participants, sponsors and officials, it would be rather far-fetched to consider its supercession by internet. This is also not likely in the near future, since heavy investments have been made by media companies, promoters and the government in TV industry. However, in much the same way as radio had given way to TV, it is envisaged, that by the end of next decade, conspicuous changes and development of internet use, encompassing the present exclusive domain of TV in terms of video coverage, channel specials and exclusive, stand alone programmes would also be purchased by internet with increased bandwidth. It would be therefore, intrinsic on the part of TV companies, promoters, and sponsors to consider the potential threats that internet could pose in future and devise ways and means to circumvent and neutralise this. 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