New Generation Information And Communication Technologies

In 20th century, every human being on the earth is familiar with television, internet and other form of media. We can see the effect of these forms of the electronic media in our daily life.

With the advent of information technology, the ways different aspects of life work and operate have changed a great deal. Media has always had a great influence in molding the culture of a society. There was a point of time when television and radio were invented and when computer was invented and there was little connection between the two. Time then travelled fast then through the age of cassettes, records, VCDs, DVDs, flash drive and then the internet. Media also started to go satellite on a massive scale and there came a point of time when media and digital communication systems became closely integrated with one another, opening the dimensions to digital media.

It is a well-known fact that technology and media outlets today play a major role in a person’s life. Generally, a person has access to the media through cellphones, computers, radios in a car and television. It may be perceived by some, even within a technologically advanced society such as America, that media has no effect upon enhancing cultural relationships, though many social networks do indeed connect cultures.

This documentary covers a wide range of issues cognate to technology and concludes on a note that suggests that technology is not going away, in fact it is rapidly adapting, as such the future of the digital nation is unknown and unpredictable. (No kidding, right?) Yet, what I found concretely intriguing was the documentaries discussion of multitasking in relation to inculcation and developing with technology.

With the sophisticated nature of technology being used in media devices together with its importance in communication, it is no wonder that media technology usually emphasizes on the power of the latest media and how it affects the society. However, it is likely that the influence that technology dictates on social change will be overemphasized. Claude Fischer, a well renowned sociologist acknowledges

“Unplugging” from the Internet isn’t about restoring the self so much as it about stifling the desire for autonomy that technology can inspire. (Jurgenson. N, 2013). All of us live in an increasing media- literate world. News are delivered by radio, print, television and on online media and people make constant opinions and suggestions about the same, which kind of has become a daily routine. I come from a country where there are two types of people; people who have accepted and live their lives by and with media (any form) around them and the other kind of people are the ones that either don’t have access or are reluctant to accept the media because they don’t want to be ruled again by “western culture”. Talking about what Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tried doing in Chandauli, a rural village in India was to bring the version of the internet with Facebook as the prominent part of the media education.

In his article, The Mediatisation of Society Theory, Hjarvard (2008) deduces that media simultaneously become an integrated part of society, not to mention the existence of new media like the Internet. In fact, this integration of Internet into our daily life has made us live in the digital age where information is shared in real time and in global context. Castells (2007) even argues that in this digital age, people are able to expand their local communication activities to

The film “ Digital Nation” is an exploration of diverse people's views on digital media, in today's world. Some of the most important topics were on the virtual world, and the pros and cons of technology within different groups like gamers, students, families, teachers, administrators, children, military and businesses, as well as the experience of general people. In the movie, Prof. Sherry Turkle said, “Technology challenges us to assert our human values. Technology is not good or bad, is powerful, and it is complicated which means first we have to figure out what they are”. Currently, technology has taken over, wherever one, goes one will find it. Over the past years, social media in particular have spread worldwide; from Facebook to Instagram. There is constantly something new, extra advanced and creative. Overall, the technology has evolved the way humans interact with each other. In particular, technology influences by motivating students towards learning, saving time, building literacy and communication skills.

Throughout this essay I will be discussing how the digital age has transformed society in many ways. The digital age also known as the information age, is the evolution of technology in daily life and social organizations have led to the fact that the modernization of information and communication processes has become the driving force of social evolution.” This is a time period in which we live in now where Internet and email are available; this is an example of the digital age. The Information Age is the idea that access to and the control of information is the defining characteristic of this current era in human civilization.

Technology has been involved in people’s lives forever, especially in the Millennial Generation. This generation consists of individuals born between the years of 1982-2004. The articles “The Flight From Conversation,” “Teens and Technology 2013,” and “Leading The Charge For Change” deals with teens interacting with technology today.Each article has different topics, but they connect through the over dependence of teens to technology. The Millennial Generation becomes less and less in touch with the real world and morphs into a quasi-reality.

Information and entertainment today are usually spread through the development of technology. Due to this, various medias enable us to give and receive information. Media can be divided into traditional media and new media (Christian, 2014). While it is easy to pinpoint the differences of the two medias, there are also some similarities that tie both medias together.

The worth of media is a very controversial topic. Media has given us the ability to do things in new and creative ways such as how we learn and accomplish our everyday tasks. However, we do not always know how to interpurate this information. The technology available today is constantly impacting and influencing society in tremendous ways. Many of the impacts that are accocated with media are addressed in negative ways, but can be seen from a positive perspective as well. In the current generation, media and its influences can be found everywhere. These influences widely impact today’s adolescents and maturing teenagers because they are still developing into adults. Medias purpose is not only to inform us, but to allow us to mold ourselves in how we want to be perceived online. Also, it allows us easy access to unbelievable amounts of information. Living in an era known as the “information age” is riveting, but what are we suppose to do with all of this new technology and information?

In Geert Lovink’s theory of internet culture, there are three phases: Firstly, the scientific and text-based period before the World Wide Web. Secondly, when the Internet opens to everybody and the Netizens rises. Thirdly, the post 9/11 period, when blogging, social media started to reshape the landscape of politics, economy and our daily lives.

In this essay I am going to have an in-depth look at the question “what is digital media convergence”, not just a simple answer of what it is because the question may seem simple but in digital media convergence there are several underlying convergences which make up the whole idea, in this essay I am going to try and cover what these are and what effects technologically, socially and culturally they are having on us.

The new generation of students entering and already enrolled in university are members of a digital age- growing up surrounded by many forms of digital technology as they are the first generation of youth to have internet technology easily available at their disposal. This current generation have already been labelled by sociologist as “‘digital natives’ (Prensky 2001a) and the ‘net generation’ (Tapscott 1998)” (Prensky 2001a; Tapscott 1998 as cited in Murphy 2010). Technology is not something new to these students as its presence in their life have made them quite comfortable to the idea, as they perceive “technology as a way of life and express a need to feel connected at all times” (Russo et al. 2014). Although what is new are the