Blog Post 4 - Teagan Haggerty
In this week's blog post, I will discuss the reading by Couldry and Hepp, "History of Waves of Mediatization," which discusses three waves; mechanization, electrification, and digitalization. The reading discusses how society has changed throughout each wave, resulting in a fast-paced, technologically advanced society. The midterm allowed us to understand how social media can be considered 'media manifold' and 'mediatization' through how technology is ingrained in our everyday lives. An interesting quote from Nancy Baym's readings states that "new technologies affect how we see the world, our communities, our relationships, and ourselves" (Baym, 2019). The quote stuck out to me as I can see the presence of social media evolving and shaping our perception of how we see the world and ourselves, which relates to Couldry and Hepp's reading on mediatization of how we live in a digitized world. An interesting article I found called "5 technologies that will change the future of the human race" talks about the different levels of progressive technologies like Artificial intelligence, which will come with countless benefits but can also have some downsides to it, like AI replacing human jobs. The article relates to Nancy's Baym's quote to show how new technologies like AI will impact how we see ourselves, the economy, and society as a whole. Do you think society will have pessimistic or optimistic mindsets to new and emerging technology?
Baym, N. K. (2019). In Personal Connections in the Digital Age (Vol. 2, pp. 6–13). essay, Polity Press. https://mylearningspace.wlu.ca/d2l/le/content/450821/viewContent/3091858/View
Couldry, N., & Hepp, A. (2018). History as Waves of Mediatization . In the Mediated Construction of Reality (pp. 53–56). essay, Polity Press.
https://mylearningspace.wlu.ca/d2l/le/content/450821/viewContent/3065424/View
Marr, B. (2022, October 12). The 5 technologies that will change the future of the human race. Forbes. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/02/07/the-5-technologies-that-will-change-the-future-of-the-human-race/?sh=2b53e4878f1c
Great post, I too found it interesting how technology is extremely embedded into our daily lives without always knowing. Social media is evolving and shaping our perspective, outlooks, ideals, etc., at points, unwillingly. For example, in the reading, Facebook aware of Instagram’s harmful effect on teenage girls, leak reveals, from week three’s blog is a perfect example. Moreover, the article highlighted the implications Instagram was posing on its users, such as causing users to feel insecure about their appearance. While SM is not always necessarily negative, it has impacted users in a variety of ways that lead users to believe unrealistic norms of others (wealth, physical appearance, lifestyle, etc.). Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteIt is really fascinating to take a moment and realize how technology has influenced our daily lives and actions. Technology and the overall presence of social media has become so naturalized that we continue to live out our day to day actions with the incorporation of looking at our phones countless amounts of times throughout the day without truly questioning why we do so. When thinking about the point you made in regards to the advancement of AI and the potential negative impact such as replacing human jobs, this is definitely one aspect we need to consider. Technology can be a great tool in many areas although there are various negative aspects that accompany the naturalized notion. A huge point is one that Gabrielle has mentioned above regarding effects on individuals self esteem due to social media and comparing oneself. Now with all of this in mind, it is important to realize both the negative and positive aspects in regards to technology advancements.