With the amount of freedom that we have from the second we open our laptops the adventures become limitless when the internet takes control. My one hour of online surfing turned into a hour and half of online surfing. Next thing you know that hour and half turned into two hours of online surfing before realizing I had an assignment to work on and that I had more tabs open then my Mac can handle. From browsing on various social media networks, jumping from different websites as I was “online window shopping,” to getting reeled in by the latest Trump headline… I noticed one thing in particular. I was getting nothing done.

With every click that I was making I constantly would be introduced to new information to the point where I would subconsciously forget about something that I read earlier in my online browsing. Now do not get me wrong, I am all in for a digital revolution and finding new ways to better the digital landscape. But everything that I was doing I could have done in the pre-digital era and be more productive for that matter. For example, I was scrolling through a travel Instagram page and as I was looking at some of the remarkable photos it gave me a temporary feel good feeling of that one day I can visit all of these places. But soon after I was done looking at the page I was on to the next site and that feel good feeling was distracted by whatever I was looking at next. I believe in the pre-digital era you would have a better chance of physically taking steps in your life to one day reach that dream travel destination and have less of a distraction following you. As opposed to falling into the temptations of Instagram and briefly living “that moment” through someone else’s pictures.

Grabbing hold and taking action in life is the only way to get from your point A to your point B. I believe there are activities that have changed in our digital age and that is simply to physically be active! You have to learn and adapt to your digital resources and expect what the tradeoffs are from being online and actually taking advantage of what the world has to offer.

Photo

Computerization can improve human activity tremendously. Computerization allows the automation of things like factories for example to operate self sufficiently through the help of robots. Cutting costs of labor, speeding up efficiency, and being able to manage your warehouse appropriately to the current environment that your company is in. As for digitization you can look above at my Instagram experience. Digitization was the start of this social media giant condensing millions of photos into one social app. Giving people the ultimate freedom of browsing and eventually finding themselves in situations like myself. (Because I am not the only one).

Athique explains that computerization leads to what he calls ‘collaborative competition.’ “The information society describes the push towards computerized automation and the network society grapples with its consequences.” (Source: Athique; Digital Media and Society: pg. 17) What Anthique is saying from this is that as each society advances in technology there is always going to be the trait of feeling to need more and the need to be the best. This of course brings the good and the bad to the table. The good being the technological revolutionary advances we discover along the way and the bad being the consequences shown from sometimes rushing or over looking the process of computerization and digitization. A good example of this is the Space Race between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

According to Couldry “Many commentators in the academy and industry believe that whole sectors of public and professional life are being radically transformed by the information revolution.” (Couldry; Digital Media and Social Theory; Pg. 10) Based off his readings Couldry suggests that digital media revolution brings both positives and negatives to society. You can see the positive from the evolution of the print industry allowing multiple works to be printed and available to many individual readers. Along with the start of the negative with the rapid expansion of tv media in the middle east and the government applying censorship to the growing market.

Questions to ask: What can you do to be active? How can we better predict the consequences that are to follow with digital revolution?

Well I do not know the correlation between your age and a bowl of yogurt, but Buzzfeed took this idea and made it into a quiz.

You probably became curious and took the quiz, didn’t you? You probably got a ridiculous result and posted it on your social media platforms, right? As ridiculous as the quiz seemed, I took it… and thanks to my lovely selections of flavors and toppings, they guessed that I am 50 years old (yay?). I did not share this quiz and my results on my social media outlets (except here), but there has been a certain impulse to being interactive with your friends, at least in my opinion.

It is probably because of the way we use media in this day and age, which Couldry has shared the term “mass self-communication,” from Manuel Castells, the ability to make and distribute media contents on a second-to -second basis (Couldry, p.4). By taking something small, like the quiz, and posting it onto a media platform, it creates such impulses that make media a habit to be involved with everyday.

Athique, also inspired by Manuel Castells, brings up his idea of a “network society,” where connectivity, along with having a space, makes media, like the Web, alter the way people form new social relationships (Athique, p.14-15).

I am reminded of myself, and my trip to Thailand during the winter break, where for 20 days I am not only taking in a new surrounding, but gave my friends on Facebook or my followers on Instagram something to look forward to through updates. Not only did I have impulses to post pictures and videos, at the time, but I felt like there was power through my experience there because people were vivaciously living through my lens and maybe plan to travel there in the future.

Now that I look back to my album of the trip: there is something to contribute for everyone; there is something for those who favor culture,

foods,

and maybe just views.

Hence, the presence of a “cultural turn” to emerge out of media and for it to even exist in the first place.

So now I ask:

1. Where is there a line drawn between what content you see on media becomes useful or useless?
2. If you look back on your own content that you contribute, what is there to achieve? Does it reflect yourself? Does the possibility of connecting to somewhere far from you make a difference in what you are posting?

Photo Sources: Me!

It’s safe to say that we are in a age of digital education. What do I mean by that? Think back a few decades and you’d realize that our parents did not have the same type of learning experience as us. The classic chalkboard has been widely replaced by smartboards and/or projectors. We also receive our course information through the digital platform, blackboard.

Source: Lauren Creamer

After spending an hour online, I found myself self-educating myself through YouTube videos. I was watching this video on how to perform different moves in basketball. It was very informative and that reminded me of what Couldry said about the internet: “levels of internet access are so high that the online world is seemingly a universal reference point (page 11.)” I couldn’t agree with Couldry more because I believe it is true that whenever someone wants to find information, confirm a fact, etc., they would always resort to the internet.

On a general basis, I believe the era of computerization and digitization has improved human activity. The world is at our fingertips and we can literally do almost anything through a screen. The efficiency and effectiveness of digital media is through the roof. From simply checking an email to the possibility of meeting your significant other (Tinder) is certainly groundbreaking.

Of course, there are people who believe that digital media is harming the quantity and especially quality of human interaction. According to Athique, “people have come to be seen as biological computers (page 17.)” I really can’t agree with that because I believe it depends on the person and their personality. For example, a timid person would arguably prefer someone to text them rather than talk on the phone, and a socially-friendly person would use social media to their advantage to start conversations.

Source: Genometttemperament

To wrap things up, it is without a doubt that digital media has changed our lives. Some of us may have been born before the digital age, but for most of us, we can’t bear to imagine what life would be like without the use of digital media. It has become a staple in our lives and I know for a fact I have used digital media to my advantage, so what about you? Do you think digital media has somewhat deteriorated your social interaction with others or do you think it has made you a better person?

Source: Ariane Osaki

If we go back to early ages, humans always had the need to communicate in order to express their thoughts, needs, information and everything that concerned their society. We evolved from signs language and smoke signals to a more complex vocabulary that not only made communication easier but more efficient for these people. The same is happening now days with social media and all its innovations. Adrian Athique argues on his book that “like in any other era that has come and gone before, the era of new media has brought into being a language of its own” (Page 15).

And then we find a great quote from Couldry that reads: “Media as a term is ambiguous…have become flexible and interconnected enough to make our only starting point the media environment”(Page 2). This argues that we don’t know what is the next idea or innovation since there are no boundaries when it comes to media but we will for sure be affected by it because we LIVE in a digital world. And affected doesn’t necessarily mean in a negative way.

I believe that one great characteristic that social media has brought   is that you can easily market  products, places or services in seconds and for free. Marketing is a key operation for successful businesses and relationships.  Instagram was launched in 2010 and today is considered as “one of the most powerful selling tool”. (Natalie Golding Blog). In this blog by Natalie we see a perfect example of how brands like Lancome, Starbucks, and Ebay have benefited of this “hashtag” social trend.

I am a make up artist and costume designer and for me, Instagram (@touched _by_adrean) has been my platform to show my work. Below you can see some of my videos.

Skull Make up

Medusa Make up and costume

I don’t think that I would have been able to promote myself if we lived in an era without digital media. It is so easy for me now days to just post a pic or a video of my work and get instant responses. Because of this tool, I have been able to work with other artists and create relationships that are beyond what I expected. And of course a great initiative to make some extra coins. All of these are personal examples that agree with what I found on Natalie’s blog about big corporations. This gives me the affirmation that everything you dream of , you can do it. Take advantage of these great platforms that social media offers today.

So, if you are an entrepreneur or you simply would like to promote a service I would recommend you to watch this video about 10 Instagram marketing tips that can make your experience more successful.

• Have you ever thought of marketing any product or service using social media?
• How do you think starting entrepreneurs marketed their products or services in the past?

Tracking my online activity for an hour showed me just how much the Internet has reduced my attention span…after looking at something for mere seconds, I move on to the next thing unless I am absolutely fascinated. During my hour, I watched and replied to Snapchats, read the news via the New York Times Twitter account, searched for a vintage jersey I’ve been wanting on Etsy, Ebay, and Depop, and got lost in the familiar black hole that is the Instagram explore page. Aside from reading the news at home, doing all of these activities pre-Internet would have been virtually impossible. Connections with friends would not be as constant and maybe not as strong—one of the reasons I believe this generation feels so close is because we are constantly texting, Snapping funny pictures, DMing memes we think our friends will laugh at too, etc. Looking at it from a strictly advantageous point of view, the Internet has made life significantly more convenient. Instead of flipping through racks for hours at a consignment store, I can search for the vintage piece I want online. Instead of having to source a trend report from Doneger, I can go on Instagram and see what pieces are hot right now.

In Coudry’s text, he points out that although we are all inundated with media from every angle, we choose which media to actively consume. “The recent waves of media saturation are cumulative, making the term ‘saturation’ inadequate…But how saturated by media each person’s world is—how actively people select from the media landscape available to them—remains uncertain.” To me, this feels especially relevant on social platforms like Instagram and Twitter where we choose who to follow, what posts to click on, what posts to share. We’re able to tailor our online experiences to our preferences, customizing these platforms so that we can get the most out of them according to our wants and needs. But perhaps this can also serve as a disadvantage—by choosing just to follow, like, and share that which we already have an established interest in, we may be missing out on discovering new topics of interest.

In my opinion, digital media is mostly positive if we are sure to remember one thing: social media is deceiving. Social, arguably the most engaging and “important” part of digital media, has the ability to be all-consuming, to serve as a platform of comparison, leading some people to simply quit rather than continue on with the facade.

credit: The Guardian

Instagram star Essena O’Neill (above) changed all the captions on her photos before completely quitting social media, citing the fake nature and unrealistic standards the online culture promotes. Her act made headlines, leading me to ask the following questions…

1. Do you think quitting social media fixes the issues associated with it? (example: body image in O’Neill’s case)
2. It’s no secret social media has made many of us more competitive—do you notice this translating to your “real” life as well?

Monday night I spent like a typical “cat lady”: Netflix, glass of dry red, plate of veggies ( because I try to eat healthy ) and two furry kitties. I was watching How To Get Away With Murder and, of course, checking my Instagram page every minute. My friend sent me a direct message and we started a conversation.We were talking about classes, relationships, fashion, social media and many other interesting subjects. Everything was just fine, but I did not feel that I was doing something useful or satisfying for my soul. I promised myself to start working on my cover letter … and, obviously,  I did not do it. Did I just waste another hour of my life?

If I was living in pre-digital era I would have a nice evening with my friend. We would cook a delicious dinner, seat next to each other, share our real feelings and emotions about life. Maybe after dinner we would talk about some interesting book we both enjoyed reading and went to bed happy and satisfied.

Of course, I am only telling you one negative aspect of social media and constant use of electronic devises. I like my TV shows and movies on Netflix, videos on YouTube, beautiful pictures of my friends from all over the world on Instagram, cute texts from my friends in Russia, ability to Google every single thing I don’t know or not sure about…We live in amazing world and we should appreciate it. However, I have to admit that people are loosing the ability to be themselves, to be real.

I know that Louis CK is a comedian, who says a lot of silly things that he doesn’t actually mean. However, I agree with everything he said in this video. We are scared to be a alone even for a second. We always look for an interaction, because we do not want to face the reality, the dirt and misery of this world.

Media has changed our entire perception of the would. Nick Couldry states, ” Media literally change the scale on which we can speak of societies at all, but building inequalities into this very process. It is through media that we have a sense of living in the world, a horizon of world events; it is though communication also that capitalism on a global scale is sustained, so enabling a potential new global scale is sustained” (Couldry 25). It’s hard to disagree with Couldry, because media has changed everything : our economy ( we sell and buy though the Internet ), our social interactions ( some people even communicate thought the Internet  more often than in the real life ), and our perception of who we are. In 1996 Manuel Castells said that the impact if information network technologies upon human societies was so great that in future it would effect economic relations, nation states and communities themselves. He stated,  ”Now we are living in a network society ”(Athique 16). I can’t believe that was so clear for him more than 20 years ago!

Going though my latest thoughts and ideas, analyzing readings from our textbook, looking at other entertaining articles about media, I would like to conclude that there are no activities that have not changed in our digital age.

Questions to my classmates:

1. Would you be able to stay away from THE Media at least for one month? Let’s say you could live outside of the city, even with your friends…to just clear up your mind.
2. What is your favorite part about social media? Do you think it will help you to earn money/be successful in this society?

The task of writing down every activity that we do, whether online or offline, is quite interesting. It makes you realize the small tasks we do in-between the more important ones. I was assigned to write down everything I did online for an hour, but what I did not expect was how many things I did! When I am on Facebook, I am not only on Facebook. I am on Instagram, Youtube, Gmail, and a myriad of news outlets that are a click away from my newsfeed. It’s truly amazing how Facebook has become so user-friendly that you can find everything you need in one website. Before I knew it, it has become integrated into my daily life, with the latest updates and news in my fingertips. When I screened through my notes, I took a deep breath. In between commenting on pictures, tagging people in funny videos, and becoming increasingly skeptical of political media, I realized something: we are more connected with the world than ever before. But is this a good thing?