One hour with my family while browsing the internet (Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and my email)
The moment I got to see our assignment to “spend 1(one) hour online and carefully take notes on this activities and think about this activities before and after the digital media” my reaction was “well, this should be interesting”
The first thing I did was to search for books for my classes, and other items for my apartment. While doing this, I realized how easy it is just with a click to order and get the delivery either in two days with amazon prime or even in two hours with Prime Now. It amazed me how fast and efficient the internet is making our life. It took me maybe eighteen minutes to search and place my order. Now, if we think about placing an order before the internet, I’m pretty sure that this was a longer process. My mom told me that before internet, “you needed to buy the book at the bookstore, order from a catalogue or simply just call the company and actually talk to human being”. This process back then took maybe three weeks. Now, imagine if you got the wrong book or the wrong furniture or color that you ordered? Then add another two or three weeks to exchange something.
The second thing I did was to watch a movie and movie trailers. “Movie coming soon to a theater near you” the voice after every trailer finished. Before the internet and digital media, my mom told me that you would have to wait months or even years to own a movie and watch it at home with your Video Home System (VHS). An example would be a Disney movie that came out in the 80s “Honey, I Shrunk the kids” before digital media this movie(s) were expensive and you would also have to go to the store and buy it. The best part of this was the quality of time you spend with your family. Today, movies are release and within a few months, movies are ready to rent on iTunes, or watch them on Netflix or Hulu.
Lastly, something that I can say that I experienced as a kid was to write a letter, buy a stamp, take it to the post office and wait and wait for an answer. I remember sending letters to my grandparents. These letters took at least one to two months to reach its destination. This was because internet was not popular at the moment in this part of the world. This experienced, reminds me of our reading from Couldry “News of US President Lincoln’s assassination took twelve weeks to cross the Atlantic in 1895” (page 1). It took almost two months to have a “conversation” with my family (at this time not many people had a land line). Today, we send and received thousands of emails. We barely pay attention to them and it all goes to our junk or trash mail. In a way I think this is a good because it is helping to save trees and our environment but I also think that because emails, our personal connections are not the same.
During this hour, I realized how lucky we are to have all of these commodities. I do think that computerization and the evolution of digitization has improve our lives because now we can communicate with others around the world within seconds. We can buy books, home items, food, and change or cancel our order. If we don’t feel like going to the movie theater then we know that we can wait a few weeks to watch at home with your family, friends or why not by yourself? Also, thanks to electronic email, we can learn about good and bad news within seconds. With that said, I do think that all of these changes has and will bring more positive effects to our society and our environment.
Questions…
Do you, or do you think people in general prefer to watch a movie at the movie theater or at home, and if this kind of technology is actually making people to socialize more or do the opposite?
Do you think that this digital transformation is connecting us or is it doing the contrary?