As I spent my one hour online in observation of my activities I was shocked to imagine my life before the pre-digital era. In my time I played League of Legends, practiced my typing, watched YouTube videos, and most importantly I talked with my best friend and my boyfriend. When I thought about how I would do this in a pre-digital era I realized that I couldn’t and this woke me up to how big of a role media has had in my life. My best friends who I talk to and play online games with is name Josh but the problem is that my friend Josh lives all the way in LA. If I didn’t have digital media I would only be able to contact him through mail, who knows how long that would take; I doubt we would be close friends like we are today. And even worse I have a long distance relationship with someone who lives in Canada but frequently travels to Korea and Thailand. Without digital media I would have no other prospects other then the men in my regional New York area.
Although I will admit that it is not like it would be completely impossible to complete these activities but the matter is that it wouldn’t be the same. In the pre-digital era people still communicated, played games together, watched theater, typed, and found love. This did not change but the way in which these activities have been able to had an impact on us is really what has changed.
After seeing the personal effect that digital media has had on my life personally I would like to argue that it has brought positive effects to our society. Digital media has brought people together in more ways than one.
Would You have a Long Distance Relationship?
With the digital age expanding our range of communications through the internet people now have the chance of find love from practically anywhere in the world. Long distance relationships are hard but they are strong relationships, that teach people the value to be with a loved one. In a study done by Statistic Brain in May of 2016, 10% of marriages within the Unites States comes from long distance relationships. Without the digital media these marriages would have never happened. I wouldn’t have a boyfriend (gasp)! For this reason digitization has improved our human activity and made it possible for people to interact and communicate. Couldry quotes Marcel Proust’s book In Search of Lost Time saying “I felt more clearly the illusoriness in the appearance of the most tender proximity, and at what distance we may be from the persons we love at the moment it seems that we have only to stretch out our hands to seize and hold them. A real presence, perhaps, that voice that seemed so near – in actual separation!” (page 5). Here it talks about the effects that the telephone has played in our lives without it we could not feel close to the people that are actually far from us.
I found the study you spoke about very interesting that 10% of marriages come from long distance relationships. I completely agree that without the use of social media and digitization some of these relationships would not be possible. I also had a long distance relationship for almost two years and without Facetime, text message, and Facebook, I don’t believe the relationship would have lasted for nearly as long as it did.
I think it’s very important to talk about the digital revolution and its effect on immigration. Especially here in New York City, we have people from all over the world: Australia, China, India, Puerto Rico, England, etc. and the most practical way for those people to stay connected with others from their roots is through the digital era. Society has seen such a need that they’ve created the ever so popular app known as WhatsApp. So I agree with you that digital media has helped maintained strong relationships.