The age of the Cyborg, if we were not cyborg’s before the introduction of the mobile phone then we are today. Personally my mobile phone experience begun when I was 16, before this time more than most of my friends had a mobile phone and needless to say having a mobile was the only way to be “cool”. As more and more of my friends got mobile phones for birthdays, Christmas, dance recitals and the like I consider myself a rebel for not having one. My older sister “grew out” of her old phone in a matter of speaking, thus a demon was born. I now have had a phone ever since and would consider myself a prolific user. I send hundreds of text messages every month and make dozens of phone calls, however I consider my mobile phone use as merely helping me to facilitate the life I now lead. My current mobile phone, can make phone calls, send texts, take photo’s, can access the internet and has a mobile friendly, facebook, twitter and myspace application, it is affordable and easy to use. Last week I left my mobile at home for the first time in a long while, and I wouldn’t be home for more then 8 hrs that day. The feeling I had was one, that I was missing out on something and this is when I decided that my mobile phone is far more central in life than I realized. The most surprising thing to me was I did not “need” it at all.
The iPhone has taken the lead in providing the information that we apparently so desperately seek available all the time. Inside outside, near and far the iPhone has again revolutionized what was already a very refined piece of equipment. It is user friendly it is relatively cheap and it is unbelievably popular the world over. Levinson (2009) disagrees and says at a few hundred dollars an iPhone isn’t cheap. Considering the iPhones popularity it price isn’t an issue, and one can sign a contract to pay off the iPhone with a month by month payment on top of their existing plan, this is available on most cellular providers in this country. This one touch screen had become the most influential screen of the 21st century in my opinion and it’s less then 3 years old. The mobility of social medias allows instant access to the information super hwy it makes freedom of speech ever more powerful. The most intereting notion Levinson is that this type of media has made what he calls “useless places” into useful places. Like sitting in a doctors office endlessly waiting for you appointment, or stuck in a jammed elevator… these static places have no become useful places because of the connectivity of a device so many of us rely on.
We are cyborg’s, phones are the most influential screen in the 21st century and with time, these things only become more powerful and more influential. Is there a point where verbal communication wont be the primary way of communication?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Politics and New New Media
Social Media has without doubt revolutionized the way humans, both communicate and formulate relationships. With the likes of Facebook boasting more the 400 million regular users worldwide it is not hard to see that social media such as these have changed the way we communicate for good. Although it is not only the social world that is altering, these new media’s have had a lasting impact on the political landscape aswell. The ability of social media’s like: Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and youtube, to be available on mobile phones makes them forever accessible. As internet speed and connectivity improves everywhere all of the time, it may only be time that tells how primary these lines of communication can become.
Politics and its finer points are often lost on the common man. New new media has allowed for medium where the common man can 1. Have a reason to have an interest in politics and 2. Have access to it. Everyone has a vested interest in politics but most are too consumed in their own lives to ‘make their vote count’ if you will. During the 2008 presidential campaign saw the introduction of youtube, where CNN selected questions for the candidates that had been submitted via the video streaming website giving the American citizens a voice, a power they hadn’t seen before. Needless to say the questions were carefully selected, and some submitted were rumored to have been posted by people affiliated with the campaigns (Levinson, 2009). This made for compelling viewing of an otherwise boring and non significant event on most Americans calendars.
Chief of ‘The Huffington Post” Arianna Huffington (2008) suggested that Barack Obama won the presidency because of the Internet. More specifically the “new new media” that have become the major players in presidential campaigns. The highly interactive campaign website run by the Obama camp has been given a lot of credit for the election win. With hundreds and thousands of hits everyday during the campaign it’s not hard to create a clever website with power beyond its creators belief.
Politics and its finer points are often lost on the common man. New new media has allowed for medium where the common man can 1. Have a reason to have an interest in politics and 2. Have access to it. Everyone has a vested interest in politics but most are too consumed in their own lives to ‘make their vote count’ if you will. During the 2008 presidential campaign saw the introduction of youtube, where CNN selected questions for the candidates that had been submitted via the video streaming website giving the American citizens a voice, a power they hadn’t seen before. Needless to say the questions were carefully selected, and some submitted were rumored to have been posted by people affiliated with the campaigns (Levinson, 2009). This made for compelling viewing of an otherwise boring and non significant event on most Americans calendars.
Chief of ‘The Huffington Post” Arianna Huffington (2008) suggested that Barack Obama won the presidency because of the Internet. More specifically the “new new media” that have become the major players in presidential campaigns. The highly interactive campaign website run by the Obama camp has been given a lot of credit for the election win. With hundreds and thousands of hits everyday during the campaign it’s not hard to create a clever website with power beyond its creators belief.
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