Media has come a long ways since the early days of communication. Back in the days of the 60s when Compuserve and AOL were the main sources of connection, communication was simple. They were meant for emails and transferring information from one party to another. This was a revolutionary form of media.
*The time that people spent on computers was more productive than a lot of web surfers today. Back then there was no Youtube, Vimeo, Twitter or Facebook. Communication was genuine.
Another form of media was the cell phone. The first commercial cellular phone was the Motorola DynaTAC. Motorola received approval to release the mobile phone by the Federal Communications Committee in 1983. This primitive mobile phone was only able to make and take calls.
*Again the communication here is more rich because one can only "talk" as there was no texting, tweeting or any other form of asynchronous communication.
**I would love to see how the world reacts if just for one day all social media and cellular service providers shut down. There would be anarchy. People wouldn't know what to do with themselves. This is the point I am trying to make. That all kinds of media effect people in different ways whether it be by making someone more sedentary by sitting home all day on the computer playing Farmville or social media distracting people in school effecting their academics. There are many downfalls to media if not used productively. And I understand this can be challenging as today's generation has grew up on media.
Now:
Today there is an overwhelming portion of the population restricting themselves with media. Sherry Turkle, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology psychologist and author has performed studies to show how much smartphones actually effect one's health in communication. In one of her studies she concluded that people tend to like themeselves more in cyberspace than in real life. This is because people have more control over a situation that takes place over media than in person. Turkle states "Online you become the self you want to be." People who have self-esteem issues in real life tend to be the one's who spend most of their time on the social media sites. Ironically, in some cases, the social media may have been the cause of the low self-esteem.
*When people log onto media they are essentially taking themselves from the real world. Some do this to escape reality and some do it to become a "different person".
**I wrote a paper last semester on how smartphones affect communication. And I came across a study that demonstrated communication between two individuals. There were two groups of two people. The first group was asked to communicate about anything in a room with only two chairs and a table. The second couple was asked to communicate in the same room except this time there was a smartphone placed on the table. The study concluded that the couple without the smartphone on the table had a much more intimate conversation than the couple with the smartphone in their presence. This is because the couple that had the smartphone in the room were distracted by the mere presence of the device as they were cognitively aware of its capabilities and this took away from the actual conversation they were trying to have.Later:
Social media and Smartphones are a major factor that hinder a persons ability to communicate. This is an affect that can hurt people in the long run. Most everything in life is based around communication. Whether its a job interview, a meeting or talking in class most everything requires good communication skills.
*Try to imagine someone who is an avid social media user going in for a job interview and has trouble looking their employer in the eye or making small talk. This is not uncommon because many people don't get the rich communication they need when sheltered by media.**Don't get me wrong I love my media, but I never step away from real life conversation. This is essential especially being that I am going into Game Design I need to have a good balance of media and communication. There is no doubt that media is important, but not more important than real life.
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*Thesis
**My thoughts
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