Blog 2

Media Across Generations

In today's society, the role of media is a key part of how individuals operate day-to-day. Across all types of media, people continuously receive their daily news and updates, as well as using media as a means for entertainment and contact with others. However, with an influx of media presence, that comes with some negative aspects and consequences. Examples of said consequences are an increased opportunity for people to create ‘fake news’ and the opportunity for information overloads. While certain platforms have attempted to do their best in filtering and blocking out the fake and the incorrect stories from the credible ones, it is still the job of the consumer to fact check and but in the work and research on what stories are worthy to listen to. While the younger generation has grown up with the skills needed to assist in figuring out facts and information, older generations have never needed to practice those skills until now. This is just one way older generations have had to adapt to new media.

For blog 2, I choose to interview my mom, who is 57 years old. My mom just recently made a Facebook and has slowly been starting to dive into social media more through that platform, which is why I thought she would be perfect for this interview! I started our conversation by asking the question: “What role(s) did the media play when you were younger, around my age?” To that, my mom said people wrote letters, listened to the radio, and watched television. However, they did not have cable; there were no streaming services. To watch a movie, she would go to the movie theater or drive-in theaters. If you missed your show, you were not able to binge-watch or view it the next day.

There were a few news channels and that's how people received any pending issues, or it was announced at schools over a PA system. If they used computers at school, there were big mainframes,
which she said: “do not really count as a media anymore”.


I followed up this question by asking: “What would you say are three of the most important changes in regards to media?” My mom first excitingly identified the movement of laptop computers with the Internet. She discussed the idea of being able to access the world at almost any time, almost every day. She was really happy about the concept of online bill paying because when she was my age, bills were physically mailed to you and if they were late, that was your fault. Online bill paying helps make the process of paying bills less time consuming, where it would take you more than two hours to do it by hand. The second change she mentioned was the rise of cable and streaming services. This has led her to be more involved with shows and television in general, making it more of an entertainment use and gratification. Following along with the media becoming more mobile, she said her third change was mobile phones with data and having access to the internet in your mobile device. She mentioned that she was able to reunite with old high school and college friends because of the Internet, and especially Facebook.

After interviewing my mom, I took some time to reflect on my own experiences with “new” media, or for me, just media. I was able to watch television for my enjoyment as far back as I can remember. From Sesame Street to Family Guy, I have always enjoyed being able to zone out and enjoy anything I wanted to watch. Along with watching my shows, my family would have the news on every night before we all would head to bed. I do not recall having newspapers and print media around the house.
In 5th grade, I remember getting my first phone, no internet or apps, just data. However, I also have an iPod so I had access to music all the time. Finally, in 7th grade, I got an iPhone 3
and felt like my world had changed.
I will always remember getting this phone because it was the latest trend and I felt like I was fitting in with everyone else.
The iPhone was revolutionary and I think this is when media and technology started to dominate my life and changed my day-to-day activities. Since then, my iPhone and Macbook have almost become two more limbs of my body. I am constantly texting friends and wasting my time scrolling through numerous feeds on different apps. Going a day without looking at one of those screens is a VERY rare occurrence. Based on that fact alone, there are numerous differences between “old” and “new” media, and after talking to my mom, my idea of both altered.

I originally thought of “old” media as just newspapers and other forms of print media. When my mom mentioned she had television, even though very limited compared to what we have now, I had to pause and remember television has been around for a while, and movies too. My mom’s statement about having big computers not being considered media also stood out to me. The technological advances that have been made have even affected what she considers to be media in general. Another note that stood out to me is what my mom uses her media and technology for. She mentioned paying bills online and how thankful she is to have that capability, and that is one thing I never thought that much about. That easy accessibility to making payments is something my generation has always overlooked because it takes no time to complete and we have always had access to it. Living alone, I got a paper statement for a water bill in the mail and immediately called my mom to ask if we pay online.

I think the major difference between what can be classified as “old” media and “new” media stems from the difference in technological capabilities and the access to the Internet and can be related to what Christian Fuchs mentions as he calls the Internet a techno-social system. Looking at the Internet as a techno-social system is viewing it with two structures: “the technological structure is a network that produces human actions and social networks … [the social structure] enables and constrains human behavior” (Fusch, 2017, p. 41). Old media interacted with its audience, but the audience could not react back. What makes up new media is the ability to have the audience actively engaging, not just with the content they view but with other humans who are simultaneously interacting with that content as well. For example, my mom would watch the news when she was my age, but now she can go on her phone and live tweet with others who are viewing the same broadcast, or find articles that give different perspectives of the issues in said broadcast.

Media has always had a social component, whether it was my mom going to a drive-in movie with
friends or her being able to reunite with an old friend. That social component is something I often forget when thinking about old media. However, it is a key piece in what has made the media grow from old to new. The ability to facilitate human interaction and participation has continuously made media an important and necessary component in society. Even though my mom and I had different experiences with how we used media throughout growing up, it played a part in memories we had made and continues to allow us to create memories and learn new things every day.

References:
Fuchs, Christian. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications