So it got me thinking about how much media influences us every day, and it hit me - all the time.
I'm one of those people that lives with her phone at my side, I get e-mail instantly to my phone, I check the weather every morning, I read whats going on in the world, update facebook, read blog comments and my fellow classmates blogs. So basically my phone is my portal to the world of media.
I suppose media convergence, has come so far, in terms of how much is available on a single device, be it iphones, android phones, ipods or even ipads. It's quite amazing how connected we are to media outlets throughout the day. It used to be you got on your computer and multi tasked, now it's like we multitask at a higher stage, we can email - while we walk around to and from work or the likes. Cool but at the same time I'm starting to wonder if my phone, or all this stuff I can do at one time is starting to take over my life. That may sound crazy but if you think about it, who doesn't check their e-mail, facebook, news, weather at least twice or three times a day? Back in the day you checked you mail after the postman came and that was that.
Trying to imagine whats next in media convergence, with smartphones and tablet pcs, what on earth is next?
On a side note, I need to stop being so glued to my phone, it's like it's my twin now. Which is starting to scare me hehe.
7 comments:
Hey Annika,
Gosh, I could totally relate to your post. I do all those every morning once I get up from bed. Facebook, Twitter, and the weather channel is all on my blackberry home page. That's the first thing i get up to, and the last thing I'll check before to go to bed. It scares me too, to realize that it's taking control over my life. And it's crazy how far we took multitasking to. It's good in a way, because it'd turned us into such effective people, by responding so quickly to our social feeds. But it'd also took control over part of our lives, and we can hardly imagine how we would be without all of these!
It is true that theses functions can be useful but is it getting to a state of overkill. Consumers still go crazy a product with one extra function. For example when the new Iphone got introduced, people needed it because it had a camera at the front. The rest was the same but except for that one addition. Also in regards to your controlling problem, is it that you own the products or do the product own you?
I honestly wonder what is happening to me sometimes when I'm walking down the street texting and I will come pretty close to walking into a sign or pole or something. I feel like life just passes me by or something. I am missing everything that is surrounding me because I am glued to my phone. Is this the world we are coming to live in?
I totally hear you guys on what your saying. And I suppose the product really does own me. Sort of a sad conclusion really.
I'm not quite sure I agree with your post. In Jenkin's article he argues that these technologies will not become one fully integrated system, rather the media and media technologies will have a rigged relationship between them. I think that media convergence can only go so far. Sure the relationship between different media technologies, industries, audiences and practices will become closer, but i do not think they can all become the one thing.
I agree. It is scary how much technology is taking over everyones lives and media convergence is not helping. In another one of my classes we wrote to a woman in Brookyn, NY that is attempting to live without technology for 6 months. No TV, no phones, no internet, nothing. She only communicated by mail. It was our homework to spend 24 hours free of technology. This is when you realise how much you depend on technology. Only then do you realise how much of a slave you have become. That being said, it was also quite refreshing.
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