This weeks topic of ‘New Media technologies and social change’ was something that opened my eyes about a variety of things, not least the use of the word critical within the idea of being a consumer. In the reading from Lister he describes how when media and new technologies are constantly pushed at us for being ‘new’ and innovative we lose the curiosity and vigilance that might have come with very early technologies. It can be said that people do not seem to question anymore whether things are new, they may just either accept it without looking further into it themselves or just not care or pay attention to it. He then goes on to say that this is what it means to take a ‘critical approach’ to media. An example of this that came to mind when reading the text was that of Apple products, it seems that the public will buy into whatever ‘new’ tech that Apple is bringing forwards without actually looking into what is ‘new’ about it. It can be said that ‘new’ techs more likely just are just superficially new and actually are just a combination of multiple existing techs.
Something else i had not thought about was that political change can influence technological feats within the media industry. One of which was covered in the last reading: Power without responsibility: the press and broadcasting in Britain. It talks about the development of the internet via the need for intellectuals and universities to be able to share information during the cold war and space race in America.
Bibliography:
Power without responsibility: the press and broadcasting in Britain – , , 2009
New media: a critical introduction – 2009