New Media Technologies and Social Change

In Monday’s lecture and seminar, we learnt that Terry Flew (2005: 21, 25, 26) believed that there is a three layered model of media, the object/tool used, the content/services of what can be done using these tools, and the practices, which is how and what we use these tools for.

In today’s society, especially in first world countries, almost everybody has access to this ‘object’, otherwise known as laptops, phones and watches, etc… Everybody I know, including myself, use their phones to access apps such as Snapchat and Facebook, in order to communicate with others. This is a perfect example of Flew’s 3 layered model, as it can be applied to almost everything.

As well as this, the seminar was extremely interesting as we began a slight debate about whether or not social media has become democratic, we came to the conclusion that although the masses of people could agree or disagree to something, there is not always necessarily a change or outcome that results from it. This led onto the topic of social shaping and how the users of technology are the ones shaping it. Although there is not always an outcome, there is certainly development that is occurring within the media because of the vast amount of users on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Advertisements on the internet causes a continuous flow of income and profit coming in and out of the media industry, resulting in having enough technological advances that improve and benefit users.

Although social media has certainly made is easy to contain amazing amounts of data in such a small space, it has been the reason for the lack of the physical, interactive human.

Bibliography:

Flew, T. (2005). New Media: An Introduction. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.21, 25, 26.

Image Reference:

http://2016.phillytechweek.com/events/technology_and_social_change–the_new_digital_civil_rights_movement

Written and Published by Raha Salehi.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 Comments on New Media Technologies and Social Change

  1. Maria Sourbati
    February 22, 2018 at 10:24 pm (6 years ago)

    Another very good piece of work. You demonstrated ability in applying theory in the analysis of social reality in your linking of the class discussion to the “social shaping” perspective ion the study of the media and technological innovation. Well done Raha.

    Reply
  2. Maria Sourbati
    May 13, 2018 at 5:51 pm (6 years ago)

    HOW DID I PERFORM AGAINST THE ASSESSMENT CRITERIA & ASSIGNMENT CHECKLIST
    1. Have I used 250 words?
    2. Have I used the required writing style, including first person reflection?
    3. Have I illustrated my understanding of key readings through my critical discussion of theories or concepts relevant to this week’s topic?
    4. Have I explained these concepts in my own words?
    5. Have I included short quotes from the readings?
    6. Have I chosen examples from my own experience to illustrate?
    7. Have I used Harvard in text referencing? (http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm) for all academic readings and online sources used in my blog post?
    8. Have I mentioned discussions that took place during this week’s seminar?
    9. Have I met the submission deadline?

    OVERALL Grade A very strong reflection. The one area that could be stronger was the connection between the chosen quote and the very good discussion of the seminar that you include in your post (Grade: A high B+)

    Reply

Leave a reply to Maria Sourbati Cancel reply