Today is the day I post my last post for this class. It only makes since that my last post should have some sort of summary of what this class has taught me about the way technology, media, and society all go together.
One of the first things I remember learning in this class is about television and how it affects us. Most people use television as some sort of escape from reality, for entertainment purposes, and to live out some sort of fantasy that they themselves will never be able to actually to do. There is also television programs meant to educate and inform. For adults, absorbing information from television is fairly easy but for young children it isn’t. Interactive formats like those found on Blue’s Clues have been found to be some of the only programming that young children can absorb.
Another technology that’s been addressed a lot in this class is the Internet. The Internet has connected people to practically anything they would want to be connected to. This technology has had an impact on the way people conduct their daily activities. People are so used to being instantly connected now that they lose their patience and get distracted when doing something as simple as reading an article. This technology has made the way that people write become different. Most people who grew up with the Internet in their lives just scan read articles. So writers have to adapt to the new way people read things online.
The last kind of technology I’m going to address are mobile devices. Mobile devices has been a real convenience in daily life. To be able to reach anyone at an instant is really handy especially for emergency situations. Smart phones continue to advance that idea. I used to have to wait until I got home to check my email but now I can check my email anywhere I am because my phone connects to my email accounts.
And that’s my summary of the different technologies I learned about today and their basic impact on our society.