Module 6: Mass Media and Technology

As I listened to Dr. Roland's lecture on the history of mass media, I was struck by the thought that in each of those eras, as the world view was brought closer to home in a variety of new ways, society marveled at the new technology.  They were in awe of the people who invented this technology, but they were also a bit suspicious of it.  It seems as if every new invention brought with it some dire prediction about the collapse of society as we know it.  In our resilience, we have at each turn taken these new technologies and found useful ways to use them to provide new and exciting ways to learn, to experience, and to grow.

It is a challenge that we face today. Often overwhelmed with the volume of information available, we are also becoming more inclined to want instant gratification.  As our bandwidth increases, our patience decreases.  This is probably why we've become satisfied with "good enough" technology.  We value convenience over features.  We don't want to have to take the time to learn how to use a new device.  We prefer something with a "point and click" learning curve, even if the results are less than ideal.

I'm reminded of an old gentleman that used to come into the library that I worked at.  When compact discs were first being manufactured, he came in to tell me that he had purchased a CD player and his first CD.  It was classical music, and he was awed by the fact that he could hear the brass section cleaning out their spit valves during the performance.  The sound was just that good.  At the time, I pondered whether that kind of quality enhanced his listening pleasure or detracted from it.  Today, most of us are just fine with our mp3 files.

Finally, just a thought about the Web of Tomorrow article.  I was trying to think back to the web of 2010, when this article was written, and it really does seem that his predictions were already emerging at the time.  Twitter and Facebook were already successful ventures, and I'm sure I was surfing the web on my phone then.  His predictions were spot on, but in 2010, I think the writing was fairly clear on that wall. Although, I will admit, in 2010 I had no idea that in 2013, I would own a TV and DVD player that could both connect to the internet independently of my computer.