What Digital Media is.

So you may be asking what Digital media actually is and what roles it plays in Human Society. Digital media has many different roles in our life. Here are some ways on how it effects us everyday and what kind of roles it plays.

A girl on her computer is an example of use of Digital media . Source  http://www.depauw.edu/it/dml/

• Everyday communication
• Entertainment
• Business
• Interaction
• Education 

 The list can go on and on. But It shows that Digital media plays a role in virtually every aspect of our life. We all know the communication part of it is Social media like Twitter, Facebook, Skype, ooVoo and so on. The education part is surfing the web looking up reliable sources to learn anything from History, Biology or even learn a new language through online practice. Many people do there jobs online, such as professors teaching students through online classes or if you have to order something online for job purposes. Many people do business online to make it a faster and more easy process. For entertainment it plays a role in virtually every aspect of it. It helps create movies, video games and apps, shows and how we watch sports on television. While on youtube.com I found a video about Digital media uploaded by LiQiDiGi , it gives a definition of what social media is according to Wikipedia and really goes in depth particularly how Digital media plays a role in film making. Here's a link to the video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQRTjCZ0B_Q

Kenneth Gergen Views

I read an article recently by Kenneth Gergen.  It's called "Social saturation and the populated self" Part three. Basically what Gergen tries to say in his article is that we as a society are Technology freaks. That we have became addicted to Technology and that we depend on it. Now this article was made in 1993 which was 19 years ago. And if Gergen is saying that back in 93 then how much worse has it gotten in 2012?? While reading is article one interesting idea of his caught my eye. He talks about "social Ghosts" in our society. Basically what Gergen says that social Ghosts is "Each of the selves we acquire from others can contribute to inner dialogue, private discussions we have with ourselves about all manner of persons, events, and issues." In simpler form this means that as individuality people our thoughts are heavily influenced by our culture, the famous people we know and follow influence our decisions and the way we think. And with technology and social media bigger than ever before, we are now more influenced as a society than ever before. Think about, how many times have you seen people dress a certain way, act a certain, do certain things to act like or imitate someone they are interested in or by what the follow. One example of this would be growing up in America as a kid you'll probably at some point in your life develop passion for sports. Some of the popular sports in America are Football, Baseball and Basketball. Kids, and teenagers follow and play these sports because they watch legends from the sport play. Like when Michael Jordan played Basketball in Chicago, he was an All-star. Kids would watch him play and they would get inspired. Or the position in Football as the Quarterback. The Quarterback has been made glamorous by American Culture and beliefs. When in reality the Quarterback arguably does the least work out on the field physically. But because it's such a popular position, every kid wants to be a quarterback so he can have a certain status among his peers. Another example of this would be people who listen to the artist Drake, or Lil Wayne  These two artist dress a certain way. They were snap back hats, have tattoos and were a shirt that will say "swag." People dress the same way as Drake and Lil Wayne because they are influenced by them. I see a lot of people wearing snap backs all the time. But Technology has defiantly intensified this. With Social media being as big as it is and the fact it gets bigger every day, its now possible and easier to influence more people than ever before. Also there are more ways to connect to each other which gives opportunity to influence people we couldn't influence 19 years ago in 1993. If I wanted to I could start talking to a random person on the internet from any random country and play my influences on him. The range of people that have the potential to be influenced here is enormous  And this is why I find social ghosts so interesting because Kenneth Gergen was completely right about the fact that Technology has caused more people to be influenced by others. It has intensified in the past 20 years with social media.

Concerns about Digital media and opinions.

While surfing the web about digital media I came across someones comment in respond to a slideshow  this link will show you the comment http://www.slideshare.net/opentextcorp/the-impact-of-digital-media-on-society Dan prophet said on slideshow.net "We definitely have to be more aware of the impact of social media on society. I'm particularly concerned about the impact smartphones are having on conversation. Time and time again you see people playing on their smartphones when they could be talking and sharing things verbally with one another. I felt so strong about this that I wrote a piece about it at http://www.squidoo.com/smart-phones-ruin-society if you were interested." What  think he is trying to say here is that people aren't being socially interactive anymore and aren't communicating verbally anymore, because were are to busy on our cellphones. He's saying that we aren't paying enough attention to this as a society and its became a real problem. Dan prophet isn't the only person I've seen write about this or talk about this. I've heard many people especially from the older generation that our modern day society and generation has become less interactive with communication. I think it all depends on how you look at it. To me being interactive can mean either talking verbally in person or talking via Skype or texting messaging. Finding new ways to communicate to me is interactive even if it isn't face to face. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and even this site Blogger.com by Google is an interactive way to communicate. While some people don't see it that way I do. There are many ways to communicate and that's all because of the Digital media we have today. That's one of the positives about the whole thing. The fact we can communicate to almost anyone in an moments notice. However I do think talking verbally in person is important to young kids to develop social skills, and even in adults to maintain those skills. Dan prophet also posted a link about an article he wrote about digital media, it focuses more on how smartphones are effected our way of life.In this link you'll see videos and photos about Digital media and how it is used in modern day society link Here's the link again. http://www.squidoo.com/smart-phones-ruin-society

In this Article Prophet says "As the practice of using smartphones for business accelerates it will become more and more common to see employees on their smartphones travelling to work. By becoming more and more common it will get to the point where business will expect their employees to use their smartphones to deal with issues outside the office. The people who refuse to do this will be left behind, with a mounting workload. They won't be able to cope and so will most likely be made redundant by people who are willing to use their phone on the go and hit the unrealistic targets the company are setting." So What hes trying to say here is because Smartphones have so much power and so much influence on the work force, people will be expected to do some of there working career at home. Which can get in the way of family life or personal life. Also it can leave the people who don't have a smartphone behind or at disadvantage. This is certainly a Con about Smartphones and digital media. 

     Another strong comment Prophet makes that Smartphones may take our social skills away or damage them. In one piece of his article Dan Prophet says "Smartphones are without doubt great pieces of technology, but in certain situations people should make a conscious effort to turn the phone off and talk to one another. If we don't, we run the risk of becoming a very introverted society where conversation becomes less and less of a common occurance and runs the risk of being a skill, which only a few people possess." This could be especially true for young children, because we as humans learn social skills when we are young by communicating to others and learning different social styles. But if kids are to busy stuck in their phones, PC  video game console and television how can they learn social skills? You can't learn social skills through texting because you can't express emotion strongly though texting. Same applies for any other method of communicating without face to face. With the exception of on camera communicating such as Skype or ooVoo. But even that isn't the best way to learn social skills. 

   One more argument he makes that I won't elaborate more on is the texting while driving problem. 20 years ago people didn't text and drive for the obvious reason of cellphones being as big as a brick and being so costly. So no one died as a result of texting while driving or while on the phone and driving. But thousands of people (especially teens) have died in car accidents caused by texting and driving. And if cellphones never became popular those people would still be here today and this is defiantly a big problem in society. Overall read more of the article "Smartphones Impact On Society" by Dan Prophet It has videos, pictures, opinions and real life examples on how digital media has changed our lives. 

Pros and Cons of digital media.

Pros and cons. Is it better or worse?

Digital Media certainly has affected modern day society. It has given the consumers a vast range of information and the opportunity to learn and educate ones self. But some people mat argue that the cons far out way the pros. While Digital media has improved they way we learn as a society, it has also caused problems. Here are some Pros and cons to Digital media

Pros:

• It has enabled us as a society to learn more, easier and faster. 
• It has allowed us to connect with people that we couldn't even imagine in doing so just 10 or 15 years ago
• Its made work easier and faster (especially if you're a student)
• Your work can be done faster more efficiently
• Digital media is very flexible with either PC, Mac, cellphone, television and even radio 
• If you need to know something you can look it up in seconds and have the answer

So while I only listed six examples of why digital media has improved modern day society, there are far more examples that can be used. But, there is cons to digital media and the people who are on the cons side of this topic have made some pretty good arguments. Here are some of the arguments they make.

 Cons:

• Its made it easier to steal information and call it yours (plagiarism) 
• Using Google actually hurts you more than it helps, because you're not really learning anything
• Made it easier and more tempting for students of all ages to cheat. Like on an exam, test or essay
• With the vast information out there, some of it is false and isn't accurate and misleading
• It can be a distraction. Instead of doing that 5 page report on biology some students may get on Twitter, Facebook and just surf the web.

 And with this, there is many more disadvantages with digital media. But the thing I want to know is, do the Advantages out weight the disadvantages?  Or is it the other way around? I would like other people to take in part of this to hear opinions. And feel free to add any more disadvantages or Advantages to the list.

Literacy. The way language is used in modern day.

Now I've heard that the way we use language in this generation is a lot different then how it was used 20 years ago. And I completely agree with that. But I've also heard that out generation (me being an 18 year old college student) that Literacy and the way language is used is "uneducated" or less in formal now a days. Now to a certain extent I agree with this, because of the way us teenagers use texting, email and use of slang. But I've heard that teachers and older adults say that they hear this use of informal language when in a serious situation. For example, I've had a college professor tell me when one of his students messaged him about his grade he used terms like "U" instead of "you" and "idk" which means "I don't know." Now personally I haven't heard of this form of language being used in situations like these until I started going to college. When I went to an interview for my first job when I was 16 I made sure I was using formal language because well, I know I had to. But I didn't even really had to think about using formal language because its kinda automatic in certain situations. And I thought this is how it was for most people. But apparently this is a much bigger problem then I thought it was. I would like to hear from other  and what they have to say about this subject. Just tell me any situation when you have heard this problem. If you have.

Culture. How does culture promote change?

So I heard someone say "Culture inhibits growth and change." His argument  was that people grow and learn new values, beliefs, and ideas when in a culture. Like when you grow up in America its socially unacceptable to be living with your parents at the age of 33. But in modern day India its completely acceptable. Some people in India even plan to do just that. That all boils down what you belief which belief is essential on culture. And in American culture that is believed to be insane and odd. some may even call it sad. But my argument is that culture does not inhabit change in my opinion. I believe that culture is the tradition, belief, ideas of a certain group of people follow. Like October fest in Germany. October fest is apart of German culture and is also a tradition. People of Germany believe in celebrating October fest every year. So tradition is when you keep doing the same thing every year. Like celebrating Christmas every year, or following your favorite sports league every year when it starts.So in return nothing is changing. So my question is, how does culture inhibit change? I can see culture bringing growth, but not change.