Chapter 9 Media and Technology

1. Chapter 9Media and Technology

2. Technology has changed the way that we interact with each other • Media is also expanding the boundaries of our social circles; how we perceive and interact with each other; even TV is becoming interactive, bridging the gap between our entertainment and our own lives • Is it a good or bad thing? Are technology and media simply a distraction to keep the lower classes complacent to the inequities of society Section 1: Introduction to Media and technology

3. Brief viewpoints: • Functionalists – would focus on the what social purposes technology and media serve • Conflict perspective – would be interested in the manifest functions of media and technology and their role in social dysfunction • Interactionist – would seek to understand the difference between the real lives we lead and the reality depicted on “reality” television shows Continue Introduction to Media and technology

4. Technology – the application of science to address the problems of everyday life (Figure 9.2) • While walkmans, laser disks and old computers seem archaic today, the “I” industry of products may look just as archaic in 25 or 30 years. Section 2: Technology Today

5. Technology is not a product of the modern era • Fire and stone tools • Calculators and computers • Computers and cell phones • All aspects of our lives are influenced by technology • Example: the introduction of machines in agriculture led to less need for manual labor, led to less rural jobs, led to the urbanization of society, led to lower birthrates due to the lack of need for large families • Example: DNA testing in the criminal justice system Section 2.1: What is technology

6. Like any other improvement in human society, not everyone has equal access • Technology can create change that can often lead to even greater inequalities • The gap grows wider faster • This stratification has led to a new focus on ensuring better access for all • 2 forms of technological stratification • Differential class/race/geographical-based access to technology in the form of the digital divide • Knowledge gap – ongoing and increasing gap in information for those who have less access to technology Continue What is technology

7. Students in well-funded schools receive more exposure to technology than students in poorly funded schools • More exposure = more proficiency = more marketable in an increasingly technology-based job market • Society is then divided into those with technological knowledge and those without • Becoming hard to address the gap in e-readiness – the ability to sort through, interpret and process knowledge • The digital divide continues to grow even as social science researchers have tried to bring attention to it • Personal computer usage went from 300,000 in 1991 to more than 10,000,000 by 1996. • Part of the issue is due to where infrastructure upgrades have occurred; example, high-speed internet access that went largely to affluent urban and suburban areas, leaving out huge groups of people Continue What is technology

8. By the end of the 20th century, technology became a big part of the school experience for the communities that could afford it • Poorer communities has little to no technology while more affluent families had personal computers at home and wired classrooms in their schools • Spring Cove School District: Digital School District, Classrooms for the Future and 1 to 1 Initiative • By the late 2000s, prices for low end computers dropped and it looked like the digital divide was resolved • There’s a suggestion of a new divide; minorities (Latinos and African America) are using phones to connect to the internet • Hard to create resumes or fill out applications on a phone • May show that access to specific kinds of technology are becoming more prevalent Continue What is technology

9. Research tends to find that: • The majority of the digital divide for black Americans can be explained through socioeconomic status and geographic location • For Latinos, ethnicity alone seems to be what limits technological use • Women feel less confident in their internet skills and less access to the internet at work and home • Global digital divide results from economic and sociopolitical characteristics of countries Continue What is technology

10. Planned Obsolescence – business practice of planning for a product to be obsolete or unusable from the time it is created • Batteries costing more than the component they are designed for • Built just long enough to last until the next production model or technology comes out • A natural extension of new and emerging technologies • No rip-proof stockings • Lack of support of alternative fuel development • Windows’ release of continual OS and lack of support for prior generations • Upward compatibility only Continue What is technology

11. Technology and media are interwoven and are rarely separated • Media – refers to all print, digital and electronic means of communication • Technology has influenced how and where information is shared • From phone and letter writing to tweeting and sharing on facebook; when discussing how societies engage with technology, we must take media into account and vice-versa • Technology creates media; without technology, media doesn’t exist (and is more than just media we’re exposed to. Section 3: Media and technology in society

12. It’s very hard to divide technology into categories; so the US Patent Office categories will suffice: • Utility patent– an invention or discovery of any new and useful process, product or machine; or for significant improvement to existing technologies • Design patent – new and original design for a manufactured product (usually in architecture and industrial design) • Plant patent – discovery of new plant types that can be asexually reproduced Section 3.1: Categorizing technology

13. There is also the idea of the evolutionary model of technological change – a breakthrough in one form of technology leads to a number of variations • Magnetic reel to reel data storage to the floppy disks (8” to 5 ¼” to 3 ½”) to Zip drives to flash drives. • Simplistic and relatively unsophisticated to improved second and 3rd generation technologies Continue Categorizing technology

14. Print Newspaper • Can be found in early Rome, written on boards and carried around • With the printing press, mass production, storage (archiving) and efficiency • Helped lead to the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment • Sensationalism, tabloids and censorship was prevalent Section 3.2: types of media and technology

15. The telegraph spread news faster (mid 1880s) • By the early 20th century, people like William Randolph Hearst redefined the world of print media and gained enormous power • Could dictate policy, incite the public, ruin careers • Print media also helped the dissemination of countercultural and revolutionary materials • Lenin and communism • The counterculture of the 1960s • Underground newspapers Continue types of media and technology

16. When TV was invented and became widespread, newspaper circulation and readership dropped considerably • This shift has had profound effects on societies • Provided broad-based reporting and a semblance of balance • With TV news, the audience can now choose specifically what it wants to hear and what it wants to avoid (Fox vs. MSNBC vs. CNN vs. NBC/CBS/ABS news) Continue types of media and technology

17. Television and Radio • Both shaped people’s lives in much the same way • Information and entertainment could be enjoyed at home with the immediacy and community that newspapers couldn't offer • People can remember the radio announcement that Pearl Harbor was bombed or saw Walter Cronkite on the TV announcing John Kennedy had been shot and when he died • Newspapers would have had to run a special edition and run specific EXTRA papers • Allows for the sharing of moments in real time • Shaped the “water cooler” moments where people heard on radio or saw on TV entertainment and then met to discuss it Continue types of media and technology

18. Into the 1970’s and early 1980’s, the US was dominated by 3 networks: ABC, CBS and NBC • They competed for ratings and advertising dollars • They also controlled what people watched • Public TV stations offered an alternative • Education, non-profit to sensationalistic news • Sesame Street and Mister Rogers • PBS, BBC and CBC came into the fold as well as Al Jazeera, broadcasting to the masses and around the world; offering a global perspective • Stat: Late 1990’s, 98% of all homes had at least 1 TV and watched daily, 2 ½ to 5 hours of TV Continue types of media and technology

19. Has a profound and powerful socializing effect: providing reference groups, reinforcing social norms, values and beliefs • Begging the question as well with researchers of the impact of TV on growth, development, increased violence, responsibility issues, desensitization of society Continue types of media and technology

20. Film • Prior to the 1930’s, silent and black and white films • 1930’s, films take off due to color and sound being integrated • Many times unified society; bringing audiences to tears, laughter, horror, and scaring them together • Act as time capsules or cultural touchstones for society • Illustrate societies dreams, fears and expectations; sometimes for a specific time period • We also mark milestones in our own lives with film Continue types of media and technology

21. New Media • New media encompasses all interactive forms of information exchange • Tends to level the playing field of who is/can construct it: creating, publishing, distributing and accessing information and providing alternative forums to groups unable to access traditional political forums (Arab Spring) • Leaves indelible technological footprints and a digital life • No guarantee of the accuracy of information provided (conspiracy theory and false information • Hard to ensure accuracy from sources for stories in some cases Continue types of media and technology

22. Violence in video games and movies geared toward children and teens (as well as political messages, sexual innuendo, language, behavior, morality, etc) • While the violence is similar to Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, the graphics and actions have escalated and increased • The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) put ratings on movies in the 1960s • The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) put ratings on music starting in 1985 • The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ERSB) started putting ratings on video games in 1994 • The ratings system deals with violence, language, nudity, sexual issues, etc. Continue types of media and technology

23. Children play often involves games of aggression: cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, army, etc • Is there a link between violent video games and violent behavior • There was determined to be casual linkages between violent video games and aggression based upon 40+ years of research • Children who had just played a violent video game demonstrated an immediate increase in hostile or aggressive thoughts, an increase in aggressive emotions and physiological arousal that increased the chances of acting out aggressive behavior (also see Bobo the Clown) • Questions: age of participants, mental acumen, total number of gamers vs. those that perpetrated violence, family life, moral and social development Continue types of media and technology

24. Companies use advertising to sell to us but the methods and ways that they are reaching us consumers are changing • We receive the same message in a variety of ways: billboards, TV, radio, print, online ads, emails, sponsorships and spokesmen • The remote control allows us to ignore TV ads without leaving our seats, using the cable/satellite box to record shows and skip ads; this causes conventional advertising to change and wane • Ad revenue in newspapers has dropped significantly Section 3.3: product advertising

25. One way that companies are now reaching out to other audiences is through hiring college students on campus to be their endorsing agents. • Popular students: athletes, the Greeks and musicians • 10,000 or so students as of 2011 • Mini-unit on advertising • Types • Creating commercials • Reaching audiences • Product examples Section 3.3: product advertising

26. While there is a variety of media at hand, the mainstream news and entertainment is increasingly homogenized • Different news outlets tell the same stories with the same sources, with slight variations • As this is happening, there is also the opposite occurring in the newer media streams • People customize their news experience by minimizing the chances of getting information that they don’t believe fits in their world view • Republicans wouldn’t use news sites that show Democrats in a favorable light and vice-versa. • Go with all entertainment or sports news without the news Section 3.4: homogenization and fragmentation

27. Technology and now media have always driven globalization • Core economic concepts were changed by personal computing and high speed internet • Access to these technological shifts have allowed core-nation corporations to recruit workers to call centers in other countries • The US will have to pay attention to how it prepares its workers of the 21st century for this dynamic • Media globalization – worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas • Technological globalization – cross-cultural development and exchange of technology Section 4: global implications

28. Technology and now media have always driven globalization • Core economic concepts were changed by personal computing and high speed internet • Access to these technological shifts have allowed core-nation corporations to recruit workers to call centers in other countries • The US will have to pay attention to how it prepares its workers of the 21st century for this dynamic • Media globalization – worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas • Technological globalization – cross-cultural development and exchange of technology Continue global implications

29. Multinational corporations are the primary vehicle of media globalization and they control global mass-media content and distribution • There are fewer independent news sources while there are larger and larger conglomerated • In the US, there are approx: 15000 newspapers, 2600 book publishers and TV stations, 6000 magazines and 10000 radio outlets • From 50 corporations owning the bulk of mass-media outlets in 1983 to 6 large companies today owning the majority Section 4.1: media globalization

30. Technology offers a window into the news of the world • Offers real-time updates: tweets, posts on Facebook, streaming video and blogging • Political ideology and cultural colonialism can occur with technological growth • Countries, corporations, non-profits, groups bringing technology (internet, fiber optic/high-speed lines) into underdeveloped countries usually have an agenda in their gifts • Passing on that country's cultural and societal assumptions and norms to those nations; also biases and expectations • Censoring and information withholding Continue media globalization

31. What should be filtered and censored? Internet gambling and pornography vs. researching information and staying in touch with friends • Allowing one while restricting others • Who decides? • In the US, the courts decide, globally it’s a question yet to be answered • China has a tight reign on the internet, suppressing and censoring information • Do we restrict dissenting views and voices, leaked information, whistle-blower information and facts? Continue media globalization

32. Growth of technology does not equal growth of spread of technology • In peripheral and semi-peripheral countries, few people have the skills and training to access the new technology and in turn, use it • Clustered in urban areas • Ex. The ability to purify water with new technologies but the areas that need it can’t access it, afford to purchase it or the technological comfort level to introduce it • In America, we are looking to teach students to be 21st Century/Digital learners Section 4.2: Technological globalization

33. Technological globalization is impacted by technological diffusion – the spread of technology across borders • Technological progress and economic growth are linked • The rise in technological progress has helped improve the situation of those living in absolute poverty • Innovations in farming and market vending • Advances in things like mobile phones lead to competition, low prices and improvements like mobile banking and information sharing Section 5: theoretical perspectives on media and technology

34. Focuses on how media and technology contribute to the smooth functioning of society • The ability to find information on the internet • TV’s entertainment value • How advertising and product placement contribute to social norms • Almost every home has a TV and 250,000,000,000 hours watched by Americans each year • Tv is a great way for companies to reach potential consumers Section 5.1: Functionalism

35. Meets the demographics of the area • Use sophisticated data gathered by networks and cable companies (as well as other resources: internet, cell phones and surveys) to target their audiences • Commercial advertising also uses other things to reach their consumers: • Movie theaters • Billboards • Public transportation • Sides of buildings • Schools and athletic fields Continue Functionalism

36. Entertainment Function • Manifest function of media is the entertainment value • Technology provides new and exciting ways to entertain one’s self: online gaming, Facebook, chatting with friends • Social Norm Function • Media also serves to socialize us, pass on norms, values and beliefs • What is good and desirable, how we speak, how we should behave, how we should react in situations • Provide us with cultural touchstones or key events Continue Functionalism

37. Debate exists concerning the extent and impact of media socialization • Some studies show that violent content leads to some desensitization and is correlated with aggressive thoughts • Also, children exposed to media violence led to an increase in physical and relational aggression • There is also a study that showed (over 4 decades) that there is no definitive link between viewing violence and committing criminal violence Continue Functionalism

38. Life-Changing Function • A recent study showed that the rise in obesity rate is correlated with the decrease in physical activity caused by an increase in use of some forms of technology (latent function) • It’s a near impossibility to disconnect from technology in today’s age • Leads to an expectation of constant convenient access to information and people • Narcotizing dysfunction – people who are too overwhelmed with media input to really care about the issue; their involvement becomes defined by awareness instead of by action concerning the issue at hand Continue Functionalism

39. Focuses on the creation and reproduction of inequality; social processes that tend to disrupt society rather than contribute to its smooth operation • Major focus is the differential access to media and technology – the digital divide • Who controls the media • How the media promoted the norms of upper-middle-class white Americans while minimizing the presence of the low class (people of color) Section 5.2: conflict perspective

40. Control of Media and Technology • Powerful individuals and social institutions have a great deal of influence and control over which forms of technology are released, when they are released, where they are released and what kind of media is available for consumption • Gatekeeping – the sorting process by which thousands of possible messages are shaped into mass media-appropriate form and reduced to a manageable amount • People in charge of media decide and control what the public is exposed to; the heart of media’s power Continue conflict perspective

41. Traditional vs. Hegemonic media • Hegemonic media is where a culturally diverse society can be dominated by one race, gender or class through the manipulation of the media by imposing its worldview as a societal norm • New media renders the gatekeepers role less of a factor by information distribution • Political Area • Some conflict theorists believe that American media generates an unbalanced political arena • Those with the most money can buy the most media exposure, run smear campaigns and maximize their visual presence • What does this say about the non-rich and politics? Continue conflict perspective

42. Technological Social Control and Digital Surveillance • Has a journal, Surveillance and Society, dedicated to it • Panoptic surveillance – a form of constant monitoring in which observation posts are decentralized and the observed is never communicated with directly • Recent NSA data snooping and surveillance • CIA.FBI surveillance in the past • CCTV cameras throughout Britain and becoming more common in the US • Cameras capture our every move, our cell phones can be tracked, we can be followed on the internet and police forces are using updated facial recognition software Continue conflict perspective

43. Feminist Perspective • Women tend to be portrayed in a particular set of parameters and in a uniform way that society deems to be attractive • TV shows, movies, advertising campaigns and online gaming sites • Thin, white or light-skinned, beautiful and young • These portrayals are crucial in creating and reinforcing stereotypes • The “heroin chic” look of the mid 1990s • There is also a gender gap in technology related fields • May be a result of the stereotypes • Men are the keepers of technological knowledge Section 5.3: Feminist perspective

44. Believe that press coverage only strengthens the stereotypes by: • Subordinating women • Giving airtime to looks over skills • Disparaging women who defy accepted norms • Cyberfeminism – the application to, and promotion of, feminism online • Describes the work of feminists interested in theorizing, critiquing and exploiting the internet, cyberspace and new media technologies • Attempts to create a freedom from gender and sex differences in the social construct Continue Feminist perspective

45. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective • Technology itself may act as a symbol for many • The car you drive, computer you own or peripherals that you use • Serve as a symbol of wealth and status • Neo-Luddites – people who see technology as symbolizing coldness and alienation of modern life • Technophiles – people who view technology as a symbol for the potential for a brighter future • The ideological middle ground sees both sides, technology symbolizing status and failure Section 5.3: symbolic interactionism

46. Social Construct of Reality • The media creates and spreads symbols that become the basis for our shared understanding of society • This is an ongoing process in which people subjectively create and understand reality • For some groups, the people they see on TV become their primary group, they grow closest to them • For some groups, media becomes a reference group, one that influences them and who they compare themselves to, that they judge successes and failures on Continue symbolic interactionism

47. There are some forms of media discourse that allow for the perception or appearance of competing constructions of reality • Advertisers find new and creative ways to sell us products that we don’t need and don’t want without their prompting while in other places (Freecycle), they offer a commercial-free way of requesting and trading items that would be discarded otherwise • There are also blogs and sites that chronicle people’s lives living “off the grid” (which is an oxymoron) or without participating in our commercial economy Continue symbolic interactionism

48. Social Networking and Social Construction • While we think we are reading objective observations on websites, Facebook, Twitter, etc; the reality is that we may be buying into another form of advertising • The corporations, businesses and advertisers are playing a huge role in many “personal” reviews of products • Facebook, which started out as a social networking site, it’s become a huge business, selling goods and services (gaming revenue, ad revenue, selling information) • The company is now worth between $125 and $150 billion dollars Continue symbolic interactionism

49. Friend-ing or liking specific pages only offers up more consumerism and advertising • Leading to spam email and junk mail • Direct marketing • Selling of customer lists • Can increase brand loyalty • Newer ways of spending money • Game updates • Coupons Continue symbolic interactionism