What is this and why should I care?

My mother was telling me how excited she was to get Google on her new smartphone.

“Cool, Mom! Now Google can know where you are all the time. Are you OK with that?”
 

“Oh, whatever. What do I care if they know I go to the grocery store after work before going home?”
 

“Well you know, you could start getting advertisements on your phone based on your location.”
 

“Like spam?”

“Some might be spam. Some might be coupons for $2 off a latte when you drive by Starbucks.”

“Oh, so it’s good!”

“Well, good for Starbucks - and your caffeine addiction.”

 

From its inception to today, the power and influence of the media has grown exponentially. First, the printing press brought words to the masses, taking the power of education and literacy from the privileged few and giving it to the privileged many. Later, the radio sent audio transmissions over the airwaves, bringing mass communication to those who never learned to read. Not long after, television put faces to newscasters and brought images of tragedy and triumph into families’ homes. These advances in communication all allowed messages from senders in a few specific locations to be sent to receivers on a broad scale.

Because of restrictions of practicality, not all information gets to the masses. You can only pack so much into one newspaper or television show.

But media gatekeepers such as newspaper editors and television producers determined what issues were important and what the people would hear about; consumers were virtually powerless to influence what they were shown.

Not until the birth and growth of the internet were the traditional receivers of messages able to utilize the medium as much as the traditional senders. Messages and feedback on messages are now sent between businesses, individuals, groups of individuals, etc. rather than from one clear sender to one clear receiver.

New mass media allows information to spread from all sides. People are technologically able to find information they're looking for directly from the source, and send it on. All parties in the communications process are active.

Developments in media technology are not necessarily good, and not necessarily bad. What it means is power to determine what information becomes known – and now, for the first time, this power is technologically accessible to all participants in media interactions.

Our society needs to be conscious of the power we have with this technology, for only when we are aware of the power we possess are we able to use it to its full potential. We are building an incredible tool for our society - how do we want it to look? For a lot of people, like my mom with Google on her phone, the implications of shiny new gadgets aren't apparent.

This blog will be a place that addresses these topics from a consumer's standpoint. My goal is to provide critical thinking in understandable terms on technologies and behaviors that are rapidly changing and continually shaping society. The internet and its relation to privacy, anonymity, ownership and copyright, jurisdiction, civil rights, activism, free speech and journalism are topics mired in questions that we, the people, must answer.