History of Modern Media
This week’s reading was a very detailed but interesting one to me because I kinda love learning about the history of media and it has evolved over time. The article went through a timeline of different eras starting from the 1700s and spanning all across into today’s media age on the technological advance. Based on what was described and how people used the media back then, I think we are very lucky to be living in a time that allows us to have access to many media outlets.
Being a twenty-two-year-old growing up in the era of technological innovations I grew up wanting what is new and most popular because of past mass media developments like TV and radio. I remember when the first iPhone came out and wanting one so badly since it was a new and amazing creation of having a computer in your hand. To this day I will wait for a new product to be released just to basically show off what I have, even when my old phone works just fine.
The media artifact that reminds me of having access to new medium technologies is from an episode of Victorious called “The Worst Couple”. In this episode, Tori’s current pear phone GX is glitching and is in need of a new one, but wants to wait until the new release of the pear phone XT so she can have the most up-to-date version. Throughout this episode, everyone is telling her to get another GX since they didn’t know when the release date would be for the new pear phone XT. After resisting for a long time Tori caves and gets another GX, but then the episode ends with having the pear phone XT get released the same day she bought her GX. The reason why I selected this episode is that it’s true to real life in how many of us, including myself will go through a waiting period of using our old products even when they suck just to be able to get our hands on a new release to show the people around us. In our reading Shaping the American Mass Media, it talks about how during the 1900s when radio was one of the biggest streams of media until the TV was developed and then the attention from business as well as the American people turned away from radio due to wanting what is new and popular.
Coming from a chapter section written by the University of Minnesota Public Libraries on Understanding Media and Culture, discussed the history of media development. It mentioned similar things to this week’s reading but also mentioned how the different creations of the media channels we have today like magazines, radio, tv, and so on have also created a cultural shift in this process. For example, this chapter section mentions how the development of the telegraph paved the way for developments of broadcast channels and radio, or how the production of television caused a decrease in movie attendance since almost every American had one in their household and could be enjoyed from the comfort of their homes.
With the help of advertising and the people surrounding us, it is hard to not want what is new and popular in the various medium channels relating to media. We see it all the time with new Apple products, TVs, cars, even food that comes from a new mass media trend. The reactions we have towards these mass media trends have been going on since the 1800s and will continue for years to come. Learning about this history and remembering that episode of Victorious reinforced what the University of Minnesota said in their article on how as we grow and create new waves of media it is natural for that creation to create a cultural shift within the people that use them. So who knows when the next mass media wave will come, but we do know for sure that it will change the way we use media even on its smallest scale.
[Author removed at request of original publisher]. (2016, March 22). 1.3 the evolution of media. Retrieved April 06, 2021, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/1-3-the-evolution-of-media/
Melvin DeFleur, M. (2016, January 08). Shaping the American mass media: A brief Overview: Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved April 06, 2021, from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/shaping-american-mass-media-brief-overview-melvin-defleur-margaret-defleur/e/10.4324/9781315663593-7
