No Television, No Internet, No Service.
When was the last time you went a day without looking at your phone? When you broke it and could not get it fixed for a day? Or were you so busy that you could not take the time out of the day to check it? If you ask anyone in this generation, they are most likely not able to remember or it was before they got a phone. We live in a society where we are constantly on our phone, watching tv, or communicating on social media. In the reading “No Sense Of Place” written by Joshua Meyrowitz, he talks about how different the world is with technology. We now live in a society that is so dependent on technology and the internet that we cannot function without it. We bring our phones everywhere — to listen to music in the car, play games while going out to dinner, scan a ticket to get into a concert, and much more.
Starting in the early 1960’s and early 1970’s, television was introduced and not too long after the introduction of the computers and internet. No one thought that the internet would blow up and be where it is today. Continuing through the years, this created different movements including the women’s rights, equal rights, and LGBTQ rights. With the introduction of the movements, it was during the introduction of the internet and television. This opened the minds of everyone and to see things from a different perspective — this also got people talking and creating a bigger society. This goes to Meryowitz’s idea that roles change when media changes. In his reading, he states there are three categories of roles; group identity, role transitions, and authority. In group identity, he talks about “our experience vs their experience”, saying “ A group is held together by what is special about it, and this “specialness” consists of information that members have in common, with each other and do not share with members of other groups” (Meyrowitz page 54). This is saying that people of similar interests will combine into groups. This is very similar to how groups are formed in middle school, high school, sports teams, and many more. Now a days, they call it “clique” -along the same lines, it is a group of people who have the same interests.
The internet is always going to be around us and technology is going to keep evolving. We are going to have a constant need to keep updating our computers and phones to be able to contact each other and have the ability to do anything on our phone. I believe our generation is one that is going to constantly need technology in order to survive. Children these days cannot go out to dinner without needing their Ipad, teenagers cannot leave their phones without checking social media every hour, and there’s now the introduction of paying on the phone / watch. Not everyone realizes how much the internet has changed the society as a whole, and eventually we are going to be even more technological than we are now. It helps our generation talk to each other without having to see each other and bring up more opportunities for social engagement.
