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1-Page Summary of Understanding Media
Technology Evolution
Technology has changed the way we communicate and interact with each other. Media have affected our institutions, society, and even ourselves. Technology is just a more advanced version of human nature, while words are metaphors that translate experience into understandable forms. Increased power and speed in technology will lead to destabilization in established roads of communication. Electric speeds destroy established roads, creating new centers of power all over the world by re-tribaling Western man through global communications networks like Facebook or Twitter. This is contrary to what happened when Rome was using paper routes as a way to align tribal cultures under their own centralized authority system—a process called “Romanization.”
Information technology has changed the way we access information, and it’s also changed how we think. The printing press made books more accessible to everyone, but it also encouraged people to have their own opinions. It led to a standardization of ideas and education, which in turn helped people become more individualistic. However, with that came a sense of group-think as well.
Speech is more emotional than the written word, and it conveys meaning in a way that written words cannot. This is because speech has intonation, which writing does not have. Consequently, reading tends to be less emotional than conversation. Intuition and consciousness are limited by language; however, language allows man to extend beyond himself through communication with others around him. Electric technologies will affect the future of language; computers offer the prospect of universal understanding if they can bypass restrictions like languages do. The supremacy of the written word is threatened by TV, radio and telephone—all electric technologies—because these media allow individuals to communicate without having to learn how to read or write a particular alphabet first (like Latin). Phonetic alphabets tend toward individuality rather than group identity because each person learns his own sound for each letter instead of learning one standard set of sounds for all letters (as in Chinese characters). Non-literate aspects of electric technology threaten this linear civilization because non-linear concepts such as intuition are emphasized over rational thought when using them.
Technology has improved steadily over the years. However, it can also have negative social effects. The media often intrudes on our private lives and causes problems in society. People demand new technologies because they exist, not necessarily because they’re needed or wanted.
Technology is a powerful extension of people, and it can cause infatuation or numbness. Any technology is an experience for the senses, and it can change one’s physical and emotional awareness. Technology causes people to become more fragmented, which makes them more susceptible to changes in their physical and emotional states. People need to be informed about how media affects them so they know what kind of impact new technologies have on themselves and others.
Media: Hot and Cold
Hot media are high-definition, providing a lot of information and requiring little participation from the viewer. Radio, movies and photos fall under this category. Cool media provide less information but require more participation from the audience. TV, cartoons and telephone conversations belong to this group. Western cultures prefer hot media while undeveloped or non-literate cultures lean towards cool media because they’re not as demanding on their audiences’ attention spans (they don’t have to read). Media only make sense in context with other types of media; for example, if you were watching a movie about someone talking on the phone it would be weird unless you saw them doing that too! In today’s world we want ‘effect’, which is something that looks good without having much meaning behind it (like many ads do).
