While younger people today may not make distinctions between online and real-world friends according to Shirky, do you make distinctions between online vs. print media? Why or why not? Is there an advantage to one or the other?
According to Shirky, “the internet augments real world social life rather than providing an alternative to it. Instead of becoming a separate cyberspace, our electronic networks are becoming deeply embedded in real life.” What Shirky means by this is that people now have the ability to find each other online, and then meet up in real life. For example, social networks like Meetup.com allow people to search for others depending on interest or location.
When it comes to online vs. print media, a different kind of distinction occurs. These days, people are relying on the internet more than ever. With laptops becoming smaller and thinner, along with the development of phones that can access internet, people are finding new means of obtaining the news rather than print media. Although the information in the Baltimore Sun and the information found at Baltimoresun.com may be identical, people prefer to get information via online sources. It’s not like I hear about something online, and try to locate the first newspaper I can find to look it up. It’s usually the opposite. If I hear that something has happened, I usually search for it online in order to find the quickest answer. So, even though social life online and in the real world is meshing together, I feel that online media is more prevalent while print media is disappearing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We are living in changing times... you have a much more automatic facility with digital media than folks twice your age. Peers my age are about 50/50 when it comes to reliance on paper vs. online sources. Folks my parents' age now are often at a loss with online content because they are less savvy about what to trust.
ReplyDelete