Final- Theme 2

Meyrowitz was a man who came up with a theory; he believed that technology changes society. Meyrowitz’s theory was applied to relationships between people, but using electronic media. His theory was correct. Electronic media plays a huge role in the way people have relationships with others. Our world has changed from meeting someone in person, to meeting them through computers and radios.
There was a woman named Mary Dyck. Mary Dyck lived on a farm; this farm was mostly isolated from people. While Dyck did housework, she began to listen to the radio. She would listen to soap operas. After listening to the radio, she would keep a diary. In her dairy, she wrote about the characters in the soap operas like she knew them. She began to carry a para-social relationship with these people in order to keep in touch with the real world. This was just the beginning. When television was invented, people began to have para-social relationships with television stars. They believe they were best friends with them, even though they never met them.
After television, there came computers. On computers, there was IM-ing; when IM-ing was introduced, there were chat rooms; in these chat room people could meet complete strangers, but these strangers could be there best friends. After IM-ing, there came sites like myspace, Facebook and twitter. The sites like Myspace and Facebook allowed people to create relationships with new people. We, in our society, only meet a couple of people, but with sites like Facebook or Myspace, people are able to meet people from across the country; they develop these relationships that can last forever. There was a man who met his wife on Facebook; he was happy to have had a Facebook because it allowed him to meet his wife, who lived on the other side of the country. Facebook brought the man happiness.


Para-social relationships are seen a lot on twitter. Twitter is a website where you can post anything you want at anytime. Like Facebook, you are able to make new friends. The para-social relationships are made on twitter through celebrities. Since celebrities are on twitter, people friend them. Then, these people follow them; they act like they knows these people; they will talk about this certain celebrity as if they are their best friend; the weird thing is they never met the person.

An important idea, which is related to para-social relationship, is the idea of “ambient awareness.” This idea focus on getting to know someone because of what he or she posts on their twitter or Facebook wall. The person begins to believe he or she is familiar with that person. These sites have allowed people to go a bit crazy. Some people will come up to you and talk about a certain celebrity, but he or she has never met them before. I feel kind of weird, especially when they are talking me.

I feel that Meyrowitz was right about how society is changing because of electronic media. People, now a days, meet others through the internet and not face-to-face. It is scary to see how our society is relying on relationships through online, especially with people he or she has never met before.

Final-Theme 4

There was a man named Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan believed that media created new environments and new ways of thinking; he was right. Since the internet has been introduced into our society, things have been changing. Before the internet, people who had to research would use books; this could take along time; the internet made everything easier.
There is a problem with the internet and search engines like Google; the internet has made everything easier, but does it affect our minds?

People argue and believe the internet has made us lazy. We don’t really have to stress our brain about finding information. In the article, “Is Google making us Stupid”?, the author writes how the web is letting us forget about reading. There are so many people who have lost the ability to focus on a book; they are so use to reading something quick on the web.

The web is also affecting our memory. Since we don’t focus so much, our minds tend not to remember as much information as is should.

Another interesting article is, “Old Fogies in their 20’s”.

This article talks about how technology is becoming more familiarized by children. Children can go on a computer and do basically anything you need. It is amazing to see what a child who is 8 years old can research. This is a major problem because the children are being introduced to the computer to early. They are missing out on the skills of reading. Since books are boring to look through, and the computer is faster, children ignore the reading. This also is affecting their memory skills and focusing.

There is a big concern in reading. Since computers, reading has been declining. Now the reading industry is trying to bring back reading. They are making electronic devices, like the Kindle. This might bring an interest to the people. Reading has to change from books to e-books in order to get read. Another problem is reading is declining because kids don’t find it interesting or they are not as focus; it is true that reading something online is easier because you can browse around, but a book is becoming boring.

MacLuhan was right on how the environment we live in, and the technology brought into the environment changes the society. The way we use to think is changing. The way people use to find information is changing. I guess change is a part of life.

Final-Theme 5

In the near future, is it possible to see a battle between two huge websites; these websites are Google and Facebook. Google has been around for sometime; it is a search engine; it is something no one can go without. Google has made life simpler for us; instead of looking through books, we can just type it into Google and something will pop up. It is an amazing search engine. Then there is Facebook. Facebook isn’t a search engine; it is a website where you can meet friends, play games, and leave comments. Facebook may not seem like a search engine, but it actually is.

Since Facebook has come out, people do rely a lot on it. Facebook encourages people to use their friends as resources for information. Google may be the site where people always go on to find information, but what if you want to buy something and wanted a personal opinion; Facebook is the site where you can do this; if you leave a comment on your profile, someone will comment back; their information can be what you are looking for.

Even though Facebook is a useful site, I believe Google will be the more dominant one. Facebook can be a site where you friends can give you advice, but Google is a huge search engine; it allows you to find anything at anytime. Facebook is something still knew and probably will not last a long time, like myspace. Facebook does give the advantage of friends giving us information because they know us, but what if you’re looking for something, and where it is more affordable; you would just type it into Google, and look around until you find it. I feel Google is more reliable site.

Monetizing is an important goal for websites; it the way they make their profits. I think Google has the better possibility in being more successful in monetizing then Facebook. Facebook is site where it gets more of its profit from advertisements. Google also makes its profits from advertisements, but there is more. Since Google is a big search engine, business want people to click onto their sites; if the businesses give Google extra cash, Google bumps them up to the top; this allows Google to bring in more profit.

Facebook is the best site in using our personal data to help us “find stuff. “ Since Facebook is a site where we are connected with our friends, who know us pretty well, it gives us the advantage to ask and get reasonable advice or answers. Google will give you answer, but they aren’t so personal. The friends we have on Facebook are more of a help; these friends could have gone through it already. Facebook is better on handling personal data because of friends; these friends are real people who live here, and have a clue on what is going on. I think Facebook is more of help on personal matters.

Google has the best strategies to hold our attention. Facebook is a site where people can spend hours on, but we are basically looking at friend’s photo or comments. Google, with the help of advertisements, will keep us hooked. When you go on Google just look for something, you end up looking at something totally different; when you click on the site, there might be a pop up that looks interesting, you then click on it; this cycle might repeat. Google, with the help of advertisers, know has to keep us interested.

The battle between Facebook and Google might take a couple of years, but I think that Google will be the winner.

Final-Theme 3

It the year 2010 and everything is changing! The technology is becoming more advanced. The media we use to know is now all digital. Digital media made a huge impact on the users. The way, we the audience, use to listen to music or watch movies has changes, but in a good way. The digital media has allowed for better sound and color.

Digital media has been a big impact on many medias; it has changed the way we do certain things. There are many “old” medias that have had to adapt to change. One of these medias are books. Books are interesting, but not many people have time to read a book; people are always on the go. Also, a book it pretty big to carry around. Since books were dying, the tech people came out with new devices; these devices allow book to be copied; the books are made into e-books (electronic books); it makes it easier to read anywhere at anytime.
Some devices made were the kindle, the Sony reader, the iPod touch, and the iPad; each of these devices can allow you to read the book. The iPod touch and Ipad allow you to buy the book right off of itunes; this process makes it easier; people really don’t have to go to a book store and spend money on books, which will just take up space.

Another old media turn digital was film. Film shouldn’t be really called film anymore, since movies are all digital now.

Digital movies have changed the way movies are seen; it has made a significant change in the movie business. Since movies are digital, you don’t need to buy a hard copy anymore. Movies can be streamed to the television or the computer. There are websites that allow you to stream videos, like Netflix; Netflix allows you to watch videos online or stream them to your television for a small fee. The only problem is, movies that can be streamed off the computer hurts business and sales; this problem can be partially solve because, the owners of the digital movies can put a time stamp on the movies; this meaning when the website can actually have the right to air a movie; this helps the sales for movies increase.

The last old media that has turn digital is newspapers. Newspapers are read by very few people. The newspaper companies don’t really sell that many copies of the paper.
Since the change to digital, all the news can be found online.

Since wi-fi was introduced, people use their devices, like the iPod touch, to click and be able to read the paper online. People don’t have to be hassled by having to carry around the newspaper. The newspaper companies knew they weren’t going to last forever. When the internet came out, newspapers lost a lot of business. Now with everything being digitized, it makes it easier for people to read the paper on basically any technological devices.

In this new digital era, some media will last and others will go. I think that the radio will soon die out; the radio has been already dying even before the switch to digital; I personally don’t think just because it sounds better, makes it any better. The radio was dying before and will not last through the digital era.
I do believe that books will be a huge hit through the digital era. Books were becoming a bother to many people. People would have to go to the library or the book store to buy a book. Then the book would take up space. Now, with books being digitized, there so many ways to read. People can use a certain device to read them.

People are becoming well adapted to the digital media. It is making life simpler. We are able to read, listen to music, and watch a movie or television show, without having to be in a specific area. The digital era is allowing people to be on the move, but enjoy sitting on the train.