The digital media topic I chose to write about is the future of telecommunications through social media. Although broad I’m narrowing it down to the connection aspect, how we communicate and connect to one another via media and digitally. Digital media is the mixture of technology and information, we receive and obtain our information and communicate with one another using channels like, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp. Communicating via digital media now is very accessible and cost effective even free. Upon purchasing your cell phones apps like Facebook, Snap Chat, Google Hangouts and Instagram are automatically pre-installed on to your device. All these apps all for the soul purpose of communication and staying in touch with family, friends and business contacts. Facebook offers a variety of ways to communicate. It offers Facebook live, messenger, video calling, person to person calling and posts. Facebook has been the gateway for other forms of social media to expand their apps not only for posts but for communication and advertisement as well. We have so many options on how to get in contact with one another from our phones, TV, tablets and personal computers that there's no excuse why we are not able to literally communicate. Although, we still have availability to traditional ways of getting in touch with one another we have begun to lean towards the social media. Mailing a letter or picking up the phone is slowly dying. Text messaging is the most current way of contacting people today. Person to person phone calls have hit an all-time decrease over text messaging. A survey conducted by CNN shows that 31% of people prefer to get a text message over a phone call. An additional 14% said the contact method they prefer depends on the situation. To put this in perspective, most Americans (but just barely: 53%) still generally prefer to get voice calls rather than text messages. According to Pew, "Cell owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day -- more than 3,200 texts per month. And the typical or median cell owner in this age group sends or receives 50 messages per day (or 1500 messages per month)." Also, the rate of texting for 18- to 24-year-olds is "more than double the comparable figure for 25-34-year-old, and 23 times the figure for text messaging users who are 65 or older." Based on my research I found that according to Forbes, social media will eventually be the way to obtain all information and stay connected. There are so many different options to stay connected now imagine in ten years. The death of interpersonal skills is coming sooner than we think. We already connecting via apps but now we have evolved to connecting over the air. For example, Amazons Alexa, by directing a command on who to call, what to order, making reservation or even doing your groceries Alexa does it all. These all tasks that we normally interact with one another to get it done. Amazon has raked in a $700 billion-dollar profit on this device alone. After doing some research I found that Amazons earnings report on Thursday was powered by big sales associated with its Alexa voice assistant, hefty profits at Amazon Web Services and a tax benefit of $789 million, sending its stock toward record highs that could mean a $700 billion valuation. (Per marketwatch.com) Americans have become very dependent on their devices and having the accessibility of giving a command and getting it done simplifies life’s everyday challenges. We can print via voice command now, change channels, turn on lights and even play music by the sound of our voice. Normally we would connect with our devices by pushing a button, using the remote or selecting CD’s. We don’t do that anymore, we’ve lost our connection with things we use every day. Its to the point that our cars are driving themselves and our children are being trained to behave by giving them our phones or tablets to keep them busy. Communication advancement is on the rise but is it for the better? or is it for the worse? Google has for years been working on a simultaneous translation project, a sort of Tower of Babel 2.0. The applications for this are enormous, both on a professional and a personal level. We will be able to understand other languages instantly through this translation projects. Amazon also has been working on a project for translation but for your pets. This application will let you understand what your pets are saying. Have we gone to far in the world of communication? Is bringing down the language barriers a way of participating more in the cultures and traditions of other regions? Who knows. Although these projects will help bring down language barriers and allow for more people to communicate and connect with one another I feel it will affect our traditions and cultures. We shy away from certain cultures because we don’t understand the language and traditions. New York in the melting pot of the world where we have a combination of races, ethnicity, food and music, yet we have China Town, Little Italy and Spanish Harlem. These diverse cultures may live in the same state but still have their individual identities in their communities. Communication with robots is growing as well and it will grow even more over the coming years. “Conversation bots or chatbots are all the rage” says Cristina García-Ochoa, Head of Innovation projects for Ferrovial. Although in this case, for the time being, it is they who must learn to communicate with us. The world will become more robotized, the question is will the world be able to adapt to these new platforms and innovative ideas coming into our lives. We will communicate robotically, if you haven’t noticed we already do. We have lost our way of communicating. In my opinion there’s nothing nicer that receiving a birthday card or a phone call sending you well wishes on your special day. Having dinner at the dinner and expressing how your day was to your family. I feel communication is the key to success in so many aspects of life, Relationships, Work, School and even Healing. I’m between a rock and a hard place on whether these new advances will help us communicate better or will they push us further apart. We already have dinner with our cell phones next to us. What’s next, will we have Rosie the robot form the Jetsons cook and serve us dinner? Only time will tell, Only the future can lead us to that answer. |
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