Blog Response

Question From Nick

So my question is about the ideas of media within the introduction. What makes us so convinced that this expansion of information and sharing is a good thing? They talk about "like TV only better," but is that necessarily a good thing? It seems like our society is collapsing on itself in the entertainment industry anyways, so how is an exponential expansion of it necessarily good?

Response

I think that what may be happening is the transformation of entertainment and the 'entertainment industry altogether. Yes alot of the media that is coming out today seems to be pointless and inundating but with the proliferation of technologies the concept of mass-media is changing altogether. With youtube, garageband, imovie..etc. media is being put in the hands of the consumer. Expansion means more choice for the consumer and while the burden of that choice might feel overwhelming to us it also signifies a new type of freedom. And we can choose what to and what not to watch. So as we have seen in the case of some viral videos that corporate sponsorship or industry backing are not as necessary for the person who want their works to be spread. I think that it is true that this massive expansion of available media might reach a critical point one day but technology and media are not a new development as the article points out. The concepts of hypermediation, immediacy, and remediation have histories reaching back further than the internet. People have learned how to deal with the constantly changing world of media and I think that we have the capacity to deal with the next stage.