Media Artifact - Texting and Driving

As of September 30th, texting while driving is against the law. Although I have already seen a lot of face book status’s mourning over the impact this law will have on their social life, I personally think the law is necessary. Texting has become an obsession for many people and even though it is a great way to communicate with people in a fast, easy manner, it can also be very dangerous when done while driving. In my last post I blogged about the efficiency of smart phones, such as the blackberry, and how as the world gets more technologically advanced, features such as texting are necessary. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not by any means against texting, I am a text addict myself, but I absolutely never text while driving.

US Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, calls distracted driving a, “public health epidemic” and newly released data shows that 959,000 crashes reported last year were caused by distracted driving. 4,898 of those crashes included at least one death (Boston.com). Although the Massachusetts Police Association knows that this is something they will have a hard time enforcing, they hope to significantly reduce the number of crashes related to distracted driving. All in all it is just interesting to see a medium that we have become so utterly obsessed and consumed with that we cannot pry ourselves away from it even while driving, despite the dangers it holds.  

Below is a news clip reporting on distracted driving:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMIXCvm66cE

Media Artifact - Blackberry

As the world is getting more and more technologically advanced devices that used to be separate devices are now constantly being combined to smaller, lighter multi-functional devices. Take for instance a blackberry. Just by holding one simple object in your hand you possess functions of several media artifacts, such as the internet, the phone, e-mail, calendar, face book and so one. It is actually crazy to think that when I was in middle school and got my first cell phone its sole purpose was just to make phone calls. However, you can look back even further when people just had home phones and so on from there.

            As the world advances at a rapid pace it is absolutely necessary that technology advances at the same speed if not faster. People do not have the time or space to carry around several different media artifacts to obtain all the functions they need, which is why smart phones, such as the blackberry are crucial. The only question I would raise is; are we becoming too dependent on our smart phones? Our first assignment in class was to try to live without our most important media artifact and I proved that I could not even last a full day without my blackberry. How disastrous would it be if I lost my blackberry and had to be without texting, making phone calls, e-mail, face book, internet for an extended period of time? Sure I could use a computer for internet and a home phone for making phone calls, but I would become a lot less efficient and fall behind in a world where everything is now so fast pace.

Define Media

After spending a good amount of time trying to come up with my own personal definition of media I finally decided on a media as a public forum that promotes communication, brings peoples together and influences people around the world. As I thought about all the different types of media I decided to focus in on all the key similarities they possess that make them as attractive to the public eye as they are. They three main similarities I want to talk about can be summed up in three words; public, communication and worldwide.

            As I began this assignment I was a little overwhelmed at first considering there are many different types of media, such as mass media, digital media and social media. However as I began to explore each type of media I realized that each type of media are publically accessible, promoted communication and influenced people on a world-wide basis. I started by looking at some of the more obvious forms of media that we are all familiar with, such as television, the news, newspapers, magazines and movies. Although these are just a few examples of the many forms of media, each has an underlying message that it sends to the audience. In addition this message can be sent on a world-wide basis, which is quite crucial in the world we live in now where everything is so fast pace.

            The example that first came to mind when drawing upon my own personal experiences occurred almost exactly nine years ago on September 11^th, 2001. I think almost everyone in the United States could tell you exactly where they were when they heard that planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember I was in middle school and at the time I did not even know exactly what the World Trade Center was, so I was rather confused by the reaction of the adults surrounding me when they brought all the students to the auditorium for a school accessibly. It was not until I got home and saw the images on the television, on the covers of magazines and in the newspapers that I fully grasped the severity of the situation. I think that this is a very powerful portrayal of the importance of media because it enhances our understanding of current events by allowing us to see and hear news surrounding us faster and more accurately than ever before. Although the attacks on the World Trade Center were horrific, at the same time the images portrayed by the media really brought our country together in support and morning of all the men and women who lost their lives that day and all the brave men and women who responded on site.

            Of course when defining media it is important to look to the famous media theorists that made strides in the study of media. Marshal McLuhan, the author of his widely known book, Understand Media: The Extensions of Man, coined the saying, “the medium is the message” (7). In other words, the message of the medium is actually the medium itself and that the medium itself should be the focus of study rather than the content of the medium. However I thought the title of McLuhan’s book, “The Extensions of Man” to be rather important because as he goes to explain the media expands and connects people. He uses the example of the train by saying that the train does not create motion, it just expands it. Media can be seen in the same light for although it does not create relationships, it expands them by promoting communication and bringing people together on a world-wide basis. McLuhan also believed that it was important to focus not only one the media itself but, “the ways in which each new medium disrupts tradition and reshapes social life” (307). This is quite evident with the continuous advancements in technology and as time goes on it will be interesting to see new forms of media that develop and are incorporated into our everyday lives.