Schaefer Shares

The article “Making New Media Makes Sense” brought up a lot of interesting arguments and theories that have been supported and also not supported by various researchers. There is no way to specifically gauge what impact new media has on us, although we know that it encourages us to change with it. Up to this point, I have never thought about new media without actually having media or technologies to use. But when the article brought up oral culture, it made me think about how much we as humans have had to adapt due to our inventions. That is something I find truly interesting about human nature; the endless adaptations we have made, many times for simplicity and convenience.

Technology especially affects people when it is new to them. As the article said, “Rather than ‘using’ it, people may be ‘used by it.’” The struggles and frustrations it can cause are unmatched; we can’t stand it when our phone doesn’t load something in the first five seconds. Our human nature has become impatient and easily bothered by such little things due to technology, that it is ultimately impacting our social life. But because of the world we live in, there is always some form of technology than can make things better.

Everything that supports the theory of technology imprinting on the user was especially interesting to me. The power it can hold on our psyche is unfathomable, but I can see it in my own life. If I don’t have my phone, I feel like I’m missing something. Social media has become something that I keep checking, even though hardly anything has changed since when I last looked at it ten minutes prior. Social spaces are separated by this media, making me question how physically close people really are. Technology has the power to control every aspect of our life, and this article, and especially this class has really opened up my eyes to what is going on and searching for a reason. I am asking “Why?” now and I think that that is truly important.