The Twin Peaks of Media Today
David Guantlett book “Making Media Studies: The Creativity Turn in Media and Cultural Studies” (2015) discusses the shift in the way media is studied in todays society, from learning about media to learning with media. The extracts from the book assigned as this weeks reading covered two topics. The first, the books introduction, looked at how media exists today and the second covered the kind of knowledge we need in order to progress forward as a society.
What stuck with me from the first extract was the idea that there is now two peaks in media, the optimistic and pessimistic. The optimistic peak of media is that media today is empowering. Anyone has a voice to share their opinions, ideas and beliefs with the world. We’re provided with a platform to influence change and take initiative to leave an impact on our world. Online petitions, viral videos and even trending hashtags have some power in changing the way people think and making a positive impact in the world.
However, where there is good there is bad and that is the pessimistic peak of media. Gauntlett mentions computerised capitalism and I think this has a variety of meanings. I don’t have a lot of knowledge on this topic so I’m coming from a very very basic understanding, but it’s becoming common practise for huge companies such as Facebook and Google to retain peoples personal data to use it for financial gain. I don’t think anyone is on board with this but it’s something that happens often without peoples knowledge. This invasion of privacy for the financial benefit of others is a really negative aspect to the use of media today. The other thing the phrase “computerised capitalism” made me think of was the culture around buying technology. I’ll focus on Apple to keep things specific. Apple releases at least two products a year, generally new versions of existing products. It’s totally accepted behaviour in our society for people to buy the newest products regardless of the condition of the older model they own. As a society we have a need to own the newest technology, and companies such as Apple capitalise on this.
The second extract focusing on what kinds of knowledge we need was really interesting to me. This knowledge (about knowledge) is something I think everyone in our generation needs to be aware of as it becomes our responsibility to make real changes in the world. In order to make serious, beneficial change you must first have an understanding of the current systems in place. It’s all very well to believe in equal pay or even just something as general as “equality” but without your views being backed by a bank of knowledge you won’t be able to have an impact. Social activism is becoming so prevalent among millennials and thats such an incredible thing to see in our life time, but the knowledge of ways of making legitimate change isn’t as prevalent. I feel comfortable saying I have minimal knowledge of politics in Australia and I acknowledge that’s something I need to change as I’ll be voting for the first time in an election this year. This reading reiterated to me how vital education is in changing systems of injustice and I think I’m better off for having read it.