For our last class I was away in the Grampians however my time in the bush directly relates to our weekly reading ‘Digital detox: Media resistance and the promise of authenticity’.

‘Digital detox is a phenomenon tapping into the promise of authenticity, as it offers ways to counter experiences of inauthenticity in connection with online interactions, faceless communication and artificial intelligence.’ Syvertsen, Trine ; Enli, Gunn (2019, Introduction)  This quote resonates with me as I spent the past six days undertaking a digital detox away from any form of technology. When reading the article I found that the term ‘Digital Detox’ is lest then a decade old and part of me was saddened. the word detox however has been around for a long long time. Detoxing from different foods and substances is common, as they provide issues to different individuals all the time for example an alcohol detox. But it is fair to say the digital world is now also causing issues and people are feeling desperate to step away from the false online world.

Authentic relationships lack within 2023 and I found I grew closer to my friends in six days offline, then I do with someone over a years worth of talking online. This just proves to me that there is still so much value in face to face company, and theres too much indulgence in online digital platforms.

Playground AI activity.

I was away for this activity, however I had a play around in my own time. I found it really interesting and almost spooky how accurate it got it, and how so many human characteristics align with many animals.  Overall it got me thinking about the power of AI and how there really aren’t many boundaries, once unlocking the true potential of technology I believe that anything will be able to be done eventually.

Watch this video for more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhUAzphBUzc

Referneces:

Syvertsen, T. and Enli, G. (2019) “Digital Detox: Media Resistance and the promise of authenticity,” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 26(5-6), pp. 1269–1283. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856519847325.

Before reading the article ‘There Are No Old Media’ by Simone Natale, I was convinced that New and Old media were terms that I would follow as it made sense to me. The time line activity in class really highlighted my ideas of what was ‘Old Media’ and what was ‘NewMedia’ within my mind. At one end of the timeline I had VHS tapes and the other end Iphone 14, but why do I consider it to be old? Just because I used to use it? for me something that is old is an item that has wear and tear but what if the VHS tapes work as if they were brand new? then what? would it still be ‘Old Media’?

Natale stated “If we buy a new tablet, we are not forced into considering that other devices we already had, such as a personal computer, a television, or a smartphone, are “old.” Defining a particular medium or artifact as old is a decision that is culturally driven and that.” Journal of Communication, 66(4), pp. 585–603.

This made me think that maybe it’s not so simple as old and new. Consumer Choice Awards stated that “There are two main types of media: traditional media and new media. Traditional media includes print media, such as newspapers and books, and broadcast media, such as television and radio. New media includes digital media, such as the Internet and social media.” https://www.ccaward.com/the-difference-between-traditional-new-media/.  I think for me at least this definition makes more sense as we are a constantly evolving world and media will be forever changing, what is new media today will be considered old media in 10-15 years and the line will become to complicated as everyones definitions of whats new and old will be different.

References

Natale, S. (2016) “There are no old media,” Journal of Communication, 66(4), pp. 585–603. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12235.

The difference between Traditional & New Media (2022) Consumer Choice Award. Available at: https://www.ccaward.com/the-difference-between-traditional-new-media/ (Accessed: March 18, 2023).

Oldest photo within my Google Photos App: September 2007

random date between September 2007 and 2021: May 21st 2018

This photo was taken on my walk home from Cadets with my best friend at the time, the street i’m on is River street Richmond my old address. I was felling happy because Monday’s were always my favourite day due to getting to spend time teaching the younger cadets and being around my friends. when thinking back to this time I feel sad because the girl in this photo is no longer in my life but also grateful I got to experience that time of my life, as it has definitely shaped a large portion of who I am today.

Reflecting on my first week of Real world Media it has become evident to me that Media is a much broader term than what I was aware of. When conducting our first filming activity, I was astonished with the amount of media that surrounds us that we just live with unquestioned and unbothered by its presence.  

What I mean by this is when walking from RMIT campus to Melbourne Central, I paused every so often and looked around me. When looking I could spot so many different forms of media surrounding me and those around me. From posters, advertising screens, trams decked out, and TV screens playing all different types of videos.

It is evident that we have grown accustomed to the non-consensual mannerisms of media in today’s society, it is just something we see everyday. It’s now normal for us to walk down the street and consume it or sometimes even not notice it around us. This is in no doubt going to effect the way we think (refer to video for more information) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVAztNx0rHQ(How the media shapes the way we view the world – BBC REEL Presenter: Cherry Stewart-Czerkas Motion Graphics: Maple Shipp Commissioning Editor: Griesham Taan uploaded: 29 Oct 2020)

 However it’s not just the media around us that I picked up on it was also the fact we as humans are all connected via the media. Social media is a large network where we can entract, comment, like and create new content with a click of a button.

I had always been aware of this but this activity really brought it into fruition as I went inside the state library and saw the stillness that gave me a glimpse of what it would be like with only old media forms within our society. Which has left me wondering what’s next? For the world of media?

References:

How the media shapes the way we view the world – BBC reel (2020) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVAztNx0rHQ (Accessed: March 5, 2023).

1: Platforms/technologies and what I use them for

• Instagram, posting, following friends, looking at things.
• Tiktok, watching funny, creative or interesting videos
• Snapchat, chatting to friends
• Google, researching, watching videos, going onto other platforms through google
• Depop, selling and buying clothes
• Email, communication
• Messenger, chatting to friends and making group chats
• WhatsApp, talking to people overseas
• Google Photos, storing pictures I take (*?)
• Iphone 14, used for communication, entertainment and photography
• Macbook Air, entertainment, editing, storage, Uni and research

2: Put a star next to any media that is offline or real world

3: Chose three and do basic research

• Instagram: Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organised by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with pre approved followers. Originally launched for iOS in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram rapidly gained popularity, with one million registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 1 billion by June 2018.- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram

• Depop: Depop is a peer-to-peer social e-commerce company based in London, with additional offices in Manchester, Milan and New York City. The company has an expanding global presence being popularised in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Italy. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depop

• Tiktok: TikTok, also known in China as Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an entirely separate,^[2] internationalized version of Douyin, which was released in the Chinese market in September 2016.^[5] It launched in 2017 for iOS and Android in most markets outside of mainland China; however, it became available worldwide only after merging with another Chinese social media service, Musical.ly, on 2 August 2018.-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok

4: For companies who manufactures the product? where are these manufactured? What are the manufactures interests? what profits do they make? do they have any philanthropic endeavours?

Instagram:

• This social media application that was launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom. The first prototype of Instagram was a web app called Burbn, which was inspired by Systrom’s love of fine whiskeys and bourbons. Instagrams HQ is in Manlo Park, California, Bur they have a large presence around the globe.
• Instagram made an estimated $51.4 billion revenue in 2022.