New Media Audiences and Technologies - Research Paper Example

New Media Audiences and Technologies Introduction Mass media is the strongest medium to establish communication between people as well as for transferring message to people. Mass media such as internet, television, newspaper and magazine are the most powerful mediums which have a great effect on the audiences. With the passage of time new technologies are emerging and nature of audiences has been changing. With the emergence of new technologies media has been altering to new media. Firstly I will discuss about the new media then I will discuss the positive and negative impacts of new media. Further on I will discuss about the audiences of new media and the technologies which, are used by the audiences and the media. Methodology I have written this research paper by using the qualitative research method. Qualitative research is the observational method, consists of observation by looking people’s action, interviewing and recording. This is totally different from quantitative method because in quantitative method, data is collected through scientific research method. I have written that research paper by observing people’s everyday activities while using new media and technologies. I have observed teenagers who have between 11to 19 years. I have also observed middle age people who are in between 35 to 45. I have also asked some questions to people for collecting the data. For the date collection, I have also used secondary data collection method in which I have read several books, articles and newspapers for finding the analyses and conclusion. Findings and Analyses New media New media consist of you tube, Socializing websites, Google, Netvibes, Pageflakes, SpringWidgets, yourminis, Flicker, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, wikis etc as well as personal homepages like on My Space and Face book. Through You Tube, you can easily upload and download a high technology colored video within a minute. From the social networking sites you can upload thousands of photos which are saved in your personal id and there is no fear of loosing them. As well as from social networking sites you can easily communicate with your family, friends and relatives and you can easily know that what is going on in their lives. New technologies And Audiences As we know new technologies are emerging like plasma televisions have introduced having cinema’s style vision, outstanding voice quality as well wireless remotes. I have observed various people who are using new technologies for surfing media and have some authentic analysis. When you are watching movies and other programmers’ on plasma television you are feeling that you are present in that place. As well as plasma television also have microphones which can hear your voice when you say on the television starts showing vision and when you say off television shuts down without any touch. The interaction is developing more and more with the passage of time. Instead of that now the audiences are using home gateway box with their televisions and with that gateway box. You have to on TV digital recording service from the cable operators. In every month customer gives 50$ to cable operators for that service and during the commercials with your wireless remote you can instruct the home gateway box to find, download and play your favorite program. From the internet you can also play any game online as well as you can shop any product online, you can select, order and buy (Living Stone, 2003). Nature of audiences is also changed. Readers of newspapers have become minimized. Before the new media people are used to read newspaper on the daily basis for getting updates. Now the readers of newspaper are in a less amount as compared to before because the new media has been introduced in which internet plays a key role. On internet there are various news paper agencies which publish all news bulletins however, you can say all news agencies are doing that so. That is why now the readers of newspaper now prefer to gain updates from the internet instead of newspaper. Due to that, newspapers agencies are also going in decline (Alasuutari, 1999). Advantages of New Media I have discussed the technology of LCD and news agencies on the internet, there are also various technologies used by audiences that are Wikipedia, on the Wikipedia you can share, edit and gain data of your choice. The writers can create blogs on the internet. On the blogs you can write articles on current scenarios as well as on social and political problems happens in your surroundings as well as people can add you in your blogs as well as can send their articles as well. Instead of those new technologies minimizes the distance between people (Ang, 1991). Like through mobiles mothers can easily connect with their children and can easily know weather their children are alright or not as well as on pagers in organization, employees are connected through pagers. Through pagers, they can easily send instant messages to each other as well as to their families and relatives. Because of new media, internet calling has become possible such as on Skype. On Skype you can easily communicate as well as watch your family, friends and relatives who live another city and country. New technologies minimized the distances of people. Families used to watch movies on every weekend through their CD players on LCD’s (Austin, 1989). People also communicate with other on social networking sites such as on Face book, Orkut and i mash etc. Through face book, you can easily make your id. From your id you can share photos and videos, download videos, chat with your family friends and relatives and easily extend your circle as well. The basic audiences of this technology are the teenager boys and girls who used to spend the value time on social networking sites. Technologies in mobiles have been very much enhanced. Now every mobile has radio, music player and camera etc (Smith,2012). People used to take microphones connected with mobiles in the ears while walking on the road, while sitting in the bus, while surfing time with their friends. Now they can easily getting updates of their favorite news. Like most of the girls and boys used to listen cricket match commentary. Some boys and girls used to hear their favorite songs. Facilities of internet in mobiles are also now available. Now people also can check their face book addresses in their mobiles. They can talk on their family, friends and relatives in free time as well ( lambpretty.com, np). Disadvantages Of New Media And Technologies There are also various disadvantages of new technologies as well like as I have discussed teenager’s boys and girls used to spend much time on social networking sites while watching videos, chatting with their friends and listening songs etc. However, they are physically present with their parents and family but in reality they are utilizing their value time with the internet world. That is why they could not give time to their parents and siblings. Physical activities have also become minimized due to the new technologies, before the new technologies children prefer to play with their friends ( Crosbie, 2006). They used to play badminton, cricket and basketball etc. But after the arising, of hi tech video games such as PS2, PS3 and XBOX 360. Now the children prefer to play video games instead of playing any physical game. Due to which, problem of obesity is increasing in our new generation because they used to play video games, use social networking sites, watching movies, while sitting in their homes. Physical activities are totally minimized however; you can say there is an end of physical activities because of new media and technologies. Now people spend lot of time in front of television screens while playing games, watching movies, using social networking sites. Because of heavy exposure of new media, people in a very early age loose their eye side and this is the biggest disadvantage. As children spend most of their valuable time in front of the media, this reason creates a child socially weak like if he does have a time or you can say child has a priority to surf their time in front of TV and video game so he will become socially weak. So he does not have valuable friends who are present physically. Various accidents happen because of surfing time with new technologies like people who used to listen music, do not have a focus on other things. Car accidents also take place because of listening music because people lose their focus on the road. For example the boy or girl who is crossing the road while listening their favorite show does have a proper focus, due to which several accidents takes place (Beirut, 2010). As I have discussed that technology creates socially and morally weak to people mainly the people who used to used social networking sites could not give time to their family, friends and relatives. For the authenticity of the research paper I have observed as well as I have asked several questions to that people who uses social networking sites and those people who have left social networking sites. According to collection of data, people who have left to use social networking sites are more successful as compared to those people who use that websites. The people who left to use these sites are more energetic, have management abilities as well as they could easily give their value time to their family. As well their unnecessary social circle on these websites which is useless for him or her is entirely ended, and they have become socially strong in their society which is very useful for them. However, they have extra time to maintain their social relations as well as for their physical activities. Mental and physical health of these people, have also been improved after leaving these websites (Beirut, 2010). Conclusion I have discussed in detail about the new media, the audiences and also discussed about the new emerging technologies. I have used the qualitative research method that is observational method and through this observation I have written that paper. According to these observations, it is concluded that new media such as Socializing websites (face book, my space), Google, Netvibes, Pageflakes, SpringWidgets, yourminis, Flicker, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, wikis have greatly influenced on today’s people. Now people prefer to spend their valuable time with these technologies instead of living people. Like younger’s and children spend most of their time while watching television, playing video games, using social networking sites. As well as now people used to communicate with their relatives on Skype. In some extend, new technologies minimizes the communication gap between people. But new technologies minimize the emotional attachment in people. Now people interact on interact with the people without any emotional attachment and because of these new technologies people could not give the valuable time to the dear ones like to their family friends and relatives. In that side of view, they have become socially weak. Bibliography Living Stone, Sonia. The Changing Nature of Audiences: From the Mass Audience to the Interactive Media User, London, 2003. Alasuutari. P.(ed.). Rethinking the Media Audience, London, Sage, 1999. Ang, I. Desperately Seeking the Audience, Routledge, 1991. Austin, B. Immediate Seating: A Look At Movie Audiences, Belmont: Wadsworth, 1989. Smith, Paul. Learner Record for Multimedia Communication-8MMP, 2012, Learner Record 8MMP. “The Advantages and Disadvantages of New Media” Lambpretty, Retrieved on 228th of April 2012 from http://lambpretty.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-new-media/, 2011. Crosbie, Vin. “Rebuilding Media”. 2006. Beirut, 10 Must Know Advantage And Disadvantages Of Social Media, Retrieved on 28th of April 2012 from http://blog.thoughtpick.com/2010/11/10-must-know-advantages-disadvantages-of-social-media.html, 2010. Read More