Thursday, April 22, 2010

Digital Media- Spark of International Controversy

11 AM Section

Convergence- new media is convergence. Think of the ipad, the ipod, the iphone... basically any Apple product, or as Jenkins puts it, "The other week I wanted to buy a cell phone- you know, to make phone calls. I didn't want a video camera, a still camera, a Web access device, an mp3 player, or a game system." The phone of today has become a one stop shop, where you can make calls (which of course is becoming rarer and rarer due to the features of internet/IMing and/or texting), surf the internet, watch tv, listen to music, take pictures, preview music, play games, and about a thousand other things; convergence has become the future. Why have a laptop, mp3 player, tv, or landline telephone when you can just get a nifty little blackberry or iphone, perks of the others wrapped in one? Yet the funny thing is, even though there is this convergence all these other forms of technology still run rampant, and are promoted as necessary for one to be a citizen or rather a "new cultured" human being- and even here convergence is the perk, convergence is the answer, convergence is supposed to make lives easier not more anxious. Oh well. That- anxiety- is what people are left with, a device that makes them neurotic on what is constantly happening, whether thats finding out from friends via text, facebook, AIM, checking the New York Times or Perez Hilton. The problem with convergence is that it complicates everything, it sets out doing what is was meant not to do.

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