The penetration and impact of digital media on society are hard to overestimate nowadays. Digital technology dominates over the traditional one because of being more convenient in use and because of offering a multitude of opportunities to the consumers. Due to this fact, the process of globalization accelerates, making the data more and more universal. Therefore, it can be stated that we are becoming equal in front of digital media: consuming, equally dependant and equally manipulated. This connection is especially topical in the United States, where digital technology is accessible practically for anyone. Digital media have become an egalitarian force in American society.
Every day millions of people in America face problems, needs, and questions of various natures; and all of them have a single answer. If a student needs some information for studying, they may use sources of the Internet. If a mother finds her baby covered with a rash or has a high temperature, she will be more likely to consult Google than a doctor. If a businessman needs some data to be copied and transmitted immediately, he will use digital cameras and other gadgets.
If some pensioner wants to entertain themselves in their free time, they are going to turn on the TV set and endlessly switch the thousands of channels performed by a digital satellite. And finally, if this essay was to be presented to a great audience, it would be more convenient to broadcast it with the help of digital technologies than to print it thousands of times. Let us face it: digital media has usurped our life; in fact, it became a part of it, the bigger part. It has so far replaced all the means of interaction, communication, education, or entertainment known ever before. And the process of digital media spread is still in progress, as humanity itself stimulates this to happen.
First of all, it is worth stressing the fact that the issue concerns only American society. For if to analyze the world in general, the thesis will lose its viability. For instance, countries of the Third World are too contrastive to the United States in the respect of technological potential. In addition, there still are countries, which prefer traditional radio, television, and newspapers to digital media. American society, a society of consumers in a country that meets the consumers’ requirements, is the most likely to be related to digital media.
So what makes digital media so popular? And how does it reflect on society? The preference of digital media today can be explained by its universal form. All the information is coded, which is convenient and much faster to use. In comparison to some traditional technologies, digital media deals with numbers instead of images, voices, and other materials. Manovich accentuates the fact that “an image or a shape can be described using a mathematical function” (Manovich, 9).
Of course, it does not make digital media any more reliable, as far as the numerous copying and transferring of information leads to loss of data. Namely, some scientists have an opinion that “while in theory digital technology entails the flawless replication of data, its actual use in contemporary society is characterized by the loss of data, degradation, and noise” (Manovich, 5). In addition, digital data cannot even be called genuine simply because of having a cyber shape.
But the huge advantage of it is that a combination of numbers is and always will be the most convenient to copy, carry and perform than anything else. Such coding is now studied and demonstrated at any computer course; therefore anyone can try to operate it if needed. This points to the connection between digital media and society: anyone can deal with it with no difficulties.
Indeed, digital media is one of the greatest means of globalization. Mixing different ethnical groups and their mentalities is just one of the numerous processes which are happening due to it today. We use digital gadgets to live our lives, we even prefer virtual money to those we can touch and smell. On the national level, different monopolies spread and become more powerful because of the commercials which are delivered to people together with news and entertainment. This can be treated as an egalitarian force of digital media on the economical level. Besides, there are several other issues that lead to the unity of the nation in different respects.
Another significant feature of digital media is its accessibility. The United States of America, a multicultural country with different nations and ethnic groups, can provide all the citizens with news or any other information which is important for them. And the viability of digital media as an egalitarian force, in this case, is reached with the help of the members of the society. People who speak different languages suddenly start to speak and comprehend English when it comes to the need for technology use.
In addition, even if someone had an extreme need to have the information on their language, it would be more than possible. It is well-known that nowadays the technology managed to even find a way of digitalizing the language, coding, and converting it. Of course, language cannot be translated by a system, but artificial intelligence is very popular and often used in this case.
Another issue concerning language as a factor that became rather flexible due to digital technologies is that digital media offers a special vocabulary that has the same form in every language. Numerous studies have shown the tendency of using such a vocabulary even in real life. It means that everyone who has access to digital media (which practically means anyone who lives in the United States) is at the same time involved in membership of a community with their secret language. This is another example of digital media being a link that unites and equals people. So it remains an open question if the digital media was made universal by technology or by consumers. In any case, people of any age or nation have equal opportunities to access digital media today.
A controversial point about the accessibility of digital media may appear when it comes to its cost. All the technologies seem to develop with an overwhelming speed; the tendencies of miniaturizing and improving can make the digital technologies quite expensive for some of the members of society. It can contradict its theoretical accessibility. But, on the other hand, there are sources that are open to the wide public. For instance, the Internet is one of those universal databases which can be used in any place by anyone.
Talking about the ability of digital media to make people equal, it is worth mentioning the Internet as a web of sites with information, which is divided into sections according to different topics. If several people are interested in one issue, they would probably try to find it on Internet, which is the fastest way. The web usually offers a set of articles, pieces of news, and writings that are the same for anyone who would like to read them.
This means that all the people will be given the same information about one issue, with a possibility which is a few times higher than a possibility of buying the same newspaper or watching the same channel. The information will also be listed on the Internet in the way from the most significant to the least significant, but the point is that the degree of importance is also defined by the system. This issue was also raised in the work of Gillmor, who writes about cable companies that used to decide which package of channels was to offer. The author notes ironically: “Oh, sure, customers had a choice: yes or no” (Gillmor, 5).
Therefore, all the interested appear to be just consumers who take in the prepared information. “Egalitarian” means based on the belief that everybody should have equal rights and opportunities. Even if these rights are repressed or manipulated, the key feature is equality. Negative or positive, the process described above is another demonstration of the egalitarian power of digital media.
The previous discussion can persuade us to make a logical conclusion about the tendency of digital technologies to atomize people. We no longer analyze the information, but just consume it. Moreover, digital technology has robbed people of a chance to perform their creativity. There is no more need of being creative in a world where numbers can replace thoughts. The digital media with its coded voice and image is practically nothing more than just a simple noise.
Anything can be changed, corrected, or even faked. That is why creativity is not stimulated to be developed today, which turns people into an atomized mass of consumers and wipes away any features of individual vision. This can be treated as a personality destroying power, but what it does is uniting all the people and breathing a single idea into them. If people are concerned about a single issue and have the same ideas about it then isn’t it a feature of an egalitarian community?
It is also worth mentioning that while talking about digital media as an egalitarian force it means only mental and behavioral equality of people. In respect of actual access to digital media, there are different aspects, most of which were discussed above. But there is also one distinguishing feature about how digital media tends to individualize people. There is something very special about the way we, for example, work with computers. Everyone nowadays has their computer, called Personal, and everyone is likely to sit alone in front of it while working or playing. This model of face-to-screen communication is sole for anyone today and therefore we can say that it makes people equal not only in having access to the digital media but also in the way they do it.
Media, in general, can be characterized as a means of delivery of information to the general public. This includes both news and entertainment, and the latter is much more popular. Digital media, like no other, can provide people with entertainment. Even though twenty-five percent of entertaining sites on the Internet are related to pornography (a sign of egalitarian unity of dissatisfied men?), there are also different readings, images, archives of music, etc.
Every day we download loads of information that can be measured mathematically but which influence is hard to imagine. It occupies, entertains, involves. Online games became so popular that the majority of studies about the impact of digital media are devoted to the analysis of the games’ characters, their hidden message, and their influence on players. People in costumes of the characters of games are welcomed to different shows and parades. It seems like the nation has a separate group of heroes, the virtual ones. American children are all equal in playing online games, and the adults – in being irritated by that. And yet it can be derived from the examples given that these entertainments unite the nation.
However, there is also some educational potential of digital media. The infinite sources of information are open to anyone today. Possibility of distanced and combined studying made it easier for students to get a diploma. What is more, anyone can use digital technologies for spreading their information. Undoubtedly, the Internet is much more convenient in use than a real library. Therefore, the new generation is highly unlikely to choose paper books and taking some notes when there is an opportunity of pressing just a few keys. Critical thinking and filtering the information read has been replaced by simple Ctrl C – Ctrl V.
Any student can simply recognize these combinations of keys, which once more points to the egalitarian force of digital media. But there should be no prejudices against modern students who often are considered to be lazy. It should also be taken into consideration that they are often stimulated to deal with digital media more than with the traditional ones. Specifically, academic presentations are always more successful when supported by some digital data: a film or images, which can be presented to the audience.
The students are often given a task to watch or read or find and analyze some articles or other materials which are spread with the help of digital media. In addition, pen and paper nowadays are more and more often replaced with the keyboard and screen. Indeed, the printed information is much easier to hold, transmit, or correct. As a result, even this essay was printed and typed with digital gadgets, and the digital media was a source of ideas for this work. Such changes in information form and value create a model of life and its perception for anyone who uses digital media. Of course, the information can be reliable and useful, but what changes gradually is how people use it.
The invention and development of artificial intelligence is another great issue that has both positive and negative sides. Everyone with no exception is familiar with it, and sometimes people use it undeliberately. For instance, John Mecklin writes about complex algorithms programming, which is “often placed under the over-colorful umbrella of artificial intelligence” (Mecklin, 1). Web sites like Google are very popular and irreplaceable for Americans today. Pursuit of news, entertainment, and a piece of advice are just varieties of one aim – using digital data. We have become addicted to it and much dependent on it, and, which is most striking, this concerns everyone.
Not only was the entertainment and studying digitalized, but also the most important sphere of adolescent life – work. Digital labor is nowadays preferred to all the other kinds of work. To illustrate, we can mention the expression of one of the scientists: “Cultural and technical work is central to the Internet but is also a widespread activity throughout advanced capitalist societies” (Terranova, 34). Does it concern American society? Indisputably.
Even though the politicians may argue about giving an exact definition to American society, there is a capitalist basis that is supported and developed by the digital media. The commercial nature of this media suggests that society is divided into consumers and those who work for consumers, and often these roles coincide. Everybody needs something and everybody has an equal possibility to satisfy their needs. Thus, digital media continues equaling people in all the spheres of their lives.
After an argumentative discussion, it would be relevant to give some predictions for the future. Of course, we have no power to tell exactly how digital media will influence people’s life further on. But it undoubtedly will and we are likely to accelerate this process. Even though the images, shapes, and sounds are being coded nowadays, the codes are created and composed by human beings. It can give hope to people occupying technology in the future, but not vice versa.
On the other hand, people can get tired of the traditional ways of working which are left and live it all up to machines. This is very likely to happen, for the progressing of digital technology leaves no chance for conventional media to continue existing. In any case, all the processes connected to digital media development will influence the whole American nation, as far as technology has already become a part of our lives. When it comes to the nation’s interests, it is essential that not everyone is concerned about politics, not all the people are communicative or have the same ideas, but everybody is familiar with and interested in digital media. Hence, the only statement which will for sure be efficient is that digital media will always be an egalitarian force in American society.
Reference list
Manovich, Lev “What is New Media” (ch 1 of The Language of New Media).
Mecklin, John “Deep Throat Meets Data-Mining”.
Terranova, Tiziana “Free Labor Producing Culture for the Digital Economy”. Duke University Press. 2000.
Gillmor, Dan “From Tom Paine to Blogs”.