Digital Life - How Technology Has Changed Us
Digital Life
Every day people are hit constantly by a bombardment of online media. It used to be that people would see billboards, TV commercials and magazine, but with advancement of technology people remain wired into the internet 24/7. “Smartphones” are a great example of a device that promotes constant connections. It enables people to be connected to online media at all times. The effects that this constant connection has had on people in general are life changing. We can certainly agree that the lives of everyone who has access to these connections will change over time.
The primary change that is happening in everyone’s life is the way we communicate with each other. Just 10 years ago cellphones were starting to become more and more popular. They evolved from big briefcase sized machines to something that can easily fit in your pocket. Even then though, calling someone was the primary way of communicating over distances. That has changed and is no longer the case. With advancements in Email, texting and social networking, they have all moved to a more popular position than making calls. Whether people need to relay small pieces of information or have a long conversation, texting and emails tend to be what they use. While this may not seem like a big deal to most people, one can argue that it is making the people that use this form of communication over calling or face to face interaction become stumped at interacting with people and sometimes have trouble communicating face to face at all.
An interesting issue connected to this is that as a result of real life communications not being a primary skill, some people resort to purely online relationships. Particularly online gamers who play games like World of Warcraft or other Massive Multi-player Online games. These relationships range from simple friendships to as far as marriages which take part online entirely, but sometimes turns into something in the physical world. There have actually been many cases
Every day people are hit constantly by a bombardment of online media. It used to be that people would see billboards, TV commercials and magazine, but with advancement of technology people remain wired into the internet 24/7. “Smartphones” are a great example of a device that promotes constant connections. It enables people to be connected to online media at all times. The effects that this constant connection has had on people in general are life changing. We can certainly agree that the lives of everyone who has access to these connections will change over time.
The primary change that is happening in everyone’s life is the way we communicate with each other. Just 10 years ago cellphones were starting to become more and more popular. They evolved from big briefcase sized machines to something that can easily fit in your pocket. Even then though, calling someone was the primary way of communicating over distances. That has changed and is no longer the case. With advancements in Email, texting and social networking, they have all moved to a more popular position than making calls. Whether people need to relay small pieces of information or have a long conversation, texting and emails tend to be what they use. While this may not seem like a big deal to most people, one can argue that it is making the people that use this form of communication over calling or face to face interaction become stumped at interacting with people and sometimes have trouble communicating face to face at all.
An interesting issue connected to this is that as a result of real life communications not being a primary skill, some people resort to purely online relationships. Particularly online gamers who play games like World of Warcraft or other Massive Multi-player Online games. These relationships range from simple friendships to as far as marriages which take part online entirely, but sometimes turns into something in the physical world. There have actually been many cases
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