It’s nine in Melbourne and seven in Hong Kong now. Yet, despite the time differences, I am chatting with my mum on Tango at the moment. Thanks to technological and media advancement, different nifty gadgets and media are available in affordable prices (for media, some are even free!) and portable sizes, and can be used to communicate at any place and any time. Such communication is mediated interaction, which "stretch[es] across space and time" (Thompson, 1995, as cited in Ranatanen, 2005, p. 9) .
When talking about Globalisation, Giddens explains that it “link[s] distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (Ranatanen, 2005, p. 6). Ranatanen further suggests technoscape, which is “both mechanical and informational technology that moves at high speeds across various kinds of previously impervious boundaries” (p. 12). Discussing my blog entry with mum, who is at her fifties, she particularly acknowledges its positive aspect. She now uses Samsung Galaxy S3 and Wechat to chat with relatives in Canada. She leaves voice messages and exchange photos and clips with them. She manages to keep in touch with me with Whatsapp, Wechat, and Tango . She saya these were not possible in the past. Letters, telegraphs and landlines were the only means to keep in touch then. She said she has never thought of socialising across countries would be so easy. Geographical distance is no longer a constraint.
Yet, she also points out that globalisation and technology advancement may have its downsides too. It undermines face-to-face communication. It simultaneously brings about different problems, such as privacy invasion, viruses, muscle pain and thumb pain. Furthermore, she notes that it is prone to disappoint some even older generations, as they have comparatively less knowledge about technology and may be less capable in mastering it. Our increasingly frequent communication through new media may keep them away from us. While enjoying the benefits brought by new media and globalisation, we should think of ways to remove the barriers for the older generations to enjoy the benefits with us at the same time.
To conclude, judicious use of new media is important, so that we can maximize the benefits whilst not be affected by its shortcomings.
References
Thompson, J B 1995. The media and modernity: a social theory of the media. Polity Press, Cambridge.
Rantanen, T 2005. The Media and Globalisation. Sage Publishing, London.
Good post Leo, I enjoyed it a lot:) As we are in the same situation at present, your post reminds me the way I communicated with my families and friends in China. I also use apps and software such as Wechat and Tencent QQ to keep in touch with them. Especially thanks to apps on my smartphone, I’m able to share interesting things happen around me with people I love anywhere and anytime even though even though there are thousands of miles between us. Besides, I totally agree with the point your mom made that elders usually cannot master those new technology as young people do which excludes them from the international communication. Only after I attended uni did my mom start to use her smartphone smartly, and I guess she didn’t know how to use mobile devices to acquire latest information yet.
ReplyDeleteHi, Leo!
ReplyDeleteThis post is very interesting one and I quite enjoyed your reading:) Your paragraph was well structured thus it was really easy to get your point of each paragraph. You also used well-explained definitions as supporting how the globalisation is related to the techno scope. Yes, the emergence of new media was revolution and a number of people around the world communicate each other by using new media, which is social media. When I came to overseas at the first time, I wasn’t able to call my family and friends in Korea as usual because the calling cost was so expensive. However, now I can call and chat with them as using various apps of smart phone such as Kakao talk anywhere and anytime. Therefore, I can say the technology advancement has brought many benefits, for example it enables people to socialize with others across the countries, and this could create the ‘globalisation’.