[W1a] New Media Technologies: YAY or NAY?

New media technologies provide great convenience to human beings in various aspects at this very moment. Due to this factor, new media technologies have successfully penetrated our everyday lives. It’s safe to conclude that most of us will find it difficult living without new media technologies already; even the global economic depends on new media technologies to function.

Lubricate or Complicate our Communication life?

Doubtlessly, new media technologies have made communication so much easier and quicker.  Back in time, Chinese society used to train pigeons to deliver messages; Native Westerners used smoke to send off signals, however, these methods were flawed and very time-consuming. New media technologies improve the communication processes significantly. Now, we can deliver messages to our family members, friends, clients and organizations in a blink with the help of new media technologies such as smart phones and internet. Within seconds, we get to send and receive information. What’s more shocking is, some of the phone applications these days allow the users to know if the receivers have received or read the messages! Such technologies of course have been utilized positively in many fields. E-school, E-teaching, E-learning, E-services are all evidences of convenience brought by new media technologies to communication life.

However, such features of new media technologies could be easily misused by the user with ill-intentions. New media technologies allow widespread of information in matter of seconds. Any information released via new media technologies is like how a drop of ink spreads on a cotton fabric- quick and is not restorable. Social Networking Sites (SNS), especially, is an easy tool for misuse. Rumors and untrue statements can be posted without any filters, resulting in many unfortunate cases.

Michael Sinkfield’s friends received a text message from Sinkfield’s ‘father’, saying his son has already passed away due to a car crash. Within hours, this teenager from Indiana, United States received many messages of condolence on SNS such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. However, on Monday, Sinkfield arrived at school by bus and shocked everybody in school. He then revealed that he had lost his phone, and believed that the one who took his phone was trying to prank him. This incident reminds us how scary new media technology can be. 

Such thing happened on Sinkfield reminds us

how influential new media technologies are.   

Friends of Sinkfields sent him messages of condolences after

receiving a text message from Sinkfield's 'father',

Sinkfield is very fortunate to be still alive, but Lewis Thelwall was dead due to the online rumors. Thelwall, 19, moved to a new school. Due to his bright colored hair, he was being bullied by two female students. These two students further criticized and bullied him on SNS. After he lost his father, Thelwall had become very fragile and shy. The continuous torment from the friends via SNS finally had made him kill himself.

Thelwell, a passionate photographer hang himself  to death due to

irresponsible accusations and bullying on SNS.

Life necessities or Life dilemma

Some say by having a smart phone with internet access, we have the whole world in our hands. Well, it is somehow true. We can use our smart phone to do all sorts of things, from voice calling, video calling, messaging, to paying bill, purchasing items, transferring money and receiving money. New media technology such as webcam allows us to have oversea conversation with our friends. We can also do money transaction or bill payment via smart phone applications. These technologies have helped in saving time and money. Besides, new media technologies like karaoke, gameboy and DVD player also provide us entertainment. Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) application also can’t be taken away from our everyday life.

However, new media technologies can make our lives chaotic too. No matter how well-designed a technology is, its security system is breakable. To be able to perform various functions, new media technologies must store the users’ personal information such as the bank account number, identification card number and passport number. Whenever these information leaks, the users can be in big trouble. Video call which comes with both audio and video elements causes a lot of problems too. Video call has allowed the existence of cyber sex, which can easily pollute the younger users’ mind. Some peoples use video call footage to threaten their chat buddies. 

In 2014, multiple actresses' iCloud accounts were being hacked. These actresses' personal photos were exposed to the public. Among the biggest victim was Jennifer Lawrence, who had some explicit photos of herself stored in the account.

Jennifer Lawrence, one of the victim of hacked iCloud users.

Some internet users make Apple a laugh stock.

Amanda Todd was a victim of new media technologies. A male stranger threatened her to send him some explicit photos. The stranger mentioned that he knew Todd’s home address, school, family and friends. Todd had to do what he asked. A few weeks afterwards, police told her that her explicit photos were distributed to the public. Todd was anxious and depressed. A Facebook page was also created by the stranger to feature Todd’s explicit photos. Amanda Todd had been bullied online and even beaten at school due to this matter. Before her 16^th birthday, Todd uploaded a video online, telling everyone her story. She tried cutting herself, and finally had decided to kill herself. The video description reads:

‘I’m struggling to stay in this world, because everything just touches me so deeply. I’m not doing this for attention. I’m doing this to be an inspiration and to show that I can be strong. I did things to myself to make pain go away, because I’d rather hurt myself than someone else…’

Amanda Todd uploaded her story online to tell the public 

her misfortune before she killed herself. [Click to watch on YouTube]

Do new media technologies make all of us Usain Bolt in life?

Existence of new media technologies enables us to do things quickly. As time passes, we are forced to do things quickly. Before the industrial revolution occurred in 1890s, the society emphasized on agriculture activities. Workload was relatively lighter, and work pace is definitely slower. However, as the revolution took place, factories were being set up, machines were used for production, and the peoples had to work way faster than before. Aihwa Ong, an author who wrote about Malaysians’ working experience in industrial production in multinational company realized such problem. In her book named ‘Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia’, she noted that Malay women were periodically being disturbed by spirits while they were working. The phenomenon was later explained as the workers were too stressed as their work pace was very fast. Fast work pace and inability to adapt to the new environment caused them to have hysteria. This incident has perfectly illustrates how work pace changes as time passes due to development of new media technologies.

Aihwa Ong's book illustrated the fast paced working environment

in Malaysia initiated by the creation of new technologies.

Fast-paced society is becoming a problem already. The number of suicide case and mental problem is increasing significantly. To counter this problem, some countries create slow cities (Cittaslow) movement. Cittaslow first appeared in Italy. Quality of life in Cittaslow is improved by making the pace slower, decreasing the traffic and used space in the cities.

One of the slow cities. This city is located at Turkey.

Besides Cittaslow movement, there are initiations to produce a not-so-smart-phone- John’s Phone. John Phone calls itself the world’s simplest phone, which ONLY let you make calls. A single charge of the phone can last for 3 weeks of usage. Interestingly, John’s Phone actually comes with an actual phonebook and pen, so the user can record phone number.

John's Phone is simple and comes with a notepad and pen.

The discovery of new technology is unlimited (and just like our blog’s name goes: INFINITY). Just when we are thinking, ‘okay, that’s too high-tech already, human can never achieve more’, another new discovery is made. Of course, these discoveries help a lot in our lives, but they are also capable of destroying a lot of things. In short, new media technologies are useful, only if the users use them wisely and responsibly.

Dear readers, what do you think about new media technologies?