The Future of Mass Media in Our Society The Internet is taking over our society in ways we would never have thought possible ten or even five years ago. I know that I personally would not have passed half of the classes I took in high school if it weren't for my internet access. Technology is growing rapidly in our world, and I predict that future generations will rely on the Internet to an even greater extent than we currently do. How has the Internet become the crutch that the world's population needs to stay in society? The rise of social media, the idea of a global village, and the rise of Internet streaming sites have all helped make the Internet a giant repository of information and entertainment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Being a member of the younger generation in the class, my generation and, now gradually the older generations, get their media content from the Internet. The rise of social media has made seeking and receiving media extremely and often forced. Something we examined in our group project was how Facebook has become a bottomless pool of media. It's nearly impossible to escape the ongoing election while scrolling through your Facebook feed. If I scrolled through my Facebook feed right now, I would see at least four or five posts talking about Trump. On the right side of the Facebook window there's also now a place where you can look at what's currently trending and read all about celebrity news and current world events. Facebook isn't the only type of social media network pushing media to consumers. Outlets like Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter, and sometimes, but not as often, Instagram all shove media down the throat of the average internet user. A few years ago we didn't have social media applications like Snapchat or Tumblr and Twitter. In fact, the term “social media” wasn't even coined. This growth of the vast web across apps other than just the web browser will continue to grow as we see a wave of media crashing into audiences in new ways. For the group project, I talked about the current election. The current election has changed the way media is received. In 2008, when Obama was elected, I remember sitting in English class in eighth grade and watching the inauguration on television. Live streaming from the internet didn't even exist in 2008. In 2012, there was an article on the BBC website about what live streaming was. Up until that point, people weren't entirely sure what live streaming was or what it meant. Now, anyone from any country in the world can go online and live stream anything that's being broadcast, whether it's news or just a live stream of kittens playing with string. Anyone in the world can live stream from anywhere as long as they have access to the internet. The invention of smartphones has made it easier to access the Internet and everything fits in your jeans pocket. As we saw with Marshall McLuhan, the world is becoming a global village. We are all connected to each other through the Internet and each of us has access to the same information, entertainment and forms of communication. This idea of a global village will only grow and increase; becoming more and more evident as time goes by. Many points were covered in class on Wednesday as each of us presented the final topics of the project. Some people from the younger generation, including myself, have expressed that we meet people on the Internet with whomotherwise we would never have spoken in our lives. I have several friends from abroad who I have never met in person and have only called on Skype. Some of them I have never seen, apart from the photos on their Facebook pages. An example of this global village predicted by McLuhan is the current elections. Ask anyone in the world with access to the Internet and they will know exactly who Donald Trump is. Media has become something we can all access and I have no doubt it will continue to grow. The internet will become so big that we will soon have devices that we can wear to ensure we are always actively connected. As of now, we have the Apple Watch which became the beginning of wearable technology through which people can always be connected to the Internet and the pixelated world which we currently see as fantasy which will very soon become our reality. In fact, it has already started to become our reality. Many people believe that everything we see on the Internet is true. I can go to a website like WebMD and look up cold symptoms I've had. WebMD can easily trick me into thinking I'm dying because I have similar symptoms of a deadly disease. Aside from McLuhan's global village, we also see the idea of the hypodermic model coming heavily into play within this rise of this Internet addiction. The Internet is the perfect example of the hypodermic model. We have access to all types of media at our fingertips. With news stations, you always have to wait to hear the story you want. They constantly advertise that it will come out at five and then you'll find yourself reading six stories before you see the one you want. On the Internet we can hear about a certain story and then immediately do a quick Google search to find it in real time. This method of media consumption is much more satisfying for the user. Instead of having to wait for what we want, we can get it when we want it. I fear this will cause the human population to decline in the patience skills department. With the ability to access things instantly, our ability to wait and learn patience will, in turn, diminish. The rise in success and popularity of the Internet is shaking the boots of big cable companies. People no longer want to pay for cable services because of services like Hulu and Netflix. As a result, cable companies that also run the Internet like Verizon or Comcast have slowed down consumers' Internet speeds due to Netflix not wanting to pay a fee and the fact that Netflix is now taking all of their consumers. I think in the future we won't even have cable anymore. The future will bring the Internet into our living rooms through our televisions rather than through our computers. We will be able to pay for what we want and not worry about what we don't want. It will make watching and paying for television much easier. Remember: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Eventually, the Internet will take over everything. There won't be TVs like there are now. There will be no more newspapers. Any device capable of accessing the Internet will replace all other forms of receiving news and other types of media. The Internet is our definitive future. Many good things will come out of this Internet-powered world. We will all be connected in a global village. We will all be able to share information with each other. We will be able to better personalize our media viewing experiences and gain access to information and media that we would otherwise never have had. What negative effects could this have on generations to come? Only time will tell while there., &.
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