Media Technology Blog Posting
Kenneth Thames
COM480
Dan Tanianow
Some of my earliest and happiest moments were times I would watch television with my family. We would watch our favorite sitcoms and spend quality time laughing it up. I also remember television teaching me a lot of things at a very young age. There were many educational children's shows on Nick Jr. and PBS that I grew up watching. My parents would watch the news and I would sit and watch them discuss politics and things that seemed irrelevant at the time. I see later in life how informative the news can really be. The audience for TV is the general population. There are plenty of shows and networks that cater to various genders, ethnicities, and age groups. 99% of households have televisions. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube (Norman, 2014). Television seems to be the most influential media technology because of how much people watch. We are influenced by the commercials, television characters, and opinions we hear. Many young men want to be superheroes or athletes when they are younger, and you women look to be miss America or the next pop music sensation. With various shows catering to different demographics, children are usually exposed and learn about violence early in age which is a concern Americans have been dealing with for years.
Like television, magazines cater to various demographics also. Magazines are a little better for those that like to read information without audio/visual distractions. Magazines are not the most exclusive when it comes to headlines and news stories, but they tend to have more concrete details and concrete sources. Magazines are great sources for teaching certain skills. For example, fitness magazines can teach new workout techniques, or even help critique new products on the market. As time goes on, though, the magazine popularity is decreasing. It is so easy to read the same magazine headlines on the internet and through digital media for free, that buying a magazine seems like a waste. Many magazines have been going out of business. The top 25 magazines did not fare much better than the industry overall. Nearly two-thirds saw circulation declines in the second half of 2011. The 12th ranked Ladies’ Home Journal declined most. It fell 15.8%, a loss of more than 600,000 copies, in the second half of 2011 (Matsa, K., Sasseen, J., & Mitchell, A). Though magazine and other print media is declining, it is still one of the leading media technologies people read. A good magazine can pass time while in the doctor's office, on a plane, or even while at work.
Most of us listen to the radio passing time while riding in the car. The radio exposes us to new music and entertaining radio shows. Like most of the other media technologies, it is a good source for people to receive news. Before television, there was radio, and it is still one of the most popular forms of media today. Today there is a huge amount of stations available to listen to for all different genres and age groups, especially with Sirus XM radio. There are about 44,000 radio stations worldwide. In fact, there are radios everywhere. At least 75 percent of households in developing countries have access to a radio (Brown College Blog). Radio is the second most powerful medium in the United States, reaching 59 percent of the country’s population daily. In comparison, 49 percent are reached by the Internet while print media accounts for 13 percent. Only TV, with a daily reach of 80 percent, is consumed on a daily basis by a broader audience.Online radio is, somewhat surprisingly, used by just 15 percent of American radio listeners, even though close to 80 percent of the U.S. population has access to the internet (Topic Radio, 2014).
The internet takes the cake when it comes to media technology because it incorporates all of the different medias into one source. The internet is a great source when learning the latest news, not only in your area, but all over the world. The internet connects with various audiences also. There are children friendly websites to adult websites. There are various "how to" videos and instructions you can find online. It is a great way for many to practice their right for free speech and speak their mind through message boards and blogs. The internet now has websites that post televisions shows and the magazine articles you would find in the stores. The internet has given a whole new outlet for music. Musicians no longer sell a ton of physical albums, but rather digital music. It gives an outlet for various artists to be seen and heard without major media companies behind them. The internet also has countless social networking websites to meet people who have the same interests or ideas. From dating websites to fashion websites, people can meet and connect through hobbies or ideas. A new survey shows that Americans are increasingly transfixed with social networking sites, with Facebook grabbing more of our time than any other blog or social media. Social networks and blogs are taking up more and more of Americans time online, now accounting for nearly a quarter of our time spent on the Internet, according Nielsen's social media report. Internet users in the U.S. spend more than twice as much time on social networks than they do in the second-most popular category: playing online games. Facebook is the top destination of all social networks and blogs. Nielsen reported that 140 million people visited Facebook in May. That's 70% of all active U.S. Internet users. Google's Blogger came in second with a distant 50 million visitors that month, while Twitter was in the third spot with 23 million (Gaudin, 2011). The internet has also opened up the doors to many career fields with writing and starting online businesses. And of course, the internet has many the opportunity to go to college.
References:
Norman, H. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html
Matsa, K., Sasseen, J., & Mitchell, A. (n.d.). Magazines: By the Numbers | State of the Media. Magazines: By the Numbers | State of the Media. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/magazines-are-hopes-for-tablets-overdone/magazines-by-the-numbers/
Brown College Blog. (n.d.). 10 Interesting Radio Statistics. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.browncollege.edu/Student-Life/Blog/May-2013/10-Interesting-Radio-Statistics
Topic: Radio. (n.d.). www.statista.com. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.statista.com/topics/1330/radio/
Gaudin, S. (n.d.). Social networks eat up Americans' online time. Computerworld. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219947/Social_networks_eat_up_Americans_online_time?source=toc
No comments:
Post a Comment