Essay about new media

Submitted By diaznorma94
Words: 1042
Pages: 5

New media is the power to connect to the world by interacting through social networks that use the Internet. Lam, a journalist and short story writer, who wrote “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” which makes arguments through a pessimistic lens by talking negatively about how 21st century humans believe they can’t live without technology. He implicates that people feel like they have real power through the digital world. Lam also describes how people are becoming selfish and careless because they’re being controlled by the new media. In opposition to Lam is Hayles, a literature professor, who wrote “Hyper and Deep Attention.” Even though she agrees that teens consume large amounts of time on media she points out more than just the negative outcomes. Hayles makes arguments through an ADHD lens by stating the impacts it has on the different ways young Americans learn. She emphasizes hyper attention as a way to multitasking taking under consideration that students these days are able to learn while doing more than just one thing at a time. Uses of new media are exemplified through the ability to connect with loved ones across distance, however excessive time on media may cause young Americans to not be aware of what’s happening around them causing an oblivious state of mind.
Connecting with loved ones across distance has enhanced empathy through the use of this new media. For instance, the ability of family members who live in a different locations to be able to connect with Skype, and get the chance to see each other through a screen. I moved here about eight years ago, but don’t have any type of family members that live anywhere around me. With Skype I’m able to connect with my long lost cousins and feel like were right next to each other when in reality were hundreds of miles away. Skype makes it possible to share secrets and make inside jokes with people who are physically far away from us. I say this because I’m studying here at Texas State and Skype has become part of my everyday life, since I don’t really get to hang out with my close friends from home. Skype is the next greatest thing from actually being there. Now I know that at the end of the call when you hang up with that person you still wont be able to hug them, but little things like planning stuff to do together over Skype where we both order pizza, get ice cream, or even watch a movie together while socializing through Skype. Doing silly things like that can makes us feel closer. Another great thing media can do is capture pictures of moments that won’t ever happen again. For example, you might want to capture a baby’s first step. Things like that only happen once in a person’s life, after the first steps babies will soon want to start running moving forward and not looking back at the fact that they just learned how to walk not so long ago. Cameras have the ability to capture memorable moments in just a few seconds, because of the pictures captured by the camera you will now be able to look back at those pictures and remember that day forever. This has made humans have a unique love for cameras and new media fully applies this aspect into its success.
On the other hand, too much time on any new media can cause young Americans to be oblivious of their surroundings. Allowing them to become egoist and negligent, caring only about staying updated with every new social network possible. Not only that, but people have lost or changed their lives dramatically as a result of new media. For example, as seen on the Texting While Driving Documentary by Werner Herzog, Xzavier was ran over, out of his sister’s hands by a lady who was texting and driving. On that day Xzavier’s life was changed; he will never be able to walk again. An eight year old that now has