ARTICLE 5 - Can you recognise a change in pattern of media use (eg. Blurring the lines between works, leisure, family commitments?)

            The use of media really has change the lifestyle in our daily life. The more we becoming a modern society, the more we depend on the technology especially technology in media. Media technology has become fundamental tools in the relationship of work and family. Media can be said as tools that help us in stored information or tools to deliver the data or information. To recognize this changing pattern of media use in our daily life activities, we really need to understand how it is actually a process of shift from modernity to postmodernity. According to Lister, Dovey, Giddings and Kelly (2009), this new media technology could contribute to increase productivity and educational opportunity and open up different creative and communicative horizons. It has shape our life where we always ‘live’ in the connected world.

            Modern media technology has made us available to work even in our own home. There are a people who work at home to earn their income through media technology. For example, Internet, mobile phones, computers and other. The home-job make the digital world become more efficient for people who have a family responsibilities at home able to work in better conditions. It will be less stress on work burden and also less cost for them. The time work for them will be more flexible and they can focus on their family commitments. Due to this changing trend the performance of people who work at home also could be significantly more efficient. Bloom, Liang, Roberts and Ying (2015), stated people who work home used the same IT tools and faced the same tasks like people work in office have 13% better performance where home work practices has improved work-life balance such as number of minutes they worked during their shift and also due to decline in breaks, time off, and sick days taken by the home workers.

            The advancement of media technology also give an effects to children life. Today, young people always spent their time on the gadgets. The time for them to spent to their family and friends become more less and it give an impact to the relationship in both social institution. New media technology can lead to the privatisation among the family members. For example, online gaming now is a popular trend for the young people where they spent a lot of time in playing the online gaming. Even though it is a part of leisure for young people, but it also can be an addiction for them if they not able to control the times of playing the games. The advance media technology also can be a positive family interaction where digital divide between the adults and children can facilitate the interaction among them. According to Aarsand, (2007), children can teach their parent in using the new media and it can bolster the relationship and communication among them.

ADAVANTAGES

  Communication platform like computer mediated communication (CMC) encompasses all form of communication facilitated by the use of the personal computer. According to Olaniran, Rodriguez & William (2012), CMC have increased of new accesses that bringing into the variety of challenges and how-to-do with affection on international communication and interaction in online environments based on cultural differences like interpretation, diverse languages and cultural norms, the actual media choice, technological accord in the global area, variety of laws governing interactions and differing hardware and software criterion. It is also believed to improve the information processing systems and it has been credited with significant improvement in task efficiency, planning, managing time, initiating action plans and composing and preparing written document (Rice & Blair, 1984).

     Due to the advancement of technology we agree that there are pros and cons for the change in pattern of media use to be implemented as a way to connect each family member from different location together at the same platform at one time. From our perspective, the changes in pattern of media use are firstly, it allows virtual visual-audio communication to happen. The Social Information Processing (SIP) theory in CMC explains three flows of how information been transfer and process which is from the interpersonal information to the impression formation then lastly to the relationship development. For instance, the friends and family benefits the technology to interact with her family and discuss their family matters further. This shows that people interconnected across space and time by using technology.  Our parents for instance our mother also has much time to talk with her family and checked her emails and messages about her works at the same time. Next, the advancement of technology helps everything to be settled easily like the mother can instantly buy the birthday gift by only using online transaction.

      Besides, a change in pattern of media use allows long-distance connection through medium. It can help to discuss and solve problem easily among people. For instance, according to Ferran & Watts (2008), discussion can be smoother by video conferencing as it involves face-to-face interaction on the computer without the presence of the person.

           

DISADVANTAGE   

        Mobile media has their own disadvantage in society institutions after the transformation on media world, such as become a ‘shut-in person’, affecting the language, and alienated from others. Modern world today has no limit in communicating with others throughout the world, no longer limit on messaging and calling only. The modern invention has creating several websites and applications for chatting such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram and many more. Due to these inventions also allowing the people using fake identities just for fun and finding soul-mate, maybe? Nowadays, the ‘medium’ called mobile phones has breakthrough upon the younger generation mentality and physically. Mobile phone makes it easier for them to surf internet wherever and whenever they are. Due to this the term of mobile media are no longer a stranger to society. Using phone to surf the internet and visit the media websites already be a trend and as simple as eating.

        An example for the disadvantage of the new media was became a ‘shut-in person’. A shut-in person is an individual that love to be alone in their room or cramping in dark space (dark room). This individual addiction to social media was far worse than a loner person.

        Second disadvantage is broken language happen. In media social, especially while chatting in window chat, the user loves to use acronyms to speed-type in short time. Short words or sentences, like ‘how R U?’, ‘U good?’, ‘thx u 4 in4ming me!’, and so on, so forth can lead to broken words in actual education such as formal and informal writing. They will keep the sentence as short as possible until the reader themselves cannot understand what their friends want to say. It is alright if the users want to use these short words with others, but make it easy for those to read and understood. And, the inventor introduces the using of smiley symbols. Yes, this icon can be use inside the communication and chat. However, do not use these symbols too much until no longer using alphabets to talk.

        Third disadvantages of effect are isolating themselves from others. Some people seeking the perfectness in relationship and forget what it means by completing each other’s. No human in this world as perfect as virtual world fantasy ‘human’. Too obsessed towards the virtual reality can lead to alienated themselves from physical relationship with people in the real world. It is not wrong if you want to find ‘the other you’ inside the media; however do not distancing yourselves from the people surround you. Today, the world was successfully developed the mobile media to no longer for ear-to-ear communication, but also for face-to-face interaction between two individuals. Moreover, this invention was particularly good for others to know their partner in chat window. They believe in this way can let people noticed their presence and they can shared their moments and stories with each other (Gitte, 2008).

            In conclusions, a change of a media patterns brings conveniences and damages in human life. For the advantages, it does help family to connect from different location by using same platform and allow virtual-visual audio communication to happen. However, the disadvantages of this are it can be a threat to life privacy and exposes us to different risk as well as leads to miscommunication and misinterpretation during interaction.

Reference

Ferran, C., & Watts, S. (2008). Videoconferencing in the Field: A Heuristic Processing Model. Management Science, 54(9), 1565-1578. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30219124.

Stald, G. (2008). Mobile Identity : Youth, Identity, and Mobile Communication Media[PDF]. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Olaniran, B. A., Rodriguez, N., & Williams, I. M. (2012). Social Information Processing Theory (SIPT): A Cultural Perspective for International Online Communication Environments. In K. St.Amant, & S. Kelsey (Eds.), Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments (pp. 45-65). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-60960-833-0.0ch04