Currently I am using my cell phone (not a smart phone, because I am too cheap to buy one while I am in Australia for five months), my computer, my iPod, and I am occasionally taking breaks to look at the pictures I took yesterday on my camera. I have three windows open on my computer and one of the has five tabs. That is a lot of stuff going on.
However take a look at media convergence. Let's start with my iPod. I have an iPod touch. It has music, movies, TV, photos, and games. I need to upload everything on to the device, but it is one device that stores almost everything I need. (Well it could use some more space, but that is a different story). Let's say I have an iPhone. The iPhone takes pictures, makes phone calls, sends texts, is a media for viewing movies and TV, and you can play games. Not to mention you can buy or download an App for almost anything. This is media convergence at its finest.
Companies are also involved with convergence. Look at Disney for example. They do movies, TV, music, merchandise, games, everything. I feel like even their stars are forced to be diverse. Take Miley Cyrus, she acts, sings dances, has a clothing line, comes out with toys; she has and does everything.
I think media convergence is a good thing. I like how there are so many uses for one device. Although I think eventually there is going to be nothing left to converge. I don't really know what is the future of media convergence. In class we talked about how in Futurama they came out with the EyePhone. It would be cool to have the information available right in our brain, but it also made me think of Wall-e and when all of the humans were riding around in their chairs with the screens in front of their faces. They never looked at the world around them because they were too busy looking at the technology. I do NOT want to end up like this. There is a point where the technology goes too far.
Oh, and this is slightly random, but I think that Apple TV is one of the coolest things ever. You just hook up the device, and you can stream music, movies, TV, Youtube, etc on your TV. I personally really want one haha.
Im also too cheap to buy a smartphone in this country, so i feel your pain. Next point is that i always find it funny when I go and "clean out" my windows from the internet that are just behind others. Some times i will have 3 or 4 windows with 5 tabs (almost all of them have facebook on one tab). I think that media convergence is a good thing also, to a certain point. I liked the idea of the eyephone until you brought up the point about wall-e. I honesty didn't think of that at all. The world around us is beautiful, we should look up from our smartphones every once and awhile and enjoy it. Is there an app for that :p ?
ReplyDeleteGood Post.
I'm glued to my smartphone, it's like part of me, and this whole media convergence topic made me think twice about constantly using it to check things. Puts things into perspective I guess.
ReplyDeleteI have a smart phone but honestly.. I only really use it as a phone.
ReplyDeleteI must say I do like the convenience of having the convergence of all the technologies avaliable in the palm of my hand but rarely do I use it all.. I've probably used the GPS once, I rarely use the music player as it deminishes my battery life too quickly nor do I used the stocks, converters, voice memos or compass..
Media convergence is just reaching new levels.. but really I think we are now all relying too much on technology and as you have mentioned I would also not like to be entirely consumed by technology and not enjoy the world around us.
I commend you for not purchasing a smart phone! It just goes to show that they arent necessary... convenient but not necessary..
You make some really good points here. I totally agree with you, it would be so scary to see us end up like they do on Wall-E. i think our need for actual face-to-face social interaction will stop this happening though.
ReplyDeleteTo DXW1: you also make a great point. I don't listen to music or use my phone whilst I am walking down the street or especially cross the road. You have no idea how many times I have nearly run someone over because they just step onto the road with out looking, completely distracted because they are on their phone! Physical dangers of media convergence are real!
I really dont take advantage of media convergence. I have an iphone and only use it for calling and texting. I could achieve the same things on my very first brick phone. However i like knowing that, should the need arise, i can listen to music, watch youtube videos and play games. I think media convergence is simply put, making the world convenient. Having all our media needs in one device is great but i think people are slowly becoming slaves to their smartphones. It seems that while media convergence goes up, conversation goes down. Bring back the brick i say.
ReplyDelete