Do you hear the term digital media being used frequently? But really .. what does it mean?
Digital media is the creation of content such as text, audio, video or even graphics transmitted over the internet and we the recipients receive it on our computers, laptop or on mobile phones.
This blog post article is the first of many to follow, where I examine and share how the advent of technology has become a huge part of our everyday life.
What is Digital Media: Where it all began ..
When I was a young child, I watched my father play his records on a turntable, listening to his music. I couldn’t touch it for fear the records would scratch. But I loved listening to his music.
His collection of LP records included artists from 1950s to 1970s. And he played those songs over and over again, till the tune constantly rewinded in my head.
I too love listening to music and my favourite genre is the 80s, starting with The Go Go’s, my favourite band. But instead of records, I played cassette tapes on my first Sony Walkman Portable Cassette Player. Cassettes never lasted long because of the magnetic reel and my constant playing. This is what I grew up with, LP records and cassette tapes. Oh and not to forget, we used dial up analogue phones. Do you remember them?
Back then, my mum took photos using the old polaroid camera and the analogue kodak film camera. Smiling properly was important back then, you only get one good shot in that moment before the proof, in developing films.
Everything has changed since then and I’m glad to be a part of these changes.
Moving with Times ..
The compact disc (CDs) and it’s player were introduced in the early 1980s but became popular in the 1990s. I moved from cassettes to CDs because it lasted longer and the sound quality was sharper. And around that time I bought my first Nikon camera using films.
In mid 1990s, the company I worked for traded their electric typewriter for computers. And I used the first mobile phone. Oh my gosh .. it was huge! Definitely not like the ones we use today.
The World Wide Web
The internet has changed the way we communicate, made it faster and efficient. Can you believe we made long distant calls through a telephone operator? It was expensive. Even writing letters to send across the world took weeks to receive.
Fast Forward .. to the Present
Early 2000 saw huge changes in telecommunications. The introduction to MP3 players slowly replaced CDs. Wow .. and I had so many songs stored in it.
iPods, iPhones became the new craze .. it’s like having a computer in the palm of your hand .. literally. And for the first time, digital photography and video clips replaced old printed photo and video tapes making it easy to transfer them onto our computer. Photos and video were saved on a CD .. DVD or Bluray .. USB sticks .. and then on external hard drives. Or you can keep it in the cloud (in a deep tone) .. I’ve always wanted to say that!
Social Media .. Mass Communication
Can you imagine talking and sharing stories from across the world? I find it amazing to be able to share photos with my cousin instantly on Facebook. Or share a video on YouTube.
Even though social media has opened new ways for international communications, I can’t help but think of how ignorant we are with sharing information openly, hoping to get a like. You can let people get to know you but be aware of what you share online.
What our Future holds .. the age of Digital Media
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here .. and we are using it in our homes .. google home, amazon echo .. What’s next?
Digital media has changed the way we live .. but honestly have we moved forward ourselves? This proves one thing .. we live in world with constant changes taking place everyday as we speak .. and to survive, to move forward, we must embrace changes ourselves.
We can go back in time .. to reflect on our growth .. there is a reason why we take photos and videos, to see our growth process through time. Photos and videos are proof of our existence a part from our birth cert. It shows captured moments of our life, our story. And I’m sure you want to preserve these story. Technology has made it easier for us to do this.
But here’s a thought, it is said that eyes are the windows to the soul — that by looking into another’s eyes, we can look into their heart, learn to understand each other. In turn we somehow learn to know ourselves.
With all the technology and digital media available for us in hand, there is a huge amount of information available to us. But have we truly become disconnected from real-time in person connection? Is building a relationship a thing of the past? Or are we simply robots mimicking others to blend into society so we are not left out. How do we move ourselves to become more compassionate? To show kindness and respect for another fellow human being.
