In researching this topic, we almost immediately concluded that new media’s impact on culture, society, commerce, learning, politics, etc. is vastly greater than we had originally thought: it’s immense. Below are just a few of the cultural and societal implications.
In M/Cyclopedia of New Media, an article entitled “Cultural and Social Implications of Personal Blogging” speaks of how women in Iran talk freely in blogs about their culture’s taboo subjects and are also free to talk about opinions, dreams, ideas, etc. that they would not be allowed to publicly express otherwise. Additionally, blogging in the Middle East is a quickly growing phenomenon used not only by women who have been repressed and unable to freely express themselves but also by men who have been repressed as well.
New media is changing how citizens participate in their local communities and countries. “Technology, Media, and the Next Generation in the Middle East” by Jon W. Anderson, Catholic University of America talks about how the “parameters of citizenship” are changing throughout the Arab world as a result of new media. Changes, though different perhaps, are occurring throughout the rest of the world as well as citizens get more information, information from more diverse sources, have immediate and ready access to voicing opinions to government officials, can communicate freely with others, etc.
New media broadens the definitions of community and social relationships. No longer are communities confined by geography, space, or proximity. “Virtual communities” are increasing and are becoming “mainstream” for those who have access to new media. Social relationships are becoming more heterogeneous as individuals communicate with others from places around the globe and are not limited, again, by geography, space, or proximity. Interestingly, heterogeneous social relationships may ultimately result in a more homogeneous “global culture”. The routine and immediate communication with others from all over the world may alter the perceptions that people have of their own communities, cities, countries. New media is changing how people interact and relate and how they think of themselves and their place in the world.
New media is also changing business, finance, and commerce; how we learn; how we create and process information; etc. Global markets have resulted in the ability to produce cheaper products. (M/Cyclopedia of New Media “Global Communication”) In North Carolina, which was traditionally a furniture and textile manufacturing state, the entire workforce development landscape has changed dramatically as a result of “off shoring” many furniture and textile manufacturing tasks which is a result of globalization brought on by new media technologies.
A number of articles we read spoke of how new media is changing “centers of status and power”. There are articles and books about how new media technologies are impacting world religions and how individuals go about formulating and communicating their beliefs.
As we stated in the beginning, the impact of new media on culture and society is vastly greater than we had imagined. In some ways that's a little unsettling, but we read about so many positive ways that new media affects culture and society that we are hopeful that the good far surpasses the bad. I hope we're not being Pollyannas!
Sources:
Web Gives Voice to Iranian Women
Cultural and Social Implications of Personal Blogging
Global Communication
Working Papers on New Media and Information Technology in the Middle East
The International Study Commission on Media, Religion, and Culture
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
