Hello again, Today I will be discussing ideas related to media, cultural and social change and how they all influence each other. The enlarged image illustrating the evolution of man throughout time clearly demonstrates the cultural change evident throughout society today. We as a society have evolved to use mediums or some form of media when communicating with others. This medium is becoming increasingly popular as it gives individuals a form of expression, control of: senses, information, memory, command, and often at a distance. This trend towards communication through the use of a medium is therefore disconnecting individuals from personalising their own responses towards each other creating a new form of social standards and social norms within society.
Marcel Mauss’s theory around techniques of the body can be used in relation to individual’s cultural shift towards using media as it is an ‘effective technique’ as opposed to one that is ‘traditional’. To add more onto this idea, people do have several traditional techniques or habits but if the new technique offer a greater efficiency, entertainment or appeals to them in a certain way individuals are likely to try and alter their traditional habits to more effective techniques. Although in saying that individuals prefer the more efficient techniques, this too is not always the case. Through following traditional techniques individuals can potentially achieve more, or just prefer to stick to what they know.
An example of this could be the trend towards sending letters to what is now increasingly popular to send emails. There is a certain personal value attached when receiving a letter, a personalisation that is not always associated with emails therefore whether individuals use the traditional technique or conform to the updated effective technique can all depend on the message you want to send.
until next time…
Word of the day: Technics