COMMUNICATION CHANGES IN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

By McLuhan
Communication has an incredible effect on our lives. It is how we interact with each other, gain information, and learn new things. Communication takes many forms and mediums. In today’s digital age, it is easier than ever to find information, and evaluate what impact has this new found accessibility has on our perceptions, our culture and the way we manage business.

The serious study of the impact media has on culture began some 50 years ago when Marshall McLuhan published his famous work, Understanding Media. Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate in business.

The digital age has changed everything

To understand the workings of media, as McLuhan advised, one must also understand that the format, the medium, and the shape of the way we project, communicate, or demonstrate our ideas shapes the message itself. Today’s digital devices demand our constant attention, completely changing the ways we interact, advertise, work, entertain, gain knowledge, conduct business, create, communicate and so much more.

Culturally, digital has changed the way we identify with one another and form communities. While 20th century consumers bonded in tight-knit neighborhoods, today’s target demographics gather together in far-flung global communities. They can easily gather in chat rooms, YouTube communities, and online forums to share personal stories or provide advice. Business managers will need to do more to ferret out these new communities in order to find advocates and influencers who can help them build a brand message.

Digital has changed the way we communicate

The dynamics of communication change in cyberspace, people are more open and do not use as many filters as they would in face-to-face communications. Sometimes people share very personal things about themselves, on the other hand out spills rude language, harsh criticisms, anger, hatred, even threats. This feeling of over-familiarity confers undue credulity and equality on even the most pedestrian of bloggers. No one knows your credentials or lack thereof, so you are taken as seriously as everyone else.

Recently businesses can stand out in what is now considered to be an equal playing field where everyone and anyone can create a website or blog, and say what they want.

Our sense of self-identity is changing

Online capabilities allow people to take on virtually any personality or body form. This blurring of the individual, cultural, and societal lines makes managing and marketing even more challenging in the 21st century. McLuhan recognized how our society had changed radically with the introduction of the visual language of writing and the further widespread impact following the introduction of the printing press. Recently, we have faced another revolution of communication, the digital age.

Looking for Humanity in Data seeks to explain the ways in which behavioral data represents the mind and emotions of those who generate it. Our purpose is to translate from the scientific to the every day impact of technology on the individual. 

By Mwasandube Aden A.

BAPRM 42638