Communication and the Internet

            In Dr. Steve Jones’s lecture on Communication and the Internet he explains how communication technology has changed dramatically and it has continued to change even more rapidly in the last couple of years. The technology they had back in the day was much more expensive than it is now. He mentions how his first MP3 player which held around a dozen songs was two hundred and thirty dollars and now you can you can buy a 1GB MP3 player for five dollars.

            The evolution of how we receive information has advanced from the industrial age to the information age. During the industrial age, information was very limited, costly, and institutionally oriented. Now, information is easily accessible, cheap, and is used for personal use. People in our generation are always using the internet for mostly everything. With the internet, we have access to almost anything. Having internet gives us more time in our day to do other things but in our generation, we use it to play games or go on Facebook.

Back in 2000 adults didn’t use the internet as much, have broadband at home, have wireless internet connection, or fast mobile connections like we do now in the present. We have so much media now then we don’t know what to do with. We have choices between listening to the news or weather forecast on the television, radio, newspaper, on our phones, or on the internet. But as technology grows, mass mediums like newspapers, radio, and TV are affected. It also affects the different aspects of communication between human beings; interpersonal, intercultural, interviewing, small-group, public, and organizational communication.  People are starting to communicate with each through emails, texts, phone calls, and through video chat more and more. You no longer have to travel to another state or country to see and talk to family member or friends. You can stay in contact with them and see them through video chat. You can make videos and send them or post them online for anyone to see so that they can be part of an exciting moment in your life.

Through internet, we are now able to see videos, music videos, and movies from websites like YouTube and Hulu for free. You can download and buy music, albums, music videos and movies in a matter of seconds with just a click of a button and you don’t even have to go to the store. Video stores have gone out of business because of websites like Netflix, an on-demand internet streaming media where you can watch TV shows and movies and they can send you DVD’s for a low flat rate. Sooner or later I believe we won’t even use DVD’s.

Towards the end of Dr. Jones lecture, he asks the class if anyone has ever tried going a day without a phone or using the internet. We would feel lost and we would not know what to do with ourselves. We rely so much on our phones and internet and we are so use to always having a phone and access to the internet that we don’t know what else to do with our time. It is kind of sad when you think about it. I feel lost and feel naked when I don’t have my phone for just one day. I use it to text, talk, to schedule, to remind me of things, for the internet, Facebook, email, and a lot of other things. It keeps my life together, organize, and it keeps me occupied throughout the day. And I know that it is the same for a lot of other people of my generation and it will be the same and perhaps even worse for generations to come.