Thursday 6 September 2012

Last Words on New Media


Last words on my first post.

Media has brought tremendous changes in the way we communicate and interact with people in different communities. New media is no longer just a passive provider of information but instead an interactive tool to connect to people in different communities as well as providing various services to the public. With all these solutions to our hectic lifestyle, why are we more stress than ever? I believe the reason is that social media has enslaved us. It is a double edged sword – one that provides greater efficiency at the workplace as we are able to check emails and contact clients from across the boundary as well as it inundates us with work even when we are not working.  The line between work and play is now blurred with social media. 

We have seen many examples through movies and television series such as Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps and the local drama The Pupil where the characters are obsessed with work to the point that they neglect the ones close to them-  their friends and family.





From left: Wall Street 2 Money Never Sleeps, The Pupil, Up In The Air


Last words for my second post


The new media has revolutionized the political environment of countries as evident from the Middle Eastern countries as well as in our local context.  As Singaporeans become more IT savvy, candidates turn to social media to cater to these groups of people. But the question is whether the general election is an ‘Internet Election’.

 According to the a recent survey conducted by Singapore’s Institute of Policy Studies the General Election 2011 was not an “Internet Election. 2000 Singaporeans age 21 and above are surveyed and 66% are 40 years. 




These voters are less IT-savvy and traditional media makes up a large part in media consumption with 3.69 for newspaper and 3.59 for TV rated in Media importance.






Last words for third post.


Should Media be blamed for the increase sexual aggression among children? Can we only blame Media? My answer is NO! Media is only a channel to deliver news and information and it cannot solely be responsible for these negative effects. It is the same as blaming Mother Nature instead of mankind’s actions for global warming! In this case the government and the parents should also take responsibility.


The government is responsible for the content available on media and thus they must constantly filter and regulate the influx of new content being accessed online. The government must revise their rating system to ensure that the young and impressionable is protected.

When R18 is introduced in1991, there was a great influx sex-exploitive films within the first month. The rating was modified to R(A) to only restrict films with artistic merit. Finally in 2011, a comprehensive censorship rating was created after introducing PG13 to help parents supervise the selection of films for children. This shows their willingness to adapt to changing mentality and that measures can be constantly improved.






Lastly parents should also be involved in children’s exposure to media. They should filter and regulate the internet by purchasing stand-alone filtering software such as CyberPatrol and NetNanny. With these services and such software, parents can be better equipped to help their children access the Internet safely.





In my final blogpost, we are dealing with a “chicken or the egg” debate. Which comes first?  Can aggressive and violent behavior be attributed to violence in video games? Or do those who are drawn to these games already have violent tendencies? Studies show that the extent of youngsters’ exposure to media violence in childhood predicts their aggressiveness in adolescence and early adulthood but not vice versa. (Huesmann,1986 ; Huesmann et al., 2003) This means that high exposure to media violence precedes and even causes high aggressiveness.

According to Bandura’s famous Bobo Doll experiment, human behavior is learnt, through social imitation and copying, proving that a child can easily be conditioned to learn this aggressive behavior.






Through Hans Eysenck theory, he believes that some people are able to be conditioned more readily than others. This is because of inherited differences in our physiological functioning. The “variations in conditionability” are assumed to bring out our innate aggression Eysenck explained this difference through extraversion-introversion. He proposed that introverts tend to have higher levels of physiological arousal making them easy to condition than extraverts. Hence, we cannot solely blame the media




In conclusion, despite the fact that the new media may provide its users negative and undesirable information that may be potentially detrimental, its benefits are not to be denied and remains an important factor, allowing our lives to be shaped for the better. The new media has brought about changes to our lives to better our society, in terms of self, government and the global community







Links:

Pictures from Google

"Impact of New Media on General Election 2011 " ; http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/ips/docs/events/Impact%20on%20new%20media_041011/S1_1_Tan%20Tarn%20How_0410.pdf

'Was Singapore General Election 2011 an "Internet Election" ;
"http://blog.dk.sg/2011/10/10/was-singapore-general-election-2011-an-internet-election"

"Classification Ratings for film and video"; http://www.mda.gov.sg/Public/MediaClassification/FilmsAndVideos/Pages/RatingsFilmsandVideos.aspx

"Bobo doll Experiment";&nbsp "http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html" 


Eysenck theory"; http://www.psychlotron.org.uk/newResources/criminological/A2_AQB_crim_EysenckTheory.pdf

"Personality theories", pg 474 , Psychology Themes and Variation, Wayne Weiten 

Violence in gaming.


The onslaught of violence in new media has been relentless. Violence permeates through every core of media from television series to video games







As television series are more passive in nature, it is not as harmful as video games. Video games actively involve its users and with their lifelike graphics, users are more likely to identify and experience the violent character realistically.



People are more likely to behave aggressively themselves when they identify with a violent character (e.g., Konijn et al., 2007)

Because of these lifelike imageries, many players are unable to differentiate what is real and what is not. The line between virtual life and reality is blurred and this has resulted in many heinous crimes committed.




Firstperson shooter "Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2" allowing players to kill hundreds of innocents in an airport an act of terrorism


Seventeen-year-old Daniel Petric murdered his mother and injured his father after they refused to let him play Halo 3. The way he murdered his mother was shocking. Petric walked into his parents’ room and said “Would you close your eyes? I have a surprise for you,” before shooting his father between the eyes. 

This eerie line sounds like it came straight out of a horror movie.






Links:


"The Influence of Media on Youth" ; 
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/pspi/pspi43.pdf


"The Effects of violent video games. Do they affect our behaviour?" ; 
http://ithp.org/articles/violentvideogames.html

Wednesday 5 September 2012

New Media on Politics



The new media has drastically changed the political environment in a country. Previously, people who held power to express their views are those with status. Now, the media specifically the internet has provided common man a platform to express their views and opinions on politics in various mediums such as Blogger, Wordpress, Youtube vidoes and even social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

General Election 2011 and Presidential election saw the government easing on internet advertisements allowing candidates to reach out to the masses through social media to campaign for their cause. Foreign Minister George Yeo lauded as among the earliest politicians here to use social media and even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long



News on "Singapore eases rule on Internet election"





Foreign Minister George Yeo  using social media to interact with locals




On Wednesday night, May 4, 2011, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong engaged in a one-hour web chat on Facebook which saw him receiving over 6,000 questions and comments.


To add on, the social media has become a revolutionary tool to topple authoritarian regimes evident in the recent Arab Spring.  


Video on how social media has fueled the Egyption Revolution

Due to globalisation, it has brought about greater interconnectivity allowing for greater awareness and thus more joining in to support the Egyption Revolution





Links:


Social Media humanises politicians ; http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110407-272175.html

"Was Sinagapore Genral Election 2011 an "Internet Election?" ;
http://blog.dk.sg/2011/10/10/was-singapore-general-election-2011-an-internet-election/

"PM Lee responds to Facebook feedback"; 
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Elections/Story/A1Story20110506-277361.html

Tuesday 28 August 2012

New Media a Pandora's Box?



The new media has distorted moral values of many individuals especially the young and impressionable. As the new media is too large and cannot be controlled, individuals can easily open websites that portray women in a degrading manner. 

As these websites are easily accessible, the younger audience can gain access to these websites and they might be obsessed over it and develop sexual urges at a very young age.





Statistics on Internet Pornography



One recent study has shown that adolescents whose media diet includes more sexual content— and content that presents sexuality in a risk-free light— are also likely to engage in more sexual activity and report a greater degree of openness to sexual activity. (Anderson et al., 2003)

With greater openness to sex, many young audiences may think love is just a culmination of sex. Many young boys might pressure their girlfriends into having sex and if they were to refuse, these boys would then force themselves upon the girls. 







Let’s not attack pornographic sites but instead just observe our everyday lives. We are constantly inundated with advertisements vying for our attention and of course the money in our pockets. If you take a good look at these advertisements, almost half of them use women’s sexuality to sell their product



Gucci Guilty



 Not only that, the sanctity of the female body is degraded in vivid implicit and explicit portrayals of sex in television and movies. 





Sex scenes are never uncommon in movies and televisions series. In fact, these scenes might even be the highlight of the entire movie!



Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1. 
"Am I the only one who watched Breaking Dawn just for the bed scenes and not for their crappy storyline?"






Links:

Pictures from Google


Videos from Youtube


"END VIOLENCE TOGETHER  For The Dignity Of Every Woman"; "http://www.endingviolence.org/files/uploads/AquaintanceRapeFactSheet.pdf"

Rainn Satistics on Rape;
http://www.rainn.org/statistics?gclid=CObU7aXWnbICFQV76wodXF8Ajw


""Studying Medis Effects on Children And Youth" ; 
"http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/lib/uow/docDetail.action?docID=10141214&p00=new+media"

Entertainment Media



Media has evolved from its role to inform, to educate and to influence opinion to become providers of entertainment. Internet has provided its users with fast relaxation through various entertainment websites that allows users easy access to videos and online games.



Some of online video games: Diablo, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto and Skyrim

Youtube has wide range of videos to cater to different tastes of entertainment from parodies to music videos and even short humorous films.


 One of the more funnier video by CollegeHumor: Batman loses his voice

For women who just want to destress through retail therapy, they can do so within the comforts of their own home




G market, a popular online shopping website catering to variety of items

Furthermore, new media has evolved to become more interconnected bringing individuals from all walks of lives together. Internet it has enabled easy transfer of information and ideas and especially shared interests. Thus, friendships can be forged when individuals of the same tastes and preferences get together. This can be seen especially with the recent craze on Korean pop groups.



From left: 2NE1, Girls Generation, Super Junior , Beast , Wondergirls, T-Ara.


K-POP’s catchy and wacky tunes have caught the attention of millions of people all over the world especially in the recent viral music video “Oppa Gangnam Style” by popular rapper Psy.










With all these entertainment websites and channels to relax our mind after a long and hectic day at work, the question right now is why are we more stress than ever?



Links:

Videos from Youtube.

Pictures from Google

Friday 24 August 2012

Make way for New Media!





Very dramatic isnt it? This video highlighted plenty of issues in that the new media has brought to the world today. The way we communicate with one another as well the increasing reliance on new media in our everyday lives.

Before the emergence of New Media, traditional media such as radio and television have been influential on people’s daily lives and routine. It plays an important role in connecting with individuals from all over the world. It has the ability to reach to a wide audience and is crucial in the delivering of strong and life-changing messages.

Due to advancements in information technology, we are now living in the golden era of new media. This has caused New Media to become a pervasive effective phenomenon, improving its role to spread news and information.

 While it cannot be denied that new media has become a vital part of our lives, empowering us with capabilities never before we could do. The new media has brought profound changes in our daily lives. These changes either for the better or the worse remain debatable. One school of thought believes that new media is a revolutionary tool that has equipped us with greater efficiency and productivity to face the hectic lifestyle. The opposing camp refers the new media as a “Pandora’s Box”, bringing more destruction than benefit. The next 4 blog posts will discuss these spilling effects of New Media.







Links

'Technology Ruins Romance' ,Youtube 

'New  Media Vs Traditional Media'; Nagasvare D/O M. Krishnasamy, Malaysia; "http://www.aibd.org.my/node/1226"