Week 4 video task - Digital Media


Before watching the three videos I defined digital media as merely any data being encoded digitally, I suppose I held the subconscious idea that media is 'art' making digital media digital 'artwork' in a way. After watching these videos I understand it is exponentially larger than that. Digital media is the online framework within our devices. As I stated prior, I associated media with artwork, something to be viewed and consumed, however media is entirely interactive.

I thoroughly enjoyed Doug Belshaw's TED Talk video and found it really opened my eyes on the real life uses of digital media. I found his discussion of 'memes' particularly engaging. I never realized how much these light hearted funny images actually guide our beliefs. Memes spread like wildfire and people are much more likely to interpret a humorous image on a serious topic as opposed to reading a full articile about. This is fascinating, we can keep the public informed on issues more than we ever could before. With the public's attention spans declining, memes are an incredible tool that can be used to keep people educated. 

This of course has its potential negative consequences also, I mentioned that memes can cater for those with a shorter attention span but it begs the question; should we be catering to this? Are we further deteriorating the publics ability to focus by pushing this form of media? Another downside to this form of media is the potential for the spread of misinformation. I stated that memes are spread like wildfire and with a single 'fake news' image we could misinform countless numbers of people. As Doug stated, they can be a form of propaganda. We have seen this occur countless times online and it is extremely harmful.

That leads me on to the reasons someone would create a piece of media, the reasons are innumeral. From personal gain to wanting to help otherss, we all have different motivations for adding to the media online. I think it is very important for each and every one of us to dig deep into our reasonings for posting online. One may share a piece of artwork they made simply to share it, to scrapbook theitr work, while someone else may post their artwork to grasp at validation through numbers. While the media is the same, one reasoning is harmless and the other is disastrous for mental health. I feel like us as adolescents especially need to tap in and unpack our motivations behind our online presences to try work out what truly makes us happy in the long term.

Lastly, I was engaged by the quote by Marshall McLuhan attached to these videos; 'the medium is the message.' I found myself emphasising the use of 'the'. Digital media is THE message nowadays. It is what we see, what we are shown and what forms our ideals and beliefs. 

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source: OVERCOMING DIGITAL MEDIA ADDICTION – StudyBullet - UdemyKing Free Courses

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