anime_being_god

To start this off I would like to say that the average American spends more time using media-an ipod,computer,radio,televison,etc.-than in any other wakeful activity, almost nine hours a day!
Ubitquitous news, e-mail, and entertainment are facts of modern life and, not surpisingly, most of us feel that convenient and consistent access to the digital world is a good thing. But what if our new "connected age" is actually pushing us further apart, making us not more informed, but less so???

According Micheal Bugeja, Director of Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University and author of Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in the Technological Age (Oxford,2005).

" Family time at the dinner table used to a very common thing. Nutritionists and psychologists will tell you that having dinner together uninterrupted is a good thing. We moved from that to ' quality time', where both parents were working, now we've gone from family time to quality to media time, or defining activites around media....

We spend time together by using media in proximity to one another, in the same house, or the same car, but the media itself is seperate.

-For example, parents/ anyone driving and talking on their cell phones while their kids sit in the backseat and watching a DVD-

" The more we use technology, the less time we have to nurture our primary relationships; the reason is simple: Communications systems alter value systems. We're spending more time communicating via social networks (AO) , ignoring those in our immediate enviroment. Meanwhile, televison viewing devours leisure time.

Of course we're lonely most of the day, so we search for meanigful relationships in front of screens and monitors.......but the amount of time we spend immersed in the media enivorment affects the very way we act and behave outside that space.

Well this was all just a thought that came to mind over the weekend, i myself am really not sure about it all, so what do the people of AO think????

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Priestess Angel

Ah, the overuse of media!

We do have a lot of media but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It just has to be used in the right way. It’s not the product’s fault if the user stays on it 24/7. When it comes to the subject of media pushing families apart, I think that it’s the family’s fault not the media itself.

Use of media such as television, the internet, and such are all determined by the user. If I spend hours on the internet going to various sites then that was my decision. And last time I checked the internet is not hypnotizing me. If a family wants to have more quality time where they sit around the table and talk then they should make an effort to.

So basically, media isn’t some evil spawn of the devil. Media helps enrich our lives we just don’t need to let it control us.

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anime_being_god

I agree with what ur saying. But at the same time it media does somewhat affect the way we do things in society.

For example, a student in class who has a new iphone with downloaded games on it, is more prone to be playing tectris on the table during an important lecture. The fact is that before this much use of technology came along, families didnt have to make a great effort to have family secessions and such.

Also another concern is over wiegthed kids which is linked to the over use of media! People cant discpline their selves enough to get off the computer, tv, ipod etc. every one in a while, and go play pass with little brother or something

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atomik_sprout

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Kickin' it like a soccer player!

HolderOfTheDarkChalice

youknow onlyabout 15% of this planet if even that much depend on the media
so what gets me is why everyone thinks everything will go to hell in a handbasket
the media has made a impact across the wrold but there more poeple who
out in the woods and such than there are people with pc's i see the media
as a fad that will go away in time ,just like the moon walk did when michal
jackson fisrt did it. its not a big thing anymore the media will be the same way.

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thanks mellow your sig is top notch http://www.animeonline.net/links/

anime_being_god

I agree that the media is a very important thing indeed, but think, what happens to soceity in a general thought as technology increases.....is there any downside other than over wieghted kids or less family time, or even that kids may loss focus in school work???

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Ochi Gate

hey, just so you guys know, we had this question on a stoopid test we had to take. A_B_G thought it would be a good discussion point.

and a lot of it i can agree with. my family never eats together anymore, and everyone is grumpy and doesnt get along.

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anime_being_god

c u know understand where im coming from, but of course this doesnt apply to everyone, but to a lot it does

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