Since the dawn of advanced civilization, people have often looked on the emergence of newer technologies and media with disdain and worry, fearing permanent negative changes to their society’s cultural norms and more. These sentiments have persisted from generation to generation, and the people of today are no different. However, we are faced with a much more extreme adversary: digital media.
What makes digital media so different is its use of advanced technology to exacerbate digital affordances, the enhanced communication capabilities that come along with all new forms of media (reach specifically), as well as its interactivity and social cues. Some argue that digital media is the next step in the natural progression of societal interaction, but the long-lasting effects on individuals and how we interact with one another are already being documented.
In her book, “Personal Connections in the Digital Age,” author and professor Nancy Baym provides structure for thinking critically about the roles digital media play in personal relationships. Photo courtesy Wiley.com
To understand how digital affordances have affected us, we must first understand what they are and how exactly they operate. Author and professor Nancy Baym describes reach, one of the affordances in her book, “Personal Connections in the Digital Age,” as the ability of technology to spread information or ideas—with the goal of the highest number of people seeing that message as possible, which every form of communication possesses to a certain extent.
What separates digital media from other forms is the sheer speed of its reach. Not only has the internet allowed for people to receive information from across the world in an instant, but research shows that people are also spending more time on the internet. Forbes and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2022 that the average person spends about 4.1 hours on their mobile device daily. During the amount of time that a person spends on their phones, specifically on social-media platforms, they are being exposed to a myriad of information, and they will also share information with other people who more than likely have similar media-consumption habits.
What this means
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