Term Paper: The Effects of New New Media on American Society

In 1954, Marshall McLuhan stated that “It is the almost total coverage of the globe in time and space that has rendered the book an increasingly obsolete form of communication” (Logan 40). Before the introduction of the computer, McLuhan feared that media would become solely image based rather than the text based media of the literate “book age.” Although the computer and the Internet have brought about a revival of text based media after an era of image based media with the television, McLuhan was correct to be worried. New new media has caused a resurgence of image based culture, competitive behavior, and a focus on individualism rather than collectivism in American society.

With the invention of the printing press, mass media was defined by the written word. Books and newspapers rely on written language to convey a message rather than sound, visuals, or moving pictures. Furthermore, the widespread use of written language through a mass medium encouraged literacy and individualism. The act of reading a book or a newspaper was an individual event; people do not gather around a book to read it together. This is contradictory to the new media of radio, television, or movies in which people would come together to participate in being the audience. During this era of new media, society was more collective than individualistic. It was not until the introduction of new new media that society would make a return to the individualistic culture of the book age. The internet, much like the book or newspaper of past generations, “favors the use of the written word” (Logan 101). The return to the written word also calls for a return to the individualist behavior. The independent nature that the Internet imposes on us changes our behavior as a society. Instead of a collectivist society, each person becomes self-reliant, and in time, even overly self aware to the point of egocentric behavior. 

Although new new media encourages individualism, it contradicts the past individualistic media which was generally associated with written language by being a more image based media. While past image based media encouraged a group audience, new new media encourages one participant and one viewer on a single device. Social media networks like Instagram, YouTube, Vine, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Facebook encourage users to take, post, and view photos and videos. Even media that was originally text based now includes places to add pictures and videos, for example Twitter allows users to embed images into posts. The inclination towards images today may have to do with the shorter attention span of users as they crave an immediacy for information. According to McLuhan, “electric speed is bringing all social and political function together in a sudden implosion that has heightened human awareness of responsibility to an intense degree” (Logan 41). The digital media created a need for immediate information, and there is no faster way to receive information than from a picture. Written information takes time to read but images are received instantly. Therefore just one picture can deliver the information much more quickly than reading a whole story. The focus is on immediacy rather than efficiency in conveying or interpreting the right message. In an image based society, the faster one can get the message becomes more important than the message itself. Therefore, because today’s society craves immediacy and speed, new new media reflects this by being image based. 

Contrarily, the image based media and egocentricity of today’s society may also be a consequence of new technology rather than just a cause of it. The two (new new media and an image based, egocentric society) go hand in hand and create a cycle. With the invention of the camera in cellphones, especially the invention of the front camera, people were able to document their lives for the world to see. To keep up with the technology, social media also upgraded by adding features in which the new technology could be utilized. Social networks became mobile instead of just something you did on the computer, and “selfies” became a worldwide phenomenon, even becoming Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2013 (Brumfield). Cameras were no longer looked at as something used only during special occasions, but as something to document your everyday life so you could have material to upload daily to your social networks. Front cameras made taking pictures of one’s self (a “selfie”) very easy, allowing for more choices for one’s profile pictures or albums. Further, not only do people feel the need to document everything in their lives because they now can with the new technology, but their newfound self-importance makes them believe that everyone else wants to see every aspect of their lives as well. Since people have become more self-involved, they believe that others must want to be involved in their life too. The question then becomes one reflective of the chicken or the egg: what came first, the egocentricity of society or the advancement of technology to display our lives on social media? 

The individualism does not only apply to the subject matter of the media, but also with how it is used. New new media relies more on solitary activity than old new media. For instance, an individual usually has one solitary account to post their own personal materials. Although they may be sharing information with the world, they are doing it by themselves. The channel of the media also affects this as cellphones and computers are very individualistic media. It is not common, or easy, for a bunch of people to gather around a cellphone to view an Instagram post or compose a Tweet. Usually, a person has their own personal thought and individually shares it on their feed through their own personal account. Although it sounds contradictory, their public post is a very privatized kind of activity, as it is almost always done alone. In new new media, one sits solely at their computer creating a blog post compared to sitting in a crowded movie theatre sharing the experience with a room full of people. 

Not only does the new new media reflect society’s inclination towards the self, but it also reflects, and causes, competitive behavior. When people post aspects of their lives everyday on social media, they are essentially putting it out there to compare the best, and even sometimes the worst, parts of their lives. Before new new media, the only way people would know you were on vacation, or won a prize, or went out for a very nice meal would be if you personally told them. However, today all people need to do is log on to social media and see all the highlights of another person’s life. This causes comparative behavior of information that people would not have otherwise known. Everyone wants to one up the person that posts before them. They want to not only post the best things, but also get the most followers or the most likes. It no longer becomes about enjoying the moment, but in taking the best picture of that moment in order to get the most approval from fellow new new media users. 

Further, people’s obsession with documenting their lives (a consequence of new new media) puts themselves and others in danger. Because of the competitive nature that new new media has caused, people are more concentrated on getting the shot than on their own safety. For example, during natural disasters or public crimes, the “citizenry armed with digital cameras” are more likely to stay for the shot than to get help or find safety hoping their picture or video will be the one to air on TV or get millions of likes (Strate 91). A documentation of every aspect of one’s life creates the greatest chance of one getting the “fifteen minutes of fame” that McLuhan alludes to in calling new media the “global stage.” 

Today’s society in America has made a return to some aspects of past media, while continuing to keep some aspects of others. New new media has successfully combined the individualistic nature of old print media with the image based culture of new digital media. Not only does the content of new new media, including selfies, reflect the egocentric behavior of individuals today, but also the media itself is used and executed in an independent manner. New new media also relies upon images to get messages across most efficiently, possibly because of society’s need for immediacy and speed. The advancement of technology by adding more cameras and the ability to create and share more images allows for more image based media. Finally, these two aspects of new new media create a competitive behavior in today’s society as people are constantly sharing and comparing their lives on social media sites. Neil Postman stated that “our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival” as the media further and further dictates our behavior as a society (Strate 24). Our relationship with new and old media is a give and take, a push and pull, a reflection and a reaction, and it is only through the correct balance of these factors that will determine our chance of that survival. 

Works Cited

Brumfield, Ben. "Selfie Named Word of the Year for 2013." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Nov 2013. Web. 8 May 2014.

Logan, Robert K. Understanding New Media: Extending Marshall McLuhan. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. Print.

Strate, Lance. Amazing Ourselves to Death: Neil Postman's Brave New World Revisited. New York: Peter Lang, 2014. Print.