Media ecology

 Media ecology refers to the complex environments within which media texts, producers, distributors, technologies and audiences exist. It is a way of conceiving the structure of these environments, their content, and impact on people.

Media ecology provides a lens for understanding changes in society as we experience and represent “the world” through ever-new media and symbols. Media ecology thus explores the culture consequences of how media change.

Theorists

Marshall McLuchan - “The medium is the message” & talked about the ‘global village’ in the 1960s, long before the internet (global village means how technology has metaphorically ‘shrunk’ the world)

Global Village - all parts of the world as they are being brought together by the internet and other electronic communication interconnections.

-Communication

-Knowledge

-Entertainment

-Culture

-News

-    False information

-    Privacy

-    Hate

-    Lack of social skills

-    Algorithms

-    Attention span

The platform is more important than what comes out of it. Michael Wesch’s quote “YouTube is cultural phenomenon”

Neil Postman - “Television is altering the meaning of ‘being informed’ by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation- misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing.”

An environment is, after all, a complex message system which imposes on human beings certain ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

•              It structures what we can see and say and, therefore, do.

•              It assigns roles to us and insists on our playing them.

•              It specifies what we are permitted to do and what we are not. Sometimes, as in the case of a courtroom, or classroom, or business office, the specifications are explicit and formal.

In the case of media environments (e.g., books, radio, film, television, etc.), the specifications are more often implicit and informal, half concealed by our assumption that what we are dealing with is not an environment but merely a machine.

Orwell (1984) & Huxley (Brave New World)

Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.

Passivity - Captive of culture (Slaves to the state) Vs Egoism - Trivial Culture

Passivity is when people just watch or consume media without thinking deeply. They don't question what they see or hear, and the media can influence their thoughts and behaviour without them realising it. Egoism is when media makes people focus more on themselves. Social media, for example, can make people care a lot about their own image, likes, and followers, making them more self-centred. Neil Postman said that TV, especially, makes us passive because it turns serious topics into entertainment. We end up watching for fun, not to learn or think critically. Marshall McLuhan said, "The medium is the message." This means that the way we get media (like TV, smartphones, or social media) changes how we think and act. For example, social media makes people focus more on themselves (egoism) and pay less attention to deep thinking.

-Ambient Intimacy —> A term that describes the feeling of closeness to others that can be developed through regular, intimate contact via social media or other digital communications.

Sharing intimate things about yourself with strangers because of the detachment of social media

-Connections without constraints —> There is no limits to connecting to anyone around the world (no regulations)

-Anonymity —> Anonymity and identity shielding allow a user to hide or disguise their identifying information online.

-Digital natives vs immigrants

Native = The term digital native describes a person who has grown up in the information age

Immigrant = Someone who was born before the digital age and learned to use computers and the internet as an adult.

-The knowledge machine —> Having all the information at your fingertips rather than having to find a book or a physical writing, we might not take an advantage of the digital world.

-Globalisation —> media globalisation is the worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas, while technological globalisation refers to the cross-cultural development and exchange of technology.

-Desensitised —> Media desensitisation is the process by which people become less affected by violent or graphic content in the media due to repeated exposure. This can happen through exposure to violent content in television, movies, video games, and social media.

-Fear/suspicion —> Fake news fear mongering

The immersive form of technology has fundamentally affected the way we live our lives

Globalisation

Global Village - The growing level of connectedness between individuals, societies and nation states at a global level. This reduction in the distance between individuals, societies and nation states in terms of time space, and culture is facilitated by technological developments such as the internet and other new media.

Cultural Homogenisations - Reduction in cultural diversity through a wide array if cultural symbols (customs, ideals and values)

Cultural Imperialism - This is the process by which one country dominates another country’s media consumption and as a consequence dominates their values and ideologies.