The New Media

Features of the new media

​Interactivity - consumers of media can contribute to a participatory culture and a collective intelligence

​Hypertextuality - links between different media texts that form a web of connections

​Demand led- the new media has become less centralised and has adapted to individual choices

​Virtuality - people can immerse themselves in wholly unreal interactive experiences and exist in a virtual world

Convergence - different media all in one device

Users of the new media

Helsper argues that healthy, young, well-educated people with higher incomes and professionals are more likely to be frequent users of the new media.

 SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES​​ Helsper states that there is a digital underclass forming in Britain, with those who have lower education levels falling behind other groups in their access to the internet.

 AGE DIFFERENCES ​​There is a substantial generation gap in the users of the new media. Boyle argues that younger people have grown up with the latest developments in the new media and are therefore predisposed to it. Younger people are more likely to consume media in a variety of forms.

GENDER DIFFERENCES ​​Both males and females are avid users of the new media, however there are differences in the products they consume. For instance, men are more likely to own tablets and game consoles, whereas women are more likely to own E-readers. Li and Kirkup argue that men are more likely to have a positive attitude towards the internet, spend more time on it and were more confident on how to use to extensively.

Neophiliac (optimistic) approach to New Media - 6 features

The new media is good for society:​

1. Increased consumer choice and more user participation - UK media audiences have a choice of over 500 TV channels and millions of websites. Consumers have more opportunities to participate in using and producing media content through social media sites. 

2. Greater democracy - McNair argues that information, like knowledge, is power. The internet is accessible to anyone, therefore there are greater opportunities to report, criticise and publish. Democracy is improved if people are better informed in who and what they are voting for.​

3. More access to all kinds of information - Social media sites enable news and information articles to come to the attention of those who may have missed them. People have more power in their daily lives to access all kinds of information

 4. The world as a global village - There is a greater understanding of different cultures because space and time barriers have collapsed in human communication, therefore different people from different cultures are brought together.

 5. Social life and social interaction is enhanced - Postmodernists see the new media as enhancing social diversity and enabling people to share their cultures and shape their identity. Social media has enhanced the global village because people can stay in touch via social networking sites.

6. E-commerce - a great deal of retail commerce is conducted on the Internet. Most major commercial companies now have their own websites.

Cultural Pessimist view of the New media

The new media is bad for society:​

1. Lack of valid information - It is often difficult to know the source of messages in the media (who they come from and who is sending them), therefore it is hard to validate information. Material posted by journalists is often recycled without checking the information or sources 

2. Cultural and media imperialism - The new media has led to the imposition of western technology and cultural values on non-western cultures, undermining their features and independence 3. Threat to democracy - MacKinnon argues that some repressive regimes (Eg. North Korea) legitimate their repression by having censorship and control of media output, which undermines democracy and the freedom of expression.

 4. Lack of regulation - Undesirable things such as pornography, internet-crime, drug smuggling etc. can thrive as a result of the new media because there is limited regulation on such issues. There has been an increased amount of cyberbullying as a result of the new media, especially via social networking sites.

 5. Commercialisation and lack of consumer choice - The digital divide means there are still people across the globe who cannot access the new media. Preston states that while the new media offers consumers the choice of what they want to read or look at, they don't bring to their attention things that they didn't know they wanted to look at.

 6. Increasing surveillance - The new media has operated to increase social control, for example mobile signal can be used to track mobile users. 

7. The undermining of human relationships and communications - There has been an increase in social isolation, with people losing the ability to communicate properly in the real world because they spend so much time in the online world. There is a loss of social capital.

Who argues that healthy, young, well-educated people with higher incomes and professionals are more likely to be frequent users of the new media?

HELPSER