Will New Media End Mass Media?

Will new media end mass media? Before I answer the question based form what I have read and my opinion let me first tell you the examples of traditional mass media and new media. Traditional mass media is composed of print, radio, television and film, while new media is composed of electronic book, compact and digital video disks, e-mail and WebTV.

Now, based from what I have read by Miguel Q. Rapatan, FSC, he answered and I quote, “This question should be examined in relation to the personal and social beliefs we have about the function of technology in society.” On the other hand technological idealists foresee new media reshaping the form and distribution of mass media. This change will lead to the “de-massification” of traditional media audiences and the creation of more opportunities for personal media. However, changes brought about by new media may be significant but they will not be drastic. George Lucas, renowned filmmaker of the Star Wars trilogies proclaims that, “I love film, but it’s a 19th-century invention. The century of film has passed. We are in the digital age now, and trying to hold on to an old-fashioned technology that’s cumbersome and expensive – you just can’t do it.”

I agree to what George Lucas’ said, mainly because I am not into old-fashioned technology in films. I want films to be more exciting to watch, I want the filmmakers to add new flavor in the world of great art. Like a pair of an old shoes, but even though it is old, I can still walk on it comfortably and even better I can go different places with it and in the end, satisfaction fills me in. It s always hard in any aspect of life when you still hold on to a particular thing wherein you get the same things over and over again, never changing. Of course the world is changing and you also want changes in your life, better changes.

The conclusion in this reading concludes that people are more strategic in their use of media whether it be mainstream or new. With creative accommodation, media technologies become sites of negotiation where constraints become fields for different levels of interactivity. On the other hand, my conclusion is that new media will end mass media if and only if new media will still find its way to make good technologies that will help people big time. People nowadays are into make-my-work-easier and better-please kind of thing than help-me-with-my-work-please kind of thing. People want all their works to be done with just a snap away that is why new media or modern technologies of today sell big time.