12.

3 Media and technology

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

 Describe the evolution and current role of different media, like newspapers, television, and
new media
 Describe the function of product advertising in media
 Demonstrate awareness of the social homogenization and social fragmentation that occur
via modern society’s use of technology and media

Figure 8.4 Facebook’s VP of Engineering Regina Dugan gave a talk about innovations in the
platform’s technologies in which she shared potential innovations, including creating text directly
from our thoughts. While the prospect of drafting messages or papers by thinking about them
would certainly speed up our processes, opening our thoughts directly to a social media company
might have larger implications. (Credit: Anthony Quintano/flickr)

Technology and the media are interwoven, and neither can be separated from contemporary
society in most core and semi-peripheral nations. Media is a term that refers to all print, digital,
and electronic means of communication. From the time the printing press was created (and even
before), technology has influenced how and where information is shared. Today, it is impossible to
discuss media and the ways societies communicate without addressing the fast-moving pace of
technology change. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to share news of your baby’s birth or a job
promotion, you phoned or wrote letters. You might tell a handful of people, but you probably
wouldn’t call up several hundred, including your old high school chemistry teacher, to let them
know. Now, you might join an online community of parents-to-be even before you announce your
pregnancy via a staged Instagram picture. The circle of communication is wider than ever, and
when we talk about how societies engage with technology, we must take media into account, and
vice versa.

Technology creates media. The comic book you bought your daughter is a form of media, as is the
movie you streamed for family night, the web site you used to order takeout, the billboard you
passed on the way to pick up your food, and the newspaper you read while you were waiting for it.
Without technology, media would not exist, but remember, technology is more than just the media
we are exposed to.

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Categorizing Technology

There is no one way of dividing technology into categories. Whereas once it might have been simple to
classify innovations such as machine-based or drug-based or the like, the interconnected strands of
technological development mean that advancement in one area might be replicated in dozens of others. For
simplicity’s sake, we will look at how the U.S. Patent Office, which receives patent applications for nearly
all major innovations worldwide, addresses patents. This regulatory body will patent three types of
innovation. Utility patents are the first type. These are granted for the invention or discovery of any new
and useful process, product, or machine, or for a significant improvement to existing technologies. The
second type of patent is a design patent. Commonly conferred in architecture and industrial design, this
means someone has invented a new and original design for a manufactured product. Plant patents, the final
type, recognize the discovery of new plant types that can be asexually reproduced. While genetically
modified food is the hot-button issue within this category, farmers have long been creating new hybrids and
patenting them. A more modern example might be food giant Monsanto, which patents corn with built-in
pesticide (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 2011).

Anderson and Tushman (1990) suggest an evolutionary model of technological change, in which a
breakthrough in one form of technology leads to a number of variations. Once those are assessed, a
prototype emerges, and then a period of slight adjustments to the technology, interrupted by a breakthrough.
For example, in terms of portable data storage, the first mainstream device was a floppy disk–a square,
plastic object larger than a playing card, which in its final iteration held 1.4 megabytes of data (or less than a
single high-resolution photo). Until the early 2000s, these were common formats, and students and
professionals would regularly carry several of them. Floppy disks were improved and upgraded, then
replaced by higher-capacity Zip and Jaz disks, which were then replaced by flash drives. This is essentially a
generational model for categorizing technology, in which first-generation technology is a relatively
unsophisticated jumping-off point that leads to an improved second generation, and so on.

Another type of evolution involves disruptive technology (or disruptive innovation), which is a product,
service, or process that has a major effect on the operation of an entire industry, and/or may create new
industries or new markets. In the example above, a disruptive technology might be the advent of cloud-based
storage platforms like Google Drive and iCloud, which have significantly reduced the need for physical
portable storage. Disruptive technology can create and destroy entire industries, sometimes in a rapid
manner rather than in an evolutionary one. In one of the most famous examples, the advent of digital
photography rendered film-based cameras obsolete; the change came quickly, and many companies could
not adjust. In a similar manner, ride-sharing services have had a massive impact on the taxi and limousine
industry. Emerging technologies such as blockchain, additive manufacturing (3D printing), and augmented
reality are likely to have similar impacts. For example, if companies decide that it is more efficient to 3D
print many products or components close to their destinations instead of shipping them from distant
manufacturing plants and warehouses, the entire shipping industry may be affected.

The sociological impact of disruptive technology can be sudden. Digital photography, for example, resulted
in the rapid decline of companies like Kodak, which had been stalwarts of the American economy and a
major employer. Layoffs devastated cities like Rochester, New York. The advent of online music purchasing
and subscription services resulted in the closure of thousands of record stores, both small businesses and
large chains like Tower Records. Beyond the economic impact, these stores were often parts of the fabric of
communities, places for fans to gather to explore and share music. Automation has likewise changed
manufacturing and mining, resulting in severe job loss and drastic alterations in regions such as the Great
Lakes, where many towns went from being part of the Manufacturing Belt to being part of the Rust Belt.

SOCIOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD

Violence in Media and Video Games: Does It Matter?

A glance through popular video game and movie titles geared toward children and teens shows the vast
spectrum of violence that is displayed, condoned, and acted out.

As a way to guide parents in their programming choices, the motion picture industry put a rating system in
place in the 1960s. But new media—video games in particular—proved to be uncharted territory. In 1994,
the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ERSB) set a ratings system for games that addressed issues of
violence, sexuality, drug use, and the like. California took it a step further by making it illegal to sell video
games to underage buyers. The case led to a heated debate about personal freedoms and child protection,
and in 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the California law, stating it violated freedom of speech
(ProCon 2012).

Children’s play has often involved games of aggression—from cops and robbers to fake sword fights. Many
articles report on the controversy surrounding the suggested link between violent video games and violent
behavior. Is the link real? Psychologists Anderson and Bushman (2001) reviewed forty-plus years of
research on the subject and, in 2003, determined that there are causal linkages between violent video game
use and aggression. They found that children who had just played a violent video game demonstrated an
immediate increase in hostile or aggressive thoughts, an increase in aggressive emotions, and physiological
arousal that increased the chances of acting out aggressive behavior (Anderson 2003).

However, though the American Psychological Association and other researchers found an increase in
aggressive tendencies based on video game play, several studies and conclusions indicated "scant evidence"
that violent video games cause either physical violence or criminal behavior. Researchers have found
correlations between those behaviors, essentially indicating that violent people may be more likely to play
violent video games, but that still does not mean that video games cause violence.

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Types of Media and Technology

Media and technology have evolved hand in hand, from early print to modern publications, from radio to
television to film. New media emerge constantly, such as we see in the online world.

Newspaper

Early forms of print media, found in ancient Rome, were hand-copied onto boards and carried around to
keep the citizenry informed. With the invention of the printing press, the way that people shared ideas
changed, as information could be mass produced and stored. For the first time, there was a way to spread
knowledge and information more efficiently; many credit this development as leading to the Renaissance
and ultimately the Age of Enlightenment. This is not to say that newspapers of old were more trustworthy
than the Weekly World News and National Enquirer are today. Sensationalism abounded, as did censorship
that forbade any subjects that would incite the populace.

The invention of the telegraph, in the mid-1800s, changed print media almost as much as the printing press.
Suddenly information could be transmitted in minutes. As the nineteenth century became the twentieth, U.S.
publishers such as Hearst redefined the world of print media and wielded an enormous amount of power to
socially construct national and world events. Of course, even as the media empires of William Randolph
Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were growing, print media also allowed for the dissemination of countercultural
or revolutionary materials. Internationally, Vladimir Lenin’s Irksa (The Spark) newspaper was published in
1900 and played a role in Russia’s growing communist movement (World Association of Newspapers
2004).

With the invention and widespread use of television in the mid-twentieth century, newspaper circulation
steadily dropped off, and in the 21st century, circulation has dropped further as more people turn to internet
news sites and other forms of new media to stay informed. According to the Pew Research Center, 2009 saw
an unprecedented drop in newspaper circulation––down 10.6 percent from the year before (Pew 2010).

This shift away from newspapers as a source of information has profound effects on societies. When the
news is given to a large diverse conglomerate of people, it must maintain some level of broad-based
reporting and balance in order to appeal to a broad audience and keep them subscribing. As newspapers
decline, news sources become more fractured, so each segment of the audience can choose specifically what
it wants to hear and what it wants to avoid. Increasingly, newspapers are shifting online in an attempt to
remain relevant. It is hard to tell what impact new media platforms will have on the way we receive and
process information.

It is hard to tell what impact new media platforms will have on the way we receive and process information.
The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (2013) reported that audiences for all the
major news magazines declined in 2012, though digital ad revenue increased. The same report suggested
that, while newspaper circulation is holding steady at around $10 billion after years of decline, it is digital
pay plans that allow newspapers to keep their heads above water, and the digital ad revenue that is
increasing for news magazines is not enough to compensate for print revenue loss in newspapers.

A 2014 report suggested that U.S. adults read a median of five books per year in 2013, which is about
average. But are they reading traditional print or e-books? About 69 percent of people said they had read at
least one printed book in the past year, versus 28 percent who said they’d read an e-book (DeSilver 2014). Is
print more effective at conveying information? In recent study, Mangen, Walgermo, and Bronnick (2013)
found that students who read on paper performed slightly better than those who read an e-book on an open-
book reading comprehension exam of multiple-choice and short-answer questions. While a meta-analysis of
research by Andrews (1992) seemed to confirm that people read more slowly and comprehend less when

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reading from screens, a meta-analysis of more recent research on this topic does not show anything definite
(Noyes and Garland 2008).

Television and Radio

Radio programming obviously preceded television, but both shaped people’s lives in much the same way. In
both cases, information (and entertainment) could be enjoyed at home, with a kind of immediacy and
community that newspapers could not offer. For instance, many people in the United States might remember
when they saw on television or heard on the radio that the Twin Towers in New York City had been attacked
in 2001. Even though people were in their own homes, media allowed them to share these moments in real
time. This same kind of separate-but-communal approach occurred with entertainment too. School-aged
children and office workers gathered to discuss the previous night’s installment of a serial television or radio
show.

Right up through the 1970s, U.S. television was dominated by three major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC)
that competed for ratings and advertising dollars. The networks also exerted a lot of control over what
people watched. Public television, in contrast, offered an educational nonprofit alternative to the
sensationalization of news spurred by the network competition for viewers and advertising dollars. Those
sources—PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), the BBC (British Broadcasting Company), and CBC
(Canadian Broadcasting Company)—garnered a worldwide reputation for high-quality programming and a
global perspective. Al Jazeera, the Arabic independent news station, has joined this group as a similar media
force that broadcasts to people worldwide.

The impact of television on U.S. society is hard to overstate. By the late 1990s, 98 percent of U.S. homes
had at least one television set, and the average person watched between two and a half and five hours of
television daily. All this television has a powerful socializing effect, providing reference groups while
reinforcing social norms, values, and beliefs.

Film

The film industry took off in the 1930s, when color and sound were first integrated into feature films. Like
television, early films were unifying for society: as people gathered in theaters to watch new releases, they
would laugh, cry, and be scared together. Movies also act as time capsules or cultural touchstones for
society. From Westerns starring the tough-talking Clint Eastwood to the biopic of Facebook founder and
Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg, movies illustrate society’s dreams, fears, and experiences. While many
consider Hollywood the epicenter of moviemaking, India’s Bollywood actually produces more films per
year, speaking to the cultural aspirations and norms of Indian society. The film industry, like other media
formats, has gone through substantial change as a result of streaming services, online privacy, and the new
competition for people's entertainment dollars. Because the mainstream movie industry has been so reliant
on ticket sales at live theaters, the COVID-19 pandemic affected it more dramatically than most other media
categories. Highly anticipated movies slated for 2020 and 2021 releases were delayed or shifted to streaming
distribution, reducing revenue. And some companies made lasting decisions regarding their future offerings.

New Media and Online Environments

New media encompasses all interactive forms of information exchange. These include social networking
sites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, and virtual worlds. Many are not "new" in the sense that they were developed
in the past few years (some may be older than you), but they are newer than the media mentioned above, and
they rely on types of technologies that were not available until about thirty years ago. Many are ways
disruptive to traditional media or to companies that rely on those other formats. Clearly, the list of new
media grows almost daily, and you might feel we are missing some. In fact, the immediacy of new media

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coupled with the lack of oversight means we must be more careful than ever to ensure that we are making
good decisions about the accuracy, ethics, and cultural responsiveness of these formats.

Product Advertising and the Attention Economy

Companies use advertising to sell to us, but the way they reach us is changing. Naomi Klein identified the
destructive impact of corporate branding her 1999 text, No Logo, an antiglobalization treatise that focused
on sweatshops, corporate power, and anticonsumerist social movements. In the post-millennial society,
synergistic advertising practices ensure you are receiving the same message from a variety of sources and on
a variety of platforms. For example, you may see billboards for Miller beer on your way to a stadium, sit
down to watch a game preceded by a Miller commercial on the big screen, and watch a halftime ad in which
people are shown holding up the trademark bottles. Chances are you can guess which brand of beer is for
sale at the concession stand.

Advertising has changed, as technology and media have allowed consumers to bypass traditional advertising
venues. From the invention of the remote control, which allows us to skip television advertising without
leaving our seats, to recording devices that let us watch programs but skip the ads, conventional television
advertising is on the wane. And print media is no different. Advertising revenue in newspapers and on
television has fallen significantly, which shows that companies need new ways of getting their messages to
consumers.

Brand ambassadorships can also be powerful tools for advertisers. For example, companies hire college
students to be their on-campus representatives, and they may target for students engaged in high-profile
activities like sports, fraternities, and music. (This practice is slightly different from sponsorships, and note
that some students, particularly athletes, need to follow strict guidelines about accepting money or products.)
The marketing team is betting that if we buy perfume because Beyoncé tells us to, we’ll also choose our
workout gear, clothing, or make-up brand if another student encourages that choice. Tens of thousands of
brand ambassadors or brand evangelists work on college campuses, and such marketing approaches are seen
as highly effective investments for companies. The numbers make it clear: Ambassador-referred customers
provide sixteen percent higher value to companies than other customers, and over ninety percent of people
indicate that people trust referrals from people they know (On-Campus Advertising, 2017).

Social media has made such influencer and ambassador marketing a near constant. Some formal
ambassadors are sponsored by companies to show or use their products. In some cases, compensation arrives
only in the form of the free products and whatever monetization the ambassador receives from the site, such
as YouTube. Influencers are usually less formally engaged with companies than are ambassadors, relying
mostly on site revenue to reward their efforts. Some influencers may overstate their popularity in order to
get free products or services. For example, luxury hotels report that they are barraged by influencers (some
with very few followers, and therefore questionable influence) who expect free stays in exchange for
creating posts promoting the location (Locker 2019).

One ethical and perhaps relationship-oriented question is whether paid ambassadors should be required to
disclose their relationship with a company, and how that works in online versus face-to-face interactions. In
this case, online presence may be more "truthful" than in-person relationships. A video can formally include
sponsorship information, and some ambassadors list partners or sponsors on their profiles. But in day-to-
day, in-person conversations, it might be awkward for a classmate or colleague to mention that they are
wearing a particular brand or using gear based on a financial relationship. In other words, the person sitting
next to you with the great bag may be paid to carry it, and you may never know.

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