Post modern media

Society and culture has changed radically since 1945 but how far have the changes in technology and the ride of mass media affected peoples understanding and experience of the world around them.

Over the years technology and science has developed rapidly, this has made a big impact on our lives today as in modern day society technology is a big contribution to everyday life. This has also lead to the improvement in science and medicine which has given us greater health care and more knowledge about the universe we live in today. However not all people see the increase in technology as a good thing, it can affect the world in a negative way such as pollution and the increase in weaponry and nuclear bombs it has also had an impact on religion as more scientific theories of the world have made religion not as strong as it would have been in previous years.

Lyotard, Baudrillard and Jameson argued that recent social economic changes produced particular ‘structures of feelings’ or a ‘cultural logic.’ Cultural forms can no longer ‘hold up the mirror to reality’ since reality is a saturated by advertising, film, video games and television images. Over the years we have come to rely on technology a lot more and integrated us into social norms, expectations and values. We live in a ‘hyper reality’ this is when the media version becomes more important than the real world, we are more wrapped up in the media lifestyle than our own, therefore our perspectives on things are what the media influences and tells us to think and believe which shows how strong an impact mass media has on us in modern day society.

This has been since the enlightenment period and the development of mass media over history. Postmodernity has gone through two distinct phases, the first was in the 1950’s ending with the Cold War. This was when analogue media was limited and at the end of the Cold War with the spread of cable television and new media based on digital means of information and broadcast.

The first phase of Postmodernity overlaps with modernity and is regarded by many as part of the modern period. Television became the main source of news. When in 1967-1969 the ‘baby boom’ generation who grew up with Postmodernity as a crucial part of everyday life experiences, with this there was acts of rebellion amongst the young, leading to social policies that gave people equal rights. After the Vietnam War laws allowing or encouraging racial segregation and to laws which overtly discriminated against women and restricted access to divorce which then lead to the increase in feminism which has also impacted our society and media. These acts of rebellion lead to the youth getting involved in rock and roll pop culture which influenced a whole generation.

The 2^nd phase is digitalization which has influenced all our lifestyles with high speed internet as a source of knowledge, fax machines, television, mobile phones and machines all are digital production of information allows each individual to manipulate every aspect of the media environment. The World Wide Web has created a convergence and made people more globally aware as they have easier access to all types of information and knowledge this has created a new economy. This shows how radically things have changed since 1945 and how the media has had such a big affect on people’s lives and experience of the world around them.