Not too many years ago, multimedia was viewed and considered to be in the form of newspaper, radio broadcast and television. Commonly today, information that once was gathered from different mediums can be witnessed from one device as small as a person’s palm. Technological advancements enable the consolidation of information to form convergence. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, convergence is “the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010). Convergence appears to be the “best,” diverse form of information gathering, but this could be a possible reason why printed news is on the verge of extinction. The question that surfaces from this conclusion is: Do human beings control technology; or does technology control human beings?
The aspect of printed newspapers not existing will not interfere with the process of gathering information. A person who is smart with their money may question the thought of buying a newspaper for seventy-five cents. All the while, this person could get the same information off of a website, where the only fee to worry about is the internet’s monthly payments. This payment could be considered very small because of the access to an infinite supply of multimedia.
For the news sources that are experiencing the downfalls of cutting-edge technology, they will only continue to deteriorate. This result is exemplary towards the many views of technology controlling people. Another conflicting aspect that also arises is the decision of which news broadcasting site to focus on. Depending on whether it is state, national, or international information, for each news system they all inevitably have the same information. The consolidation of the news appears to entice the viewing audience as the product of convergence is slowly killing its creator, the media. In the near future, the argument of technology controlling people may appear in conversation at the dinner table and it may become as controversial as political discussion.
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