Digital convergence is changing the way people conduct their day to day lives. With so many options available when it comes to entertainment, mobile service, and IT needs, it is difficult to choose. As a result of these difficult choices, many companies are now offering all of these services encompassed in one device. This is convienient for consumers, because they now have the luxury of having several services and only one bill to pay. It can also prove to be beneficial for the companies offering the services, because now, people that are on a budget and may have not been able to previously afford services can now purchase a device that offers several services -- Hence, every company gets a piece of the digital pie. Companies that may not have gotten a consumer's business can now attract new customers.
It is believed that digital service providers will ultimately merge into one entity, and become the largest grossing company out of any major corporation. The one thing that sparks a bit of paranoia in me, however, is the "Big Brother" theory. With all the satellite-propelled devices on the market now, it feels as if us civilians can always be seen -- wherever we are. Privacy is a luxury that is long gone.
As far as employment is concerned, digital convergence is great. It is now possible to attend a business meeting while on vacation.
Even though digital convergence can be convienient, it can also be rather disturbing. Even before writing this blog, I've often wondered what would individuals do if their coveted devices suddenly failed them? Would individuals be able to function normally if they were not able to do any and everything at once. This very topic is what gave me the idea for my blog title, "Electronic Submission Replacing Human Tradition." It seems as if people have gotten accustomed to having only one way of doing things (digitally). I do not think it is good to know only one way to do any task. You must have alternative methods. A great example of this, is the young generation with their "texting" language. This texting lingo has gotten so bad, that young people are actually starting to turn in school work using this language ( I know; I'm a teacher). I wonder if some of the students are even aware that this new way of writing is not accepted as being grammatically correct. These are the types of problems that arise from digital conversion. They may seem trivial at first; however, they can become more serious as our daily lives require us to do less.
Monday, March 22, 2010
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True statement you make at the end, "Privacy is a luxury that is long gone". Today companies are coming up with everything and pretty soon our privacy will be even more interrupted. Digital convergence is a good thing if you are technologically savy but if your not you can fall behind pretty quickly in this technology driven society. I guess its a good thing for people who want everything right at their fingertips.
ReplyDeleteI thought you brought up two really good points in your blog. I didn't even think about how digital convergence can be more cost effective for consumers but it's true, you now get much services all on one bill, you would think that that would definitely be lower than three different bills for phone, internet and cable and think about paying late fees for all three of those instead of just one. Also I liked how you brought up how all of this digitalization might be costing us our privacy, its a scary thought.
ReplyDeleteAlthough that people have been getting used to doing things digitally I discovered a very interesting argument that counters whether that leads to a completely digital interaction. The new technology is changing the economic value of actual products like books, music, newspapers, and making them cheaper the only way the creators or artists of these products can make money is by live interaction which has increased in value. For example a band makes an album the album is available on itunes the musicians do not see very much if any of the profit from the sale of their album the only way the artist can make money is by going on tour and doing live performances so in some ways the digital push is not destroying our human interaction in can be pushing its value up.
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