Impacts of Social Media
Media has always been a prime source to the people, whether it was a newspaper offering the latest story, the newest trends, and the next item a person “needs” to buy, or whether it was the internet, offering research resources, online shopping, and ways to connect and communicate with people across the world. With each new advancement and new technology rolling in providing new way to access media and even new types of media, people have started to become largely influenced by it.
Advancements in technology have increased availability of media, and thus increased the use of media. News is easier spread across a mass of people because of the ease of access, whether it is a news app on a Smartphone or tablet, or a simple search via the Google or Bing search engine installed. Because of this adaptation, is it easily inferred that media has encouraged the people to be more aware of what is going on in this lives of people around them, or at least given them the tools to do so, whether they be the politics of North Korea, or the tragedy of a citizen living a block away. This not only accounts for adults, but even youth, as they appear to be the prime users of media in the world.
In addressing accessibility of media however, one must evaluate the accessibility of the proper technology that provides the media. Based on Integrating Social Media in Education:
The Essay on People Have Become Overly Dependent on Technology
... effect on the way people communicate. Many people have traded the convenience of ... who is viewing it. People are too dependent on technology related services for communication, internet commerce, and social media. Technology has had a huge ...
“Access as a first prerequisite for the development of media literacy is most commonly used in the meaning of having material access to media technologies. However, several scholars argued that access should not be seen as only a physical availability for the reason that there are also other dimensions of access. We distinguish three types of access: 1) material access, 2) technical access, and 3) social access. Most interpretations of access are related to the first type of access. Historically, many scholars and especially policymakers were convinced that the problem of inequalities in digital literacy could be simply solved by giving youth access to a personal computer and an internet connection in schools. Soon, however, it became clear that providing material access was not enough to enhance people’s level of media literacy. Closely linked to material access is the instrumental-technological dimension of access that reduces media use to its occurrence and only focuses on the required handlings needed to access the respective technology (Vanwynsberghe, Hadewijch).”
