Traditional Media Company’s need to adapt for the future.

As a society we have grown to embrace and to rely on social media platforms to gather information and keep up too date with global events. It seems that in this day and age with people having the ability to create blogs and their own online platforms that anyone can become a journalist in one way or another. For instance, you are reading this article on this free blog hosting website right now. So what effect does this have on modern journalism?

With the rise of social media traditional outlets of news delivery are their ground. We saw this earlier in the year when Fairfax media announced job cuts in their editorial department. In an interview conducted by the ABC  on the topic of job cuts Fairfax journalist and director for the centre of advancing journalism Dr Margret Simons said this:

“Sadly, it’s just the latest step in the decline of traditional media business models”

The quote from Dr Simons and Fairfax media’s job cuts infer that traditional media business models are changing to keep up with the modern form of media consumption. As in todays modern age we are bombarded by information on a daily basis from the internet, social media applications like Facebook and Twitter often have major events covered under their trending sections. People often check what’s trending to learn what is happening in the world rather than visiting news websites, this means that traditional news sites are losing traffic.

As of 2016 news and media outlets face yet another issue, this issue being the “fake news” dilemma. Fake news and US president Donald Trump go hand in hand as he is the one that brought the idea to the mainstream surface. The main issue though within this dilemma is the spreading of misinformation with high profile figures like Donald Trump declaring that some news agencies are “fake news” people will grow to doubt these agencies which in the long run hurts media company’s like the previously mentioned Fairfax media.

To summarise we are finding that traditional journalism and media companies are having to evolve to keep up with the rapid spread of information on the internet.

Sources

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-05/fairfax-media-announces-further-job-losses-amid-$30m-budget-cut/8419584

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/the-future-of-journalism/8406570

http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/senate-inquiry-to-investigate-the-future-of-journalism-in-australian-20170510-gw1wth.html

The problems with digital education

With technology developing at a break neck speed we need to develop with it this is the case with education. As we make technological leaps and bounds we are seeing the introduction of new pieces of hardware introduced into classrooms.  Over the years we have seen this happen with examples such as the Digital Education Revolution put in place in 2007.

This scheme occurred during my schooling time and when I got to year nine it was my year groups time to be provided with a laptop I personally got to see some of the key issues with this scheme first hand. These issues being that students that where already tech savvy could implement games which then became distractions.

Another core issue that arises with technology used in the classroom is that students often become dependent on services such as spell check and typing rather than handwriting. The latter becoming an issue in later years of schooling when students are required to write quickly in exams. A survey conducted by the Advanced placement (AP) and the National Writing project (NWP) in 2013 found that the informal writing has crept into students writing and that students ability to write longer passages of text had been inhibited as well as their ability to write for different audiences.

With education advancing into the digital age this requires teachers to have the sufficient training on how to use the newly implemented technology. Here in lies another problem not only will some teachers not want to adapt to the new education framework, but some staff members will often end up having to teach others or even worse a tech savvy student will have to fix, use or setup computers for these same teachers.

Education in the digital age is a tricky subject to cover as on one hand it can revolutionise the way we see education on the other hand it can inhibit and hurt the way students are educated.

Sources 

https://www.educationtechnologysolutions.com.au/2013/05/digital-education-revolution-did-it-work/

PIP_NWP Writing and Tech.pdf – A study conducted in 2013

My own personal experience within the digital changes to the education system.

 

Digital disease, social media and mental health

Here we are in the twenty-first century, what a time to be alive as a society we are more connected than ever. Tip tapping away on our screens always up to date with what our friends are doing what’s happening online. You sit quietly at the cafe waiting for your order to arrive and when it does phone in hand you take a selfie or a picture of your meal letting everyone know where you are and what you are doing to rake in those likes. There can’t be any harm in any of this innocent fun?

Well according to a study conducted in the UK by the Royal Society Of Public Health(RSPH) depression and anxiety have had a seventy percent increase the last twenty-five years. So what has changed over the last twenty-five years to have caused this large of an impact? Our technology is our key candidate here as our social habits changed with the evolution of our phones and the internet. The RSPH study has also concluded that the primary users of social media are aged between sixteen and twenty-four.as well as which social media apps are the least and most harmful.

A survey result conduced by the BBC revealed that the most harmful social media app was Instagram and the app that gave the most positive influence was YouTube.

The dangers of social media are becoming more apparent to us, so apparent that news services such as the Sydney Morning herald has provided an article titled “What every Parent Needs to know about social Media”. This article contains a breakdown of what the current social media services as well as the pros and cons of allowing children to use these services.  With studies like the RSPH and articles like the one the Sydney Morning herald have produced I think it demonstrates that there are clear dangers to social media and like anything we must be careful with how often we use it and how we expose children to these services.

Sources used

https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/policy/social-media-and-young-people-s-mental-health-and-wellbeing.html

http://www.digitaljournal.com/internet/most-dangerous-social-media-app-for-mental-health-revealed/article/493052

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/what-every-parent-needs-to-know-about-social-media-20170911-gyetpr.html