Pramod K. Nayar’ first chapter from An Introduction to Cybercultures and New Media gives an overview of several important issues evolving from advancements in technologies and media forms. Clearly, cultural, social, and economic inequalities exist and future challenges regarding these and others, such as the governing of Cyberspace are important topics for discussion.
An issue mentioned in this chapter that interests me most relates to the permeation of technologies in our everyday lives and how they have changed values, determine emotional states and social status. Today, especially when the iPhone 5 is being released Nayers statement rings true:
The mobile phone needs to be more than a phone – it now has to serve as a personal diary, a health indicator, an entertainment device, and a status symbol….it represents aspirations, lifestyle choices, cultural values, sentiment (empirical research has demonstrated, for example, that people are emotionally attached to their cell phones; see Palen and Hughes 2007;Srivastava 2006), and functionality.
Ryan Williams
Ryan Williams proves this argument. He camped out for days to buy the first iPhone at Covent Garden in London and was quoted:
There is nothing cooler than being the first. Now I am gonna go home and unpack it slowly and with joy — this is gonna be better than sex!
Really Ryan? Better than sex?
This ties in to another of Nayer’s topics, and one I look forward to exploring more, concerning the affects of digital cultures on real world identities. He asks:
Does digital culture significantly alter identities in the real world where race, ethnicity, class, and gender continue to remain key markers? Such questions are not about virtual worlds or electronic communication or digital gameworlds: they are
about the lived experiences of humans around the world.
I am intrigued by the idea of parallel worlds, alternate or double identities, and online “experiences” and “relationships.” I also hold serious concerns about the ramifications for individuals and societies disconnection from real life. I believe real life experiences are key to developing many important interpersonal skills, spiritual, and character aspects of identity; lack of real life human experiences will skew reality conceptions and our abilities to live in harmony.
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin