Media in a Changing Global Culture

Global culture is changing drastically, and with the help of media, the pace will forever increase. In today’s day in age, you can find a McDonald’s and Starbucks around the corner regardless to where you live. In the BBC article Does globalization mean we will become one culture? Mark Pagel mentions  ” Select any global brand from Coca Cola to Facebook and the chances are you will see or feel their presence in most countries around the world.” Before, people would simply start businesses in their hometowns and never really hear about anything else unless they decided to travel. Today, we can’t watch a video without seeing an advertisement for the latest breakfast special in a Mcdonald’s or hearing about a new pair of sneakers available in five different countries.

As you scroll through your Facebook page, you’ll come across friend request from people whom you’ve never met before that live in another country. You’ll also meet young adults and children who will never remember life prior to the internet. Many people today have grown up with the technology we have now and actually make many friends over the internet. It has brought many people together electronically but it has made them alone in person. They don’t want to communicate in person because they can text and message their friends. We can even learn about other places directly from people who live there. Henry Jenkins in his article Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape wrote “Media content flows fluidly across national borders; people deploy the new communication networks to interact with others around the world. The global scale of this new media landscape changes the way we think about ourselves and our place in the world.” You’ll also meet young adults and children who will never remember life prior to the internet.

In Media Literacy: A National Priority for a Changing World, Elizabeth Thoman and Tessa Jolls explained “Most of all, bringing media culture into the learning environment — from kindergarten to graduate school — guarantees a high level of engagement by students. And engagement, as every teacher knows, is the key to learning success.— To ignore the media-rich environment they bring with them to school is to shortchange them for life.” Basically, they are saying that this exchange of information is beneficial for students because it strengthens their ability to learn about many different topics in a short amount of time.

 

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