York St John Film and Media Blog
Convergence Culture
Within the modern digital world, Participatory Culture, an opposing concept to consumer culture, is possessing an influential power on the way individuals use technology. Since The Digital Revolution, users have been encouraged to engage and participate rather than primarily observe. As well, through online networks, participators have been driven to involve themselves within business platforms as well as social. This has enabled an increase of engagement with online content and has encouraged businesses to excel. For example, businesses are able to advertise through social media platforms, interactive YouTube videos, online questionnaires and interactive Pop-up Ads. Moreover, the use of online advertisement has enabled users to interact with business’s and has therefore positively boosted engagement with online content.
As a result of Participatory Culture encouraging online interaction, users have been stimulated to unite online. Prior to The Digital Revolution, individuals were able to escape and possess their own privacy. However, I would like to argue that The Digital Revolution has established a world in which individuals could potentially fear building relationships with people online. This is due to the permanent factor of exposing personal thoughts online. Morover, this is a potential reason for the increase of issues around mental health.
On the other hand, The Digital Revolution has positively enforced a much-needed technological interaction and has created an enhanced connected environment. Furthermore, through technological advancements, online forums have enabled users to further their knowledge through the opportunity to compare opinions to others virtually.
Through technological advancements, communities have been brought closer together as it is allowing individuals with different interests but however potentially mutual curiosities to gain additional knowledge. For example, the application ‘Zoom’, enables people to communicate through technology. During Covid-19, applications such as Zoom have encouraged individuals to connect from home and motivate eachother virtually. This illustrates the power that technology has and how The Digital Revolution has positively joined people together.
By Maddie Wilson