The first difference between new media and traditional media is that traditional media is one way compared to new media which is a two-way interaction. This means that new mediums allow the person who is consuming the content to interact with it in different ways, this can involve leaving a like/dislike, commenting on the piece of content and choosing what they view and when they view it. New media also tends to give people more options of what content they view be it from different sources or organisations. Speaking of options new media also gives people the options to view content from many different devices. This includes phones tablets laptops and desktop computers. This is another advantage that new media has over traditional media in which it allows for somewhat of a modular way of consuming media rather then just getting it from one device, this is called media fragmentation. A downside of new media is that it introduces another possibility of degrading people’s mental health says this 2018 article By: John Donavan, “…is consuming too much media like eating too many french fries — bad for your health? All sorts of research seems to say yes…” (Donovan 2018). This can happen from going to websites that might not always give good information or gives information that can hurt some peoples’ feelings. The upside is that people have ways to combat this, one of which is to limit time on sites that can be harmful to one’s mental health like twitter and news sites. Spending time on sites that give educational content like YouTube or national geographic can also be a good way of keeping safe on the web in this regard. As well as that people should always take breaks from new media outlets and maybe to for a walk or play a boardgame. As well as not spending to much time on sights that may degrade one’s mental health people should also outright avoid sights that have miss information or disinformation also known as fake news. To do this humanity needs to learn to be able to tell the bad sights away from the good sights. Ways of doing this include checking the author of the sight to see if they have any other articles that are repudiable as well as checking the date to see if it is still relevant to the time period someone is in. People can also check other websites to see if they are reporting on the same topic as the one they are fact checking and see if they have the same information.
Thank you for posting your introductory response explaining ‘New Media,’ fragmented usage of media, and suggestions on maintaining healthy digital habits. The following are observations I have made regarding your post, based on our most recent lesson:
– Great use of Formal Writing (3rd person pronouns, avoids contractions, avoids abbreviations, elevated language)
– You have a quotation included, but it contains several errors
> A downside of new media is that it introduces another possibility of degrading people’s mental health says the 2018 article John Donavan, “…is consuming too much media like eating too many french fries — bad for your health? All sorts of research seems to say yes” (Donovan 2018).
Thank you,
Mr. Barazzuol
English Teacher