Week 2 – Evolution of Media

Media
-is a term that refers to all print, digital, and electronic means of communication. At a time when no known
civilization existed, people found ways to communicate their thoughts and feelings through early
technological tools like fire and stone tools. As we study the evolution of media, we also get to learn about
its relationship with technology and how the two interweave.

Evolution of media

1. Pre-Industrial Age (Before 1700s) – People discovered fire, developed

paper from plants, and forged weapons and tools with stone, bronze, copper
and iron.

Example:
Clay tablets in Mesopotamia (2400 BC)

2. Industrial Age (1700s-1930s) – People used the power of steam,

developed machine tools, established iron production, and the
manufacturing of various products (including books through the printing
press).

3. Electronic Age (1930s-1980s) – The invention of the transistor

ushered in the electronic age. People harnessed the power of transistors
that led to the transistor radio, electronic circuits, and the early computers.
In this age, long distance communication became more efficient.

Example:
Radio Transistor
 4. Information Age (1900s-2000s) – The Internet paved the way
for faster communication and the creation of the social network.
People advanced the use of microelectronics with the invention of
personal computers, mobile devices, and wearable technology.
Moreover, voice, image, sound and data are digitalized. We are now
living in the information age.

Example:
Web browsers: Mosaic (1993), Internet Explorer (1995)

5. Infrastructure Age– is an extension of the pervasive and digital nature of the information age. We are
already in the infrastructure age as we are surrounded by self-automated, sensor-embedded products. Its
ubiquitous nature gives individuals and society effortless convenience.

Characteristics:
Ø Pervasiveness
Ø Convenience
Ø Automation
Ø Real-time access to information
Ø Risk and Safety

Infrastructure age, is also known as the age of the internet of things. It is a global network of
physical devices connected to the Internet. The devices are usually combined by means of connection to a
control and/or processing units.

Example:
Amazon Alexa Echo Dot - It works through its voice assistant, Alexa,
which users can talk to in order to perform a variety of functions. Users
can tell Alexa to play music, provide a weather report, get sports scores,
& more.

What is Traditional Media?

Traditional media, or as some refer to as old media, has been used in the marketing/advertising world for
years. When related to advertising, traditional media encompasses that of television, newspaper, radio and
magazine ads.

What is New Media?

is the future of advertising. More and more consumers and businesses rely on new media to find their
information. Ultimately, new media refers to content that is easily accessible via many different forms of
digital media. When related to advertising, some examples of new media include online advertising
(retargeting, banner ads, etc.), online streaming (radio and television) and social media advertising.

Effect of Traditional
As consumers, we sometimes find ourselves in a conundrum when it comes to how get our information.
Now-a-day, more and more consumers use the internet to quickly find information, making new media
advertising pertinent for any type of business. However, at the same time, consumers still take a good chunk
of time out of their day to use traditional media.
On the way to work we have our radios playing, at home we have the television on watching the news, and
at the doctor’s office we find ourselves reading the magazine on the end table next to us. Each of these are
forms of traditional advertising that we use on a daily basis.

Effect of New Media on Consumers

As consumers, we may also find that there are instances when we multitask each day. Take it from
experience, there are many times when you’ll be at home watching television and at the same time you’ll be
on your tablet looking up the next vacation your going to take. It’s at these times that as an advertiser you
need to decide where the best place to put your money will be.

Is it going to be running an ad on that television show that I’m watching, or is it going to be online while I’m
surfing the web? For advertisers, it’s important to find that balancing act and not to strictly choose one over
the other, but to weigh all the options, and find a harmonious mix between both traditional and new media.

Finding Equilibrium
Traditional media tends to be a bit more expensive than new media, but it also has the ability to reach a
broad target audience. If the ultimate goal of the business is to reach a broad range of people, this is
definitely the way to go. If you want to target a more narrow audience, then new media may be the way to
go.

How does the evolution of media shape the values and norms of people and society

1. VALUES - give reasons and rationale to improve our everyday life. Our recognition of fundamental
values generates sincere aims and commitments in us.

Example:
Love, beauty, peace, harmony, honesty, humanity, well-being, privacy, Freedom, dignity,
autonomy, gender equality, and democracy (These are values embedded in political cultures)

2. NORMS - Norms or standards act as regulative mechanisms for realizing these values (Brennan &
Southwood, 2010 as cited in Journal of Human Values, 2019). They guide and motivate us in a way
that is required for the accomplishment of the desired values.

Norms in moral domain work as principles or guidelines that tell us how to behave in a given
morally relevant situation. Social norms are usually the unwritten social behaviors that
are to be expected in a society or social group. It is a required standard: such as completing
higher education in a certain social group, getting married during a certain age period, or gender
assigned roles. Norms enforce conformity of behavior and order in very social group.

Let us look into how the evolution of media shape the values and norms of people and
society:
• It has broken down hierarchies and boundaries.
• It has encouraged public participation
• It encourages action and challenges the status quo