According to Converging Media, convergence is the coming together of computing, telecommunications, and media in a digital environment. (Pavlik, McIntosh 8). What we see in today’s culture is the transformation from a completely analog society to the implementation of digital media in all aspects of life. Convergence has become a media tool that has completely transcended how we interact with the world around us. An important example of this transformation is how the average person gets their news. We no longer live in a time where we have to wait to until the evening television broadcast to hear world news, but with mobile devices and the web we are instantly updated throughout the day. The Internet has proven to be a very valuable tool in the 21st century.
What we see currently is that convergence has created a society completely dependent on media. The power of the convergence is evident with how early children are able to operate media forms. This is apparent with children as young as two, who can fully operate computers and mobile devices. They are being exposed to a learning function that may not have been appropriate to use in the past, but now is a necessary learning tool. Media integration is what drives society, and what convergence has shown us is that even children aren’t exempt from the ever-changing media landscape.
An example of this can be seen with Ayan Qureshi from Birmingham, a five year-old boy that has become Microsoft’s youngest-ever certified computer specialist. “Ayan was first introduced to computers when he was just three, by his father Asim, 43, who soon realized his son’s natural aptitude for technology.” (Keith Perry) With the guidance of his father at home, Ayan was able to breeze through a two-hour assessment for information technology and pass with time to spare. Ayan is a key example how media and convergence has a transformed and impacted society. Children are no longer enthralled by toys and dolls, but the emergence of active media through video games, computers and the Internet.
With the power of the Internet we are connected to remote areas of the world with a few keystrokes. The web has developed more learning opportunities, and as a society we have grown dramatically because of it. The intersection of storytelling and technology has brought together convergence in its truest form. Advertisements we see on television are later broadcast through radio, websites, and handheld devices. The idea of convergence has placed society in a matrix of sort, with us constantly being drawn and enamored with the media. As consumers we are constantly looking for what’s new and current, all the while not being conscious of the information we are viewing on a daily basis.
What I foresee in the future is a culture created merely of user generated content. As consumers in the convergence age, we are all entitled to be media makers. Self-shot videos and photos will evolve past the typical social sites and transcend into mainstream networks. We will no longer look to large corporations for sole media content, but we will have created a vehicle where consumers can view user generated content of their liking. “The entire industry has been replaced; smartphones have supplanted how information is collected, packaged, edited, and conveyed for mass distribution. UGC allows for raw and unfiltered movement of content at lightening speed. With the way that the world works today, it is the most reliable way to get information out. One thing that is for certain is that UGC is here to stay whether we like it or not, and it is driving much more of modern journalistic content than the average person realizes.” (Azeem Khan)
Ostrow, Adam. "82 Million User Generated Content Creators and Counting." 19 February 2009. http://mashable.com/2009/02/19/user-generated-content-growth/
Perr, Keith. "Five-year-old British boy becomes youngest ever qualified computer specialist." 13 November 2014. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11230000/Five-year-old-British-boy-becomes-youngest-ever-qualified-computer-specialist.html
Khan, Azeem. "User Generated Content is here to stay." 2 October 2013. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11230000/Five-year-old-British-boy-becomes-youngest-ever-qualified-computer-specialist.html
Pavlik, John V., and Shawn McIntosh. Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication. 2011. Book.
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