A PLAN TO IMPROVE SOME OF THE TECHNOLOGY OR CULTURAL LIMITATIONS

 

The technological advancements in mass media has altered society’s expectations and influenced its culture. Some of the limitations and issues like accountability, objectivity, generation gap and lower attention span, could potentially be improved by the below mentioned plan(s).

Culturally the society has become more objective and demands more accountability from the publishers irrespective of their status as individuals, organizations etc. The social media platforms and giant mass media websites (news organizations), need to provide tools to society, to highlight and rectify/delete any fake news or socially unacceptable post (material). This will enable the mass media to improve with the passage of time and could potentially auto correct itself from its harmful impacts. Although some tools are available on these social media platforms, but it depends on their users to make use of them. Probably soon enough AI based technologies will emerge, which would allow for fake news / stories to be highlighted or even deleted, before gaining much attraction from the general public. One such example is of AI based tools like Fact Stream and Logically, which enable checking facts for authenticity. An article on Fast Company, by Jared Newman, discusses availability of few AI based tools which are currently available.

The mass media already has tools to remove language gap, as most platforms allow to change a post into any language (for example translation tools by Google/Facebook/Microsoft). Even the video-based platforms are now equipped with tools to show subtitles/captions in the desired language like in You Tube and Netflix content.

Similarly, the generation gap can be addressed by already available technologies, if used in a different way. The ads are shown, based on the age or interest, of the person watching them on any platform. Thus, some of the content could also be changed (in a post) to suit different age groups in the content to cater to their specific age group. Like for example, same post, when opened/seen by a millennial could have few references/examples specific for them, and the same post, when seen by a traditionalist, could change some of the elements (paragraphs/examples/references), which might be more relatable to their age group (just like the ads shown on that very post are different for each age group). Another example is when smartphones offer simple and complex UI (and methods of navigation/options), to cater to both the millennial and the traditionalists.

Now let us look at the issue of lower attention span due to micro-blogging social platforms. This issue could only be rectified if all the micro-blogging social platforms disappear, which is very unlikely. But this issue could still be overcome by increase in the availability of immersive content from the likes of augmented and virtual reality platforms (Microsoft Mixed Reality/Google AR & VR). Moreover, the interactive ads/stories/games and even movies could also improve such lower attention span. For example on Netflix “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” is an interactive movie with 5 different endings, also google has introduced Google Play Instant where people can test a  mobile game without installing it and various ad companies have started showing interactive ads as well. A comprehensive article, available on medium, highlights “13 Interactive Ads That Maximize Engagement with Prospects”, by Stephanie Mialki.

The technological advancement in the mass media has changed society’s expectations and culture a lot. The mass media is still expanding, and many changes are still to come. There are a lot of moving parts here. Thus, it cannot be predicted what the future holds for us as a society. But humans as a society are very powerful beings, and with drastic changes, they have the ability to adopt fast and rectify, any harmful impacts, that come along with the technological advancements in the mass media. Let us all hope for the development of a better, inclusive, more objective and favorable mass media culture in the society.