Marshall discusses new media cultures in terms of the technological apparatus. The technological apparatus “sets up a digital sensorium that ultimately operates in its normalcy as a loose ideology within the culture… The regularity of the use of the digital machines is that we have naturalized the expansive presence of the digital and the microchip in the way that we move through the world. The kinds of interaction that digital technology produces become second nature to our being and normalize ideal forms of interaction. Like the cinematic apparatus, the technological apparatus surrounds, mediates and becomes part of our identity and relationship to the world. The digital world produces us as technological subjects” (Marshall, 33).
It’s interesting to talk about this culture as one who is immersed in it, as one who is culturally constituted by a technological-apparatus society. In reading Marshall’s explanation of such a culture, I possess what Kenneth Burke would call a “trained incapacity” to understand what “normalcy” is and is not (Permanence and Change, 49). Our inherently ethnocentric cultures, particularly the new media culture in which we live, divides us from peoples that are not produced as technological subjects. This “digital divide” separates me from people like my grandparents much like I am separated by the traditions, daily routines, values, social practices, and Weltanschauung that foreign people maintain. My grandfather who is a 90-year old retired farmer—never owned a computer—once asked me why I had to use the internet for my job as an adjunct professor. After hearing my response, he made a face like he was swallowing vinegar.
The digital divide Marshall spoke of acknowledges the extent to which a new-media culture is separated by other cultures, but I wish Marshall would delve further into why such a divide is significant. One could look at North Korea as an example of seclusion from the rest of the world, a global divide that encompasses more than just a digital separation. The kind of divide, like self-exile, is important to note in a world that very much operates through things like trade exchanges and other forms of interactions with other countries. I don’t believe my grandfather or the countries that Marshall lists choose to be divided as such, but the divide can be economic (Marshall, 35).
As an American, I’ve had a great life. The values, beliefs, and culture that constitute my identity as an American are meaningful and valuable, but part of the respect I have for my American heritage is due to my own trained incapacity to see outside of my culture, to appreciate and value the heritage given to those who don’t share my culture. Thus, for cultures different from mine, can I objectively claim that such cultures need to submit to and adopt my own culture because it’s perhaps “more advanced,” “cutting edge,” or even “modern?” It reminds me of Tarzan, when he attempted to assimilate himself into the New World. If such a transition was successfully made, Phil Collins would have to rewrite his songs.
Marshall says, “Not all of the planet has access to these information flows and networks that have become second nature to many individuals. The technological apparatus thus must be seen as modalized around exclusion as much as access and inclusion” (35). Essentially, what I’m asking is, should such divides be bridged and why?
I like your Kenneth Burke reference to “trained incapacity,” a concept that fits very nicely in the inevitable rifts that occur between peoples based on socio-economic, age and technical proclivity (to name a few potential dividing points). Strictly technically speaking, this inability to conceive of other ways of perceiving connects to Barabasi’s “strong links” and “weak links” between communities of nodes and how certain groups have no idea what is happening across the frail connection provided by the weak link.
I agree with your questioning the validity for the argument of other cultures adopting our own techno-saturated culture. While I do believe that the information network has been and will continue to enact positive change in worldwide health, much of the new media I use in my everyday life is a product of the expectation of others. Social networks like Facebook in particular has become more of a social obligation, and less of a useful instrument in my life.
Something that Marshall doesn’t address, but that has bubbled up recently in digital divide scholarship, is that we are moving away from an “access” divide and towards a “knowledge” divide. There is also a choice divide – people who could, technically get access, but choose not to. What are the consequences of opting out of the network society (or at least trying to)?
The concept of “digital divide” is surely no longer about access, rather it is becoming more about choice. People choose to opt out of available accesses because they do not see the value, have the need to invest time and effort to learn to participate, or have the courage to try. From marketers’ point of view, majority of “opted-out” population wil reconsider once they see the values (more susceptible presentation of the value via Ad, and social media) and the mass of user base got even bigger.
Dr. Markman, there are certainly consequences of opting out of the network. The network has the potential of connecting users to various sources of knowledge. As we have discussed, it not only allows us to connect with individuals across the country, but also around the world. Also, as more and more people turn to paperless systems and jobs require computer skills, individuals outside of the network may miss various opportunities. However, there are also consequences to staying in the network. As discussed in last week’s readings, technology allows us to always be connected to others and that sometimes means our jobs. This can obviously have an impact on our personal lives. Sure, we can turn the computers and phones off for the weekend, but how many of us do that. I don’t think that whether one decides to opt in or opt out is a question of right or wrong. But there is a cost either way.
Indeed there are costs. This is why I think deliberately opting out (as opposed to being kept out because of access or knowledge issues) is often (though not always) done out of a position of privilege. It’s easier to give something up if you can assess the costs in advance. But I also agree that in the future a certain base level of digital literacy is going to be assumed, and people left behind will find their options severely curtailed.
It’s interesting that many of the consequences of staying in the network are often not discussed as much in the popular media (other than the overblown Facebook is making us lonely stuff). You do see this some in the organizational comm literature, about technology and work/life balance, but to me it seems like the media and popular discourse ignore this issue. What happens if we are so plugged in that we never stop working?
Speaking of divides, new Pew Internet data on smartphone ownership: 45% of *all* US adults (not just of cell owners) have a smartphone. Interestingly, they found 5% didn’t know if they had a smart phone or not (speaking on knowledge divides), and 15% have no cell phone. Compare that to the 20% of US adults that don’t have internet. Interesting…..
(Source: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Smartphone-Update-Sept-2012/Findings.aspx)
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