The issue of the disparities
between traditional and new media has sparked a debate as to whether new media
is independent of old media. To some, new media is just another face of old
media, much like the phrase “old wine in a new bottle”. This too, can be said
of mobile phones or mobile technology. This paper will attempt to bring out the
similarities between old and new mobile media as well as show how new mobile media
may be a spinoff of old mobile media.
The
first similarity between old and new mobile technology is the fact that they
both originated and are based on the concept of communication. The dire need
for man to get fast and reliable information was the leading cause of the
emergence of mobile technology, which led to the insatiable thirst for a more
interactive form of communication.
Knowledge
and information has been man's preoccupation from the early times. This
information will need a medium and other means of mobile media like the clay
tablet and papyrus proved ineffective in terms of timeliness and storage, hence the birth of mobile phones.
Simply put, whether new media or old mobile technology, both forms of mediums
arose from man's quest for knowledge and need for information.
Another
similarity between old and new mobile technology is that both were conceived
from the innards of a technology-pushed society. According to Chandler (1995),
proponents of technology-led theories like "Technological
Determinism" hold that particular technical developments, communications
technologies or media, or, most broadly, technology in general are the sole or
prime antecedent causes of changes in society, and technology is seen as the fundamental
condition underlying the pattern of social organization.
Technological determinists interpret
technology in general and communications technologies in particular as the
basis of society in the past, present and even the future. They say that
technologies such as writing or print or television or the computer 'changed
society'. This can be interpreted in terms of mobile phones which arose from
man's fascination with technology.
One
another great similarity between old and new mobile phones or technology is the
fact that some new mobile technologies evolved from old ones. For example, the
basic function of a mobile phone which include the call feature, exists in all
mobile phones, new or old. The call feature was the main function of the mobile
phone and has always remained as such. All other added features arrived at a
time when the need and means made it a possibility.
Also,
mobile phones, new or old, both have the capacity to influence man and his
society. McLuhan (1964) makes mention of the fact that traditional media
affects man, through its medium. By this, he meant that the medium or
technology used in any communication is capable of affecting man and his
society.
Similarly,
the advent of mobile technology has drastically affected man in his relation to
his environment. The earliest phones has a great impact in society in terms of wars
and other political events. So too has the new mobile phones. Howard Rheingold
begins his book, "Smart Mobs",
with an observation he had in Japan that changed the way he thought about the uses of a mobile
phone:
"The first signs of the next
shift began to reveal themselves to me
on a spring afternoon. That was when I began to notice people on the streets of
Tokyo staring at their mobile phones instead of talking to them."
This has given rise to a rising trend of asynchronous
commuication and has been argued that mobile communication is an
impoverished and sterile form of social exchange compared to traditional
face-to-face interactions, and will therefore produce negative outcomes
(loneliness and depression) for its users as well as weaken neighbourhood and
community ties. (Bargh, 2004)
However,
one should note that no matter the similarities presented, there are glaring differences
between old and new mobile technologies. These differences exist in various
contexts and timeframes, which present different outcomes to the framework of
mobile media and mobile phones.
The
first difference between old and new mobile phone technology will have to deal
with their origins and historical timeline as one preceded the other. There is
a historical chronology for both technologies; they did not originate and exist
simultaneously. Old mobile phones (as the name denotes), preceded the New mobile
media and has been often acknowledged as the foundation for the birth of new mobile
technology due to man's need for a more interactive medium of communication.
The old phones were created in the
past, and the much newer, sophisticated ones came afterwards. Farmann (2012) writes that the first mobile phones, built in
1910 by a
Swedish electrical engineer by
the name of Lars
Magnus Ericsson, is a far cry from what we have today. it was originally
created as a car phone as described by John Meurling and Richard Jeans:
In today's terminology, the
system was an early "telepoint" application: you could make telephone
calls from the car..."
Another
difference between old and new mobile phones will be the issue of portability.
The old mobile phones were large due to the fact that it required a massive
power source to function properly. This made the old phones heavy and difficult
to transport.
Farmann
also mentioned that one of the first problems faced with the old phones was the
conflict between the power source and the portability of radio. Early radios
required a massive amount of power and thus required an equally massive
battery. This limited the use of radio to naval ships initially, and
automobiles later on, which were each large enough to house the equipment and the battery required to power
the device.
As
technology evolved, the newer phones became more portable mainly due to the
discovery of rechargeable batteries. Jon Agar (2003) noted that one of the most
important factors allowing phones to be
carried in pockets and bags has been remarkable advances in battery
technology. As batteries have become
more powerful, so they have also become
smaller. Partly because
improvements in battery design
have been incremental,
their role in
technological change is often underestimated.
Also,
the issue of accessibility is one major difference between old and new mobile
phones and mobile technology. Newer phones are more accessible to the public
mainly due to the fact that they are portable enough to be transported. As
earlier mentioned by Farmann, the bulky nature of old mobile phones limited its
use to naval ships initially, and automobiles later on, which were each large
enough to house the equipment and the battery required to power the
device.
Thus,
the old phones were not open to the
general public and was restricted to mostly government structures.
Nowadays, one can find the new mobile phones being used by almost everyone,
young or old, rich or poor due to the technologies that arrived to make this
possible.
In
the same light, one can argue that the issue of accessibility was also due to
the cost of phones. The old phones were very expensive to produce and therefore
expensive to purchase, reason why only few were made and few were used by a
handful of organisations. Today, phones have been made almost cheap and has
flooded that market, making it possible for almost anyone to purchase a
standard mobile phone.
Another
difference between old and new mobile technology lies in its functionality. Older
mobile phones were created for one main purpose: voice calls. Nowadays, the
newer models have all sorts of capabilities, ranging from text to picture to
video support.
Krishnasamy (2014) believes
that New media is
essentially a cyber culture with modern computer technology, digital data
controlled by software and the latest fast developing communication technology.
This has also been made possible with new mobile phones which are almost replacing
computers in everyday life.
These new mobile phones, unlike
their ancient counterparts, have the characteristics of being networkable,
dense, compressible, interactive and impartial. Example is shown as the new
mobile technology can incorporate the internet,
and entertainment, multimedia, games etc on one device.
Conclusively, when one looks at these differences between the old and new mobile
technologies, one realises that there has been a considerable change in the
timeline of mobile phones. They may have their differences, but their
similarities go to point out that there is no stand-alone technology, rather an
amelioration of previous ones.
In
the case of old and new mobile media, one finds out that new mobile technology
did not originate in a vacuum, but rather from the technical and contextual
foundations of ancient mobile technology. Their differences are just in
agreement to the concept of change and growth, but not a testimony to a
completely different form of communications medium.
However, it should be borne in mind that the
concept of ‘new’ and ‘old’ is often in the context of time. This simply means
that the ‘old’ media we know today was once new media in its time and in 50
years from now, today's ‘new’ media would be regarded as old media and these
differences exist as an indication of passing time.
Works
cited:
1 - Chandler,
Daniel (1995): 'Technological or Media Determinism' [WWW document]
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/tecdet/tecdet.html
[13th June 2014]
2- Howard Rheingold,
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
(Cambridge, MA: Perseus
Books, 2002), xi.
3- Jason
Farman, Historicizing Mobile Media: Locating the Transformations of Embodied Space 2012, The Mobile Media Reader,
Vol 73
4- John
Meurling and Ridlard Jeans, The Mobile Phone Book: The Invention of the Mobile Phone Industry (London:
Communications Week International, 1994), 43.
5 - Jon
Agar, Constant Touch: A Global
History of the Mobile Phone (Cambridge, UK: Icon Books, 2003),10.
6- Nagasvare Krishnasamy, (2014), New Media vs Traditional Media, IPPTAR, Malaysia.
http://www.Mobile Media/New Media vs
Traditional Media _ AIBD - Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development.htm [13th
June 2014]
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