Task 8

In the article I have fond interesting Luhmann’s idea about Ego and Alter selections. Earlier people knew their Ego, they knew who is going to read their messages. Because of the digitalization people lose their receivers, posting in a blog or in a web page we never know who is going to read it and we’ll never see their reactions. The author states:

This is arguably the most fundamental change which has occurred, and explains how personal media forms may take on mass communication characteristics.

I would definitely agree with her first of all because I have seen the change and I have experienced it by myself. Maybe, before the message producing was more boring as you knew that only one person (or more, but you always knew the receivers circle)  would receive it, and now you may expect anything – maybe someone will read your poem and offer you to publish it or maybe someone will steal it and say that it’s his. There is always the risk and one may stay confused for a longer time: if to share my ideas and wait for a critical feedback or just save them for himself and be sure that nobody will copy them.

However, whereas mass media comprise their own function-system, the internet works within all of society’s social systems, increasing levels of self-reflection (Rasmussen, 2002).

— I like this statement as it perfectly mirror the situation in our society. I think since 2002 it has become ever more relevant. It is quite hard to see how our society changes only by living our lives – we pay too much attention to our world not seeing what surrounds us. In the internet it’s much easier – one may just read comments under some popular video on you tube and investigate the level of ethics and education of the commentators (that seems to be less and less important). This way we may get a perfect reflection of the society all around the world, as it states McLuhan – the world is becoming our skin and we feel every change on it.

The article tries to strictly distinguish between personal and mass media and somehow achieves it by the graphic. Even though it is explained in a clear way it will have exceptional cases when the distinction might be more than confusing. With the constant development of new technologies followed by new means creation it can’t be defined in a permanent way. There are plenty of blogs that may be made only for a certain circle of readers but are not protected with any password and this way become a mean for mass media – anyone may read it and the author will never receive eventual response. The distinction between an author and a reader has disappeared and probably will never come back. It might be seen as a positive phenomena as the freedom of speech is increasing and discussions may lead to faster alterations but from the other point of view the internet is being filled with ignorant comments and obliges to follow the pattern…