Why do digital culture?

Digital culture has become a somewhat buzz word of the 21st century and it continues to grow as technology develops. Over the past 10 years, technology has reached levels that 20/30 years ago were thought of as not possible. This digital age is one which is impacting on the future of the media as an institution. 


Digital Culture looks at how western civilization has been affected by the changes in technology that are now seen as everyday life. Take the mobile phone for example, 20 years ago not everybody had one. These days if you walk down the street, almost every single person will have the device on them. The way that cultures now rely on these technologies and how much they are needed is extraordinary. Take journalism for example, because of these developments in technology, this particular industry had to do some radical changes from what it used to know as being 'normal'. 

The development of the internet is one of the worlds biggest accomplishments of the 21st century. The internet is capable of many things: online shopping, catching up on the news and finding old friends through Facebook for example. Although the internet has its positives, there are many negatives too; cyber bulling is on the rise. 


Technology keeps developing and the younger generations become more custom with the latest invention quicker than ever before. Children grow up round this mass cultural change, so as time goes on they will adapt. Could this be a bad thing? Having a culture based on technology just diverts peoples attention from more pressing matters. How many 12 year olds with a mobile phone worry about the economy? They're more worried about what to update their status to on Facebook. 


In the 1980;s, media was regarded as a negative, hopefully technology will improve this view. Can this new digital age be a threat to western culture as we know it? Only time will tell.