Communication Digital Culture: Social Media and Technology Essay

This essay delves into the realm of digital culture, focusing on the profound impact of social media and technology on modern communication. The author reflects on their daily interactions with smartphones, social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, and other digital devices, highlighting the significant time spent online. The essay connects these personal experiences to Jose Van Dijck's "The Ecosystem of Connective Media," exploring how digital technologies shape societal interactions and individual behaviors. It analyzes the shift from traditional media consumption to the pervasive influence of smartphones and the internet, examining the potential downsides of this connectivity, such as a detachment from real-world social interactions. The essay discusses the data mining practices of social media companies and their implications, while also acknowledging the benefits of social media in connecting people globally and fostering creativity. The author concludes by emphasizing the need for a balanced approach to technology and social media, advocating for responsible usage to enhance online sociality without sacrificing real-world connections. The essay provides a detailed breakdown of device usage on a specific day, illustrating the author's immersion in digital media and its impact on their daily routine.

Running head: COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
Communication Digital Culture
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Reflection on the usage of Social media and technologies:............................................................2
Reflection as per the theory:............................................................................................................4
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................7

2COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
Introduction:
With the advancement of the technology, the term social media has come to existence
more than ever within the past decade. From the development of the cell phones, people have
considered themselves to be masters over the communication the process of communication was
much easier after the cell phones were discovered and the technology was one of the most
renowned technologies of all times. With the further development of these technologies, one of
the most powerful equipment of all times, that is the smart phone technology was discovered. In
this assignment I will discuss about the Jose Van Dijck. “The Ecosystem of Connective Media”.
The Culture of Connectivity theory, discussed in the Week 5’s reading and how my everyday
activities connect with the theory established in the reading.
Reflection on the usage of Social media and technologies:
I think that the smart phones are the only reasons for which the internet and the social
media have developed all around the world. Today, majority of the people spends time looking
into their cell phones with or without necessity. Smart phones come with incomparable features
through which accessing the social media has become easier. I, myself spend around 3 to 4 hours
a day in an average on the social media with the latest technologies available. My day starts with
watching news on the television and ends by using social media applications like, Snapchat,
Instagram, Facebook, and many more. Majority of the days I spend, I am surrounded with
technologies like laptops, TV, cell phones and a few more. They are mostly a part of me and I
don’t think that it is possible for a person to stay away from the wave of social media and
technologies even for 5 hours at a straight.

3COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
With the internet services provided by the service providers, it has become much easier to
access the social media on the cell phone. As per the “The Ecosystem of Connective Media”.
The Culture of Connectivity by José van Dijck, the people are more involved with the social
media and digital technology. I, ten years back, would have waited in front of the television
hoping for my favorite play list to be played on it. At that time, the multimedia technology on the
smart phones was not there. Now, with the cutting edge technology and the smart applications, I
simply download the playlist of my choice and listen it for hours. Which great in one way, but it
is not, according to the theory stated by José. The theory says that the technology is consuming
human. The people are forgetting the actual values of the social, political, community-wise and
all other ecosystems that are involved in the society.
This completely matches the activities which I perform in my day to day life. I have
analyzed my activities for a few days and realized, on a Wednesday, 15th of the Month, I had
spend around 5 hours and 26 minutes with social media. I have got up in the morning, and have
begun my day with watching the television for obtaining news on closing of the school and
college. Followed by which I have spent few minutes talking to my friends regarding this over
call and social media like the Snapchat and Instagram. After that, while having breakfast I
watched Netflix series on the TV after which I again spent some time talking to my friends over
the phone and then again back with my cell phone I entertained myself with the social media like
facebook, instagram, snapchat, tik tok and few more. Basically, the schools and colleges were
close and I have spent the entire day switching between the television, mobile phones and
laptops.
If this would have been scenario a decade back, when we have rare internet connections
and netflix weren’t there, people like me would have gone out with friends and enjoyed the

4COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
holiday by socializing with people and getting to understand the real-life scenario of the place.
The theory says that the people are getting disconnected from the society, and the only one to
blame for this is the social media. The social media may have connected the people globally, and
has acted as the mode by which people can communicate from one part of the world to the other,
but it has snapped out the basis communication within the society.
Reflection as per the theory:
According to the theory of the week 5’s reading of the Ecosystem of Connective Media,
by José van Dijck, page 55, the social media platforms which were initially developed as
armature websites across the world but has gradually developed in larger corporations (Van
Dijck, 158). These business giants misuse the data in order to extract information of the users.
The data mining approaches taken up by these companies has eventually resulted in the network
exploitation.
I think it is true. This is because, when we browse through the social media or even chat
with friends over there, these activities are monitored and observed by the admin. While signing
up for a social media website, we barely think twice before providing our personal information,
like phone numbers, e-mail ids, birth days and many other credentials over there. Just for the
sake of fun and enjoyment, I might have passed on many of the sensitive data into the social
media websites. The aim of the week 5 readings, by Jose Van Dijck. “The Ecosystem of
Connective Media” is to make us aware of the fact that the social media and the technologies are
good for the purpose of information exchange and entertainment but that too is for a limited time
(Van Dijck, p. 160). Spending more time over the internet only makes us more addicted to the
technology which takes us away from the real-society.

5COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
In the week 5 reading, José says, “Offering a dual analytical prism to examine techno-
cultural as well as socio-economic aspects of social media, the author dissects five major
platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Wikipedia. Each of these microsystems
occupies a distinct position in the larger ecosystem of connective media, and yet, their
underlying mechanisms for coding interfaces, steering users, filtering content, governance and
business models rely on shared ideological principles”. I completely agree to this point stated by
José. All though we spend majority of the time over internet, after all it is human who designed
it. These social media and technologies existing within it are completely compatible with the
users and the companies use it for the analysis of the data, for the critical decision making, the
ideological principles are only taken into consideration.
I spend around 4 and a half to 5 hours a day over social media, cell phones and television.
I am totally dependent upon them for my day to day work. But while taking a decision, they
aren’t the one who takes it for me. I am in control of my decisions. Rather it will be justified to
say that I am steered by the social media while making the decisions. Thus I can say that in
contemporary times, the decisions are made by the people but they are assisted by the social
media, technologies, analytical process continuously. And I think that, as per the week 5 reading
on “The Ecosystem of Connective Media, we are more dependent over the modern technologies
and social media than we can even imagine.
“But disassembling platforms is not enough: we also need to reassemble the ecosystem
of interoperating platforms in order to recognize which norms and mechanisms undergird the
construction of online sociality and creativity”. As per the readings of the week 5, Van Dijck
says that the social media misuses are only focused rather than the creativity that can be
implemented with the help of it. Bringing the entire ecosystem of the society back to its place

6COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
such that the technology and people can co-exists together without affecting the later much has
to be planned and developed. I think the social media like the facebook, twitter, instagram, and
the others have their own benefits as well. These benefits are often hidden behind the social
discouragements as well. I think online sociality can be enhanced with the appropriate learning
and usage of the social media. The readings of the week 5 lesson have successfully determined
the relation between the culture and the social media connectivity which can be effectively
resolved with proper usage of social media platforms.
Conclusion:
In the developing countries, there are numerous places where the educational field has
been enhanced with the help of the social media services. The creativity of an individual can be
depicted with the help of the technologies, applications and social media. I think that social
media has helped in connecting people across the globe; I can talk to people, friends and family
back in India just with the click of a button. Thus I cannot completely agree to certain facts
mentioned in the books regarding social media is creating a bar between the society and the
individual. Certain beneficial aspect of the social media should also be appreciated at some point
of time. As mentioned in various studies by esteemed personalities that social media is one of the
major issue in socialization, I think they should also appreciate the approach of social media in
bringing customs, culture and people all together and helping them evolve ad develop a wider
range of opinion regarding the various aspects of the society.

7COMMUNICATION DIGITAL CULTURE
References:
Jose Van Dijck. “The Ecosystem of Connective Media”. The Culture of Connectivity (Oxford:
2013) pp 154-176