Final Blog Post

This past February, I decided to give up social media for my Lenten promise. I decided to cut Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter out of my daily routine until easter and the results were interesting. It was fairly easy to make the switch but I would catch myself going for the app every once in a while. In the one second it took for me to get my room key out of my pocket and put it in the door, I was already trying to pull up Instagram. And it was purely out of muscle memory, which is kind of terrifying to think about. But once I adjusted, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. But the weird thing was how much it affected those around me. My friends had become so reliant on Snapchat that they felt like they had no way to contact me, even though they have my phone number. 

After lent was over at the start of April, I honestly forgot for a few days after that I could go back onto social media. But even after I remembered, I didn’t feel eager to hop back onto it. So once I got all of them back, I decided to keep the notifications off and I still have them this way now. Without the constant reminder by my friends and my phone, it is easy to separate myself from social media, which I find to be a lot healthy than my routine before this. Through this abstinence, it is like seeing inside the Matrix. Seeing how dependent others are on Snapchat or Instagram while I have taken a step back is fascinating.

Unfortunately, the majority of society is in the dependent category which in turn forces you to do so. If a company or industry you want to work for or be a part of relies on technology and social media presence then you have to be or else you won’t even be considered for the job. And considering I want to pursue a career in the film industry, it can be rather difficult to fully untether myself from all social media. Being able to cut it all out is a luxury only a few successful people can have. One celebrity in this category is famous film director Christopher Nolan. While Nolan has directed major blockbusters like Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy, he does not possess a smartphone and doesn’t use email. In an interview, he has admitted to this by saying, “It's true that I don't have a smartphone. I have a little flip phone that I take with me from time to time. I'm easily distractible so I don't really want to have access to the internet every time when I'm bored.”

With all of this in mind, I believe technology can be positive and make us smarter but because of this it has made people scared to be wrong. The phrase, “I don’t know” is slowly dying out. Think about when you remember some of the words to a song but not the name itself. Instead of asking around or trying to remember, all you do is just put what you know into Google and the answer will pop up in a matter of seconds. Having the world’s knowledge on our phones has given us the excuse to not have any knowledge in our brains. 

Anyone who knows me knows that me saying “I love to watch movies” is an understatement. This passion is so abundant that I wish to pursue a career in filmmaking. Movies are without a doubt the form of media I consume the most. So one of the things I miss the most about the pre-COVID world is going to the movie theatre. So back in December when Warner Brothers announced that their whole 2021 movie slate will be getting a same-day theatre and streaming release on HBO Max I was heartbroken. I called my friends in disarray and anger. The theatre experience is dwindling and I am actually scared. I feel like going to the movies is going to go the way of the vinyl, where only a select few are going to consume the media in that “retro” form. Back to Christopher Nolan, he has publicly shared his thoughts on the matter by saying, “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.” Another announcement that crushed me was the closing of the Cinerama Dome. An iconic Hollywood landmark I didn’t have the pleasure to experience is, as of now, closing forever. 

Sources: 

https://www.bbcamerica.com/blogs/director-christopher-nolan-doesnt-have-a-smartphone-or-use-email--52157

https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/08/christopher-nolan-hbo-max/#:~:text=So%2C%20how%20are%20filmmakers%20reacting,yesterday%20in%20The%20Hollywood%20Reporter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/business/media/warner-brothers-movies-hbo-max.html#:~:text=LOS%20ANGELES%20%E2%80%94%20In%20a%20startling,service%2C%20the%20underperforming%20HBO%20Max.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/business/cinerama-dome-closing.html

Diffusion Theory: Cassette Tapes

Diffusion Theory looks at technologies and how they are adopted or not. This does so by looking at the technology’s key components: Pioneers, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Adopters, and Laggers. And what better way to look at this theory than by looking at a product of a bygone era.

The Compact Cassette (or better referred to as cassette tapes). In September of 1963, this was a new format for audio recording and playback developed by a company called Royal Philips in Belgian but wouldn’t be mass-produced until 1965. This took the ideas present in reel to reel tape recorder but compacted it and was made to be more reliable. The initial purpose of this device was for dictation and voice recordings.

These wouldn’t just give consumers the ability to listen to their music on the go, but also an opportunity to make their own recordings and playlists. So as the technology for cassette tapes improved, it is no surprise their spread and popularity grew as well. 

Some people who were hesitant about this new form of media may have not seen any use of it. With the ability to have a record player at home and a radio in the car it would seem like having this device may be pointless. Also, the personal recording aspect of the cassette tapes could be intimidating for consumers who are just casual listeners and don’t see themselves using them for that reason. It could also be seen by some as dangerous, having access to music wherever you go and not being aware of your surroundings of everyday life.

This form of audio technology had peaked its popularity in the 1980s but then came to a screeching halt with the invention of CDs in the 1990s. But today the cassette is still kickin’ as black tapes are still being manufactured and sold and big named artists sell tape versions of their new albums at select stores (I even have a few of my own I have collected through the years). It almost seems like cassettes are trying to catch the wave of resurgences that vinyl has been able to create in recent years.