Old Media vs. New Media

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, old media is being replaced by new media at a brisk pace. Just take a scroll down this historical event page! The 19th and 20th century advances in technology have drastically changed the way humans live today. It does not mean that we are done inventing new stuff. It merely means we are at a turning point in a circle of change - a constant change - more rapid than ever in the past 20000 years. Imagine this - pigeons, horsemen & postman used to deliver messages for thousands of years. Then in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone and suddenly there were a 100 million lines in less than 100 years of innovation. Goodbye messengers! According to CIA World Fact Book, there are more than 2 billion lines in the world now. Hello internet!
Today's new media means yesterday's media is old. However, today's new media also means that tomorrow this will be old. Let us take an example of VHS tapes. With the popularity of VHS tapes from 70s onwards, it was widely thought the cinema industry will take a huge hit because nobody will want to go to a theater to watch movies anymore. But it has not happened that way. Instead, VHS has been replaced by DVD and Blu-ray discs and the cinema industry is still going strong. To learn from this example, VHS was a form of new media at one point of time, but it became old when DVDs came in. Same can be said for paper books being replaced by ebooks, which are gaining popularity today (Savikas Andrew). Although not as obsolete as VHS, paper books are still not out of fashion. But we are in the middle of a change - a transition between the old and the new. Take a look around in the NYC subway and you can see this change first hand. Someone reading a paperback while the next person is browsing a collection on Kindle!

Music records and album CDs are on a constant decline. Whereas sales of single songs have been rising (Hanson Joyce). The reason is mobility and the hectic pace of life. Again, look in the subway. Many people have their headphones on listening to the music or watching their favorite shows - creating their own little world - in the chaos of NYC morning rush hour. It shows that people's likings and preferences have changed over time along with social structures and how people interact with other humans.

A recent Wall Street Journal article 'Dolce & Gabbana Go Live' by Christina Brinkley focuses on media changes in fashion shows. Dolce & Gabbana are beginning to livestream their Milan fashion shows on iPhone. Contrary to traditional thinking that fashion show is considered a feast for eyes, this will change the market, not only at the venue of the fashion show, but around the world where people can see it - live.

New media is constantly being developed and our lifestyles are constantly changing because of that.