This week in our symposium we touched on the subject of Ecology. Honestly, before this lecture, I had never heard of ecology, so good thing I was there, right? The most used definition of ecology is “the study of the interaction of people and their environment”. I think that’s a pretty straight forward definition and I also things it’s a pretty good summation of one of the basic foundation for communication studies.
My only concern with this definition is that it doesn’t describe or manifest specifically what form an ecology can take. From that I was considering us as people to be the most useful, or most used, ecology in this world. But further into the unlecture it was brought up that the internet would be one of the World’s most useful and tactile ecologies to have ever existed, and I couldn’t agree more. Recently the internet has been growing and expanding as a human necessity, a go-to for interaction, easy information and becomes a way of life. Shout out to the man, Tim Berners-Lee. I know saying that the modern age NEEDS technology is a bit of stretch, or even a seeming excuse to keep on with the ‘heads in the screen’ way of life, but sorry Mum and Dad, it’s actually true. Where would be as media students without our trusting internet? Where would Networked Media without those three Ws. The answer: it wouldn’t. As media students and people in the media, we rely on this ecology to keep us up to date and in the game. It got me thinking about a world without the internet today. People would change, I would be different, the whole concept of ecology would take a different form in that connectivity and interaction would have undoubtedly found another path since the 1970’s or onward and we would be looking at a whole other dimension of human interaction. That might be a bit extreme but my imagination can’t come up with (maybe from watching too much tv?) the possibility of this modern world without the internet. So from this lecture I found myself pondering for longer than an average university lecture has been left in my head, what I would be like without the internet? I personally don’t see the harm in social media, the negativity to me is a waste of time, it’s a waste of will when you refuse to adjust to the future way of human life.
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