How Digital Media Influenced Or Changed The Way We Communicate With One Another?

How digital media influenced or changed the way we communicate with one another?
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How digital media influenced or changed the way we communicate with one another?
Introduction
The digital media has greatly revolutionized the way individuals communicate with each other since the advent Web 2.0. In light of this, Web 2.0 has resulted in the development of various digital media platforms, in which individuals consume content as well as produce and contribute to new content. It has led to the formation of a new form of language order or state of mind which is different from the ordinary broadcast-oriented model (Darwish & Lakhtaria, 2011, p. 205). This research paper examines the impact of the digital media on the way individuals communicate with each other.
Influence of digital media on interpersonal communication
To start with, it is important to provide a brief account of communication from an historical perspective. Before the advent of the digital media, individuals used various traditional media for communication purposes. Keyton (2011, as cited in Lunenburg, 2010) defined communication as the process involving the transmission of both common understanding and communication from one individual to another. Such definition underscores the importance of common understanding resulting from the exchange of messages or information in facilitating the success of communication. Traditional media are defined as the traditional means of mass communication that were used by the global cultures and communities during the antiquity (Aikat, n.d). The various traditional media that were dominant before the introduction of the digital media include television, newspapers, magazines, and radio. It is important to note that these traditional media are still useful despite the increasing popularity of the digital media especially the social networking sites.
In particular, television is still popular and it still commands the largest share in terms of preference as an advertising media by marketers (Belch & Belch, 2014, p, 133). This statement implies that the traditional mass media such as television has transcended generations as critical platforms for advertisers. Historically, other traditional media such as newspapers, radio, and magazines were also popular advertising tools. Despite the fact that the emergence of the mass media has resulted in the decline in popularity of these advertising media, the amount of money that is being allocated to them is still largely significant (Belch & Belch, 2014). In addition to advertising, the traditional media were also used as platforms for entertainment, news, and shaping public opinions. Similarly, they were also used for eliciting public reactions towards contentious issues in the society. However, the traditional m...