a nation of mediation

The internet has allowed nearly everything in the world top be accessed at the tip of your fingers. Instead of going to a library you can borrow a book online; instead of going to a video store, such as Blockbuster, you can rent a movie online; instead of visiting a record shop, people stream music. This is seen in that libraries are disappearing and Blockbuster has totally disappeared. Convenience reigns in today’s market and the internet has allowed for business to no compromise convenience over quality. For example, Netflix used to solely deliver physical DVD’s until internet speeds reached a point that online streaming could match or even exceed the quality of a physical disk. With even more movies being added to Netflix, and at higher resolutions than a physical disk, physical stores are giving way to the convenience of online streaming. The lack of a physical location or objects to supply makes online viewing much cheaper than any store could ever provide. This is also seen in the way that the modern consumer listens to music. People do not buy albums at record shops anymore since everything can be streamed for a low monthly fee. The quality is good enough and nearly every song can be listened to at any moment. Some people like record stores for the social element, but that is a minority of people. The internet has reached the capacity to allow many forms of media to be streamed instantly and at any time. Because of internet being available nearly in every household online subscription services are no longer a niche market. With the newer generations of consumers being born surrounded by the internet, the services provided online are the services of the future. The modern consumer will always value convenience and quality over any sort of social interaction, especially with more people becoming antisocial.

When online gaming first started becoming popular it began with a genre known as MMORPG, or massive multiplayer online role-playing game. The most widely known and most popular of these games is World of Warcraft, which allows players from around the world to interact with each other. Before the game begins each player must create their own character, which includes choosing a race and class. Some people, such as myself, may choose to create a representation of themselves in the game but others create someone else entirely. When playing an RPG one does not have to be their own race or look like themselves, which is part of the game’s appeal. A person who may be disabled could create a character that can do everything they cannot while exploring a large world with other people. One of the things that most people assume about online gaming is that there are almost no women playing. Even when a female character walks by it is most likely a male controlling her. Although most people know it most likely is not a female, some players will try and get a response solely because the character is female. This is one reason why either females shy away from online gaming, or they simply choose to play as a male character. This is one of the benefits of online gaming, instead of a female being harassed for their gender or race they can pick another. MMORPGs are what most people thought the internet would turn out to be when it was in its infancy.

During the early days of the Internet everyone wanted to either be anonymous or have another identity to protect themselves. As a child who grew up in the early 2000’s I can recall teachers warning us about the dangers of online and to never reveal any personal information, not even your first name. Nowadays everyone’s personal information is everywhere and most people, if not all, have abandoned their online personas of the past. So what happened to cause all of this? Well, I have two reasons why this has happened: 1.) Anonymity gives terrible people the license to do terrible things and 2.) People want to know more about each other. Today we are able to see why anonymity is a problem by looking at either 4chan or YikYak. People are able to harass and bully others with no repercussions because they are hidden behind the wall of anonymity. People are much more likely to do terrible things when they know that nothing will happen to them. Putting a face and a name to every person on the web makes people accountable for their actions, and each user has to decide whether or not they want a certain comment to haunt them forever. Another reason why the online persona had faded in favor of a real person is that people are genuinely curios about each other. Years ago there were many stories appearing about people finding love in World of Warcraft, which is difficult considering everyone looks completely different in the game than they do in real life. What allowed two people to find love is that they exchanged personal information to know more about each other. People don’t care about what’s displayed on the screen; they want to know who’s behind it. Blowing apart the barrier of anonymity allows people to better communicate which each other by creating a personable, friendly environment.

Many people we grew up alongside the Internet, such as myself, have never known of a time where people and information were not instantly available. Because of this instant access to a community many people believe that millennials lack the social skills of the generations before. This antisocial behavior can be seen in the recent trend of apps cutting out the telephone operator. Instead of calling for something my generation would much rather speak to no one and communicate directly with a machine. Taco Bell, which is attempting to get younger consumers, has recently launched an app that incentivizes people to order on their phones. Amazon is another business that relies on antisocial behavior to make its profits. For many consumers the day of going to a grocery or department store and dealing with its staff is over. People would much rather deal with their needs remotely. Not only is this trend seen in online purchasing, but it is also displayed by the rise of dating apps. Tinder became popular because nowadays the only way for younger people to communicate is online. No longer do people run into each other by happenstance or meet up at a bar; nearly all communication is done online. By communicating online each person is in their own walled garden that isolates them, but also allows them to socialize online.This behavior is also a reflection of the internet itself in that everything is brought to you. No longer must a person venture out into the world for information of food, the internet is there to provide life’s necessities.

Nowadays nearly no idea or story is entirely original and it would be naïve to think otherwise. Throughout human history stories have been passed down from generation to generation with a slightly different twist. As stories are passed down certain details may be forgotten or added for the sake of better storytelling or just keeping it relevant to a modern audience. The constant addition and subtraction of details from a story is another form of remix. A love story told centuries ago has the same basic premise as a love story told today; two people meet and their relationship blossoms. The only things that have changed in said story are the surroundings and society’s mindset. A century old story may have a man and woman meeting on a train whereas the story told today may be about a homosexual couple meeting in a Starbucks. Even though the details have been changed the plot remains the same. The updated modernized story is merely a remix of a centuries old tale.

With modern media distribution tools such as Youtube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, etc. many average people are running into the problem of fair use. Copyright used to be something that only the professionals would run into, but now many people are seeing their videos taken down for something as minor as a background track. The reason that large corporations give for taking down such videos is that people could return to said video and listen to the song again for free. There are many problems with that argument, one being why someone would listen to a lousy background recording of their favorite song when they could listen to the real thing. The music studios know their argument does not hold up, but they enforce their copyright to gain revenue from wherever they can. The music business is desperate for profits after they failed to catch on to the digital revolution. In the past the record companies would not know if a person had one of their songs playing in the background, but now that everything is digitally distributed they are aware. Not only are they aware of what song is playing, they know how many people watched the video, who recorded it, and how wealthy the video owner is. Copyright law is no longer used to protect artits, it is a tool for dying industries to gain a few more bucks. When a copyright suit is filed by the record studio, and if they were to win, the artist does not get any of the settlement. This is just another piece of evidence showing how desperate the music business is for money.