In my International Mass Communications course, we’ve been talking about the history of mass communications and how technology has drastically transformed the communications landscape– and we’ve obviously come a long way from the printing press invented in Germany. But one aspect of communications and development that I never thought about before was the impact that technology — specifically in terms of communications technology — has on the developing world.
Most third-world and developing nations do not have access to the same technology as countries like the United States and the United Kingdom do. This forces these developing nations to rely on the bigger, wealthier and generally more powerful countries to provide them with news and even means to communicate with one another. And its no secret that there are underlying biases in many of the network news stations, so certain third-world countries may be misrepresented and inaccurately portrayed in the media.
As someone who is surrounded and consumed by the media industry, I definitely take all the technology that I have access to for granted. As a Penn State student, I have access to state-of-the-art video cameras, DSLR cameras, industry-standard editing equipment, and a three-year-old multi-million dollar news studio and set. That doesn’t even include my iPhone, camera, laptop, iPad, etc. It’s incredible to think about how much influence technology has in my life — both on a personal level and on a professional level.
The discussions we have had in the International Mass Communications class has made me realize how lucky I am to have this access and how powerful technology and development can truly be.
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