Digital Immigrants and Media Integration
The Smartphone Is the Synthesizer
Abstract
In Digital Immigrants and Media Integration: The Smartphone Is the Synthesizer, Sally J. McMillan draws insights from the lived experience of digital immigrants who are Baby Boomers and who grew up without digital mobile technologies and have transitioned to become smartphone users. McMillan traces key points in media evolution that shaped the communication tools that digital immigrants use today, demonstrating that continued incremental change has led to a shift in focus from media types to media interfaces, with smartphones becoming ubiquitous and indispensable – the smartphone, she posits, is now firmly tied to identity. Although the telegraph was the first medium to allow the message to arrive before the messenger and initiated the transition from “cool” to “hot” media, it is the smartphone that has fully synthesized communication forms and functions into a single digital and mobile device. Through collecting and analyzing these personal and public histories, McMillan finds that digital immigrants continue to seek a balance between value and ease, and between breadth and depth of communication. Scholars of communication, media ecology, and technology will find this book of particular interest.
Schlagworte
communication Media dependency Media ecology Media history Harold Innis Digital immigrants Digital mobile communication social media sociology technology studies media evolution mobile technology smartphones- 1–16 Introduction 1–16
- 17–58 Forms 17–58
- 59–118 Functions 59–118
- 119–122 Appendix 119–122
- 123–138 References 123–138
- 139–146 Index 139–146
- 147–148 About the Author 147–148