New Media Invasion: Digital Technologies and the World They Unmake

by John David Ebert

From the 15th century until the mid-1990s, media based on the printed word--books, magazines, handbills, newspapers, and journals--dominated society. Today, an onslaught of digital media centered on the Internet is developing at a breathtaking pace, destabilizing the very idea of printed media and fundamentally reshaping our world in the process. This study explores how Internet entities like Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Google, and gadgets such as digital cameras, cell phones, video games, robots, drones, and all things MacIntosh have affected everything from the book industry and copyright law to how we conduct social relationships and consider knowledge. Including a chronology of significant events in the history of the digital explosion, this investigation of the often overlooked "shadow" side of new technology chronicles life during a radical societal shift and follows the process whereby one world disintegrates while another takes its place.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

219 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2011

About the author

John David Ebert is a cultural critic and the author of 26 books. He has a series of videos and audio albums on various philosophers posted on YouTube, Google Play and two websites: cinemadiscourse.com and cultural-discourse.com.

Reviews

[Ben Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Media Invasion: Digital Technologies and the World They Unmake by John David Ebert examines the rise of social media and the implications of a society now fully ingrained with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ebert takes an undeniably negative tone toward social media, but does an excellent job of defending his claims by using well thought-out, clear-cut logic. For example, Ebert describes how “Facebook, by its very nature as a medium, excludes the possibility of depth and complexity from all human relationships” (56). However, instead of simply stopping there with an otherwise debatable statement, the author thoroughly supports his assertion, explaining just how Facebook reduces the vibrant, dynamic personalities of people into digital pictures and lines of text that reveal little to nothing about who the person is actually like. As a result of constantly being on the opposition to the prominence of the digital age, however, Ebert does fail at times to address the counterarguments to his claims. Although also addressing the opposition in a piece solely focused on the pitfalls of social media would’ve strengthened the author’s standpoint, he still does a masterful job of supporting his arguments through logos and even some some ethos. For instance, in the same section of the publication cited earlier, Ebert uses a personal example to illustrate his point, stating, “I, John Ebert, for instance, may be described on Facebook as a writer of books...but this hardly captures me as a personality...the viewing public has no idea whether I am introverted or extroverted; whether I have a good sense of humor or am dull...and so on” (56). Ebert makes a justifiable point, but instead of simply ending there, Ebert significantly strengthens his claim by providing a real life example of how the superficiality of the digital age has impacted him. This adds immense credibility to Ebert’s work, and makes his negative tone much more reasonable, providing for a very thorough and enjoyable read.

[Junaid Haider]

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