Oh, iPhone. Why do you torment me with your commercials? I salivate when I see that lucky user reading the news on your beautiful display in the palm of his hand. I pine for your touch screen. I dream about you at night. I want to watch videos on you. I want to download podcasts to you. But sadly, I can't buy you. I can barely pay my rent.
The depressing contents of my wallet. No cool gadgets for me, unless I can pay with a Blockbuster card.Photo: Laurel Kupka
And it's a shame, because the mainstream media is actually getting off to a good start in the iEra. Local newspapers are producing video content for their Web sites, because God forbid people actually read a news story anymore. Others are hosting chats about different topics so their readers can ask the questions they care about. Reporters are podcasting and blogging. CNN has gone mobile. Who watches TV anymore?
People are interested only in the news they want, and they want it now. For the most part, they're getting it.
The problem? I don't get to take advantage of all this new technology because I don't have $400 to spend on an iPhone. I'm so behind the times that I don't have a video iPod, I just have the old iPod mini (which was really cool back when I bought it, thank you). I just got rid of what I fondly called "the brick" and got a new cell phone, but I'm too cheap to buy one that has video capability, so CNN Mobile is out. Oh well, I'm not a Verizon Wireless customer anyway and I am NOT paying a fee to break the contract I have now just for CNN. Sorry. I eat Ramen noodles.
For once, it seems the media isn't trying to keep up with us. We have to keep up with the media… if we can afford it.
Ah, the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots rears its ugly head. Did you notice this morning in the JW that Lawrence has a poverty level above the state average? Of course, the digital divide has always been thus. It took me two weeks of working overtime on Christmas vacation at the KC Star in 1982 to buy my family our first VCR. Now you can get a DVD player for $50. But it is hard to have a really mass medium until the masses can afford it.
I'm right there with you. I have a cell phone that's key feature is that it rings. I have a PDA that runs on the first PALM platform. I have an iPod from several generations back and a laptop that frequently refuses to load all this new interactive media. What's more-- when a big story breaks, I still like to get my news by flipping around with a TV remote.
Sure, my blog talked about the MSM missing the parade, but when I look at the status of my own technology, I realize that I'm probably right there with them.
Laurel, What are the implications of what Rick is saying about the "mass" in mass media? Do you think we need to go back to the days of radio or can some other media bridge this digital divide? And what happens (culturally, politically, etc.) when a mass of people are uninformed?
I think the masses will catch up. As Rick pointed out, technology becomes less expensive over time. And as much as I complain about not having a super sweet iPhone, I have a lot of other sources to go to for my news, so I don't think the masses are in danger of being uninformed. Just uncool.