I read Chapter 2 in the book “Mobile First Journalism” it was mostly filled with stuff I already knew. A lot of knowledge in the textbook I have already been exposed to in various ways before and during the period I was reading the book. This includes my latest fascination with technology addiction and reading various books on the subjects including Jen Twenge book “iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us. Twenges book focused on the impact of excessive technology on younger people which she dubbed iGen. Additionally, I learned a lot about technology and its role in the news and journalism through my three communication course I’m taking this semester and various workshops I’ve attend on the University campus.
It goes without saying that our world is changing and how we get our news evolving. However I appreciate the chapter gave data and sources to back everything up. I agree with the Digital News Report findings, I see a huge difference in the way young people use their smart phone vs older people. My dad watches news on the TV and my mom listens to talk radio. When I tell them about something I heard in the news, they often ask how I heard it. I tell them social media and they don’t understand how one could find news on social media. My dad barely knows to use his phone to text so I’m not sure how he would figure out the news.
Across campus I see people glued their phones while talking to others about campus events, local events and even national news stories all from a mobile mind set. However, this isn’t just purely my observation alone. A few weeks ago, in my mass communication course which has 60 students the teacher asked the students “who watches news on the TV?” the result is not a single student raised their hand. In my media writing course, the teacher asked if anyone reads a physical newspaper and once again, not a single student raised their hand. We discussed this issue in both classes and it really seems not many people my age have time for the news in the ways our parents saw it. We want to access everything quickly and convenient and our smartphones give us this.
Multitasking has become prevalent across all age groups. I have noticed people doing it across all age groups. Even while I was doing a couple of my interviews for my mobile journalism assignment I found it difficult to get my interviewees off their phone for two minutes. As a result of this, in one of my interviews, the ping of a smartphone notification can be heard in the background.
Overall, the way people get their news is changing particularly among g young people. The phone is the biggest catalyst in this change and everyone is using it. Mobile journalism is the way of the future and we need to get used to it whether we like or not.