The Essentiality of Mobile Media in the Modern Age of Connectivity
Based on the research theme ‘Myth in Contemporary Design, Media and Fashion’, my essay topic is ‘The Essentiality of Mobile Media in the Modern Age of Connectivity’ – basically a discussion on how crucial mobile media has gotten to be in these times; connecting individuals to the world via fuss-free media. We see mobile media everywhere in our daily lives and yet some of us are not wary of the role it plays in making day-to-day communications easier. Some of us are not even clear on what defines mobile media. Take this situation at the local university bus stop where out of the fifteen people there, eight of them are using any given sort of mobile device; being mobile phones or laptops or otherwise. Even the wireless headphones I am wearing are a form of mobile media,
In the modern age of telecommunication, mobile media is defined as a channel for free-flowing means of communication; also fluidity and portability in human connectivity. Although cellphones and laptops immediately come to mind when mobile media is mentioned, it is not confined to these two electronic gadgets. In fact if we were to take a step back in time, roughly quoting Paul Levinson, author of “Cellphone”, in his book he made a point that ‘the moment Man thought of writing on a stone tablet instead of the nearby wall, mobile media was essentially born.’
With regard to human need and desire to have continual and limitless access, media capabilities in respect to their function are changed and improved at a rate no longer considered phenomenal in this age and time. From that one idea of carving on a stone tablet, mobile media now encompasses a wide range including visual media, internet media, printed media, audio media and telephonic media. These also include the networks and accessibilities that have been developed for their specific functions. And just when it would seem that mobile media cannot possibly get anymore mobile than it already is, consumer demands continue pushing boundaries on the mobile media expansion.
This brings to mind a thought of what were to happen if mobile media didn’t exist in our time? Can we really live without mobile media; is it just an urban myth that the absence of mobile media spells the demise of modern connectivity as we know it today? And just what is the limit when it comes to the development of mobile media capabilities?
