Global Networks - Another Stage in Communication

Modernism was about the machine and how it became a focal point of our social, economic and cultural being. Then post modernism which preceded the network society saw computers shape our lives. Kazys sees us moving towards a network society which is a natural revolution like the above revolutions. “The rise of the culture industry and the saturation of everyday life by media mark postmodern culture; the fall of the culture industry and the rise of a networked media industry mark the rise of network culture”. The maturing of technology and the mediums we use give cause for optimism. We are becoming increasing interconnected and transformed to our connection to place. However the influence of global networks and our dependence on the network society is also cause for concern.

Lovink says we are subjects of suppressed lives as the advancement of global networks means our past will mean nothing and our future will have nothing to offer. This pessimistic view has substance because in the natural form of revolution we replace one means of understanding our world with another. We do not always integrate aspects of the old with the new and that’s where our past can be lost. Lovink also says that we have become so warmed to the interconnectedness of global networks that “Pulling the plug on the net is like suicide”. There are no alternatives and no future without the net. As one becomes immersed in the network society it becomes the framework for their social construction of life. The more one becomes immersed a deeper connection is made and comfort surrounds global networks. Therefore if we become too accustomed to the social interaction embedded within the network we become detached from our physical presence. We as Lovink says become subject to the basis of boredom and empathy.

However whether or not global networks create and independence and stifle creativity, they still give optimism. At whatever stage of society and advancement we are at we enrich ourselves with that form. For example McLuhan described the advancement of communication in three stages, the tribal, print and digital and in all of those we communicated in a way Lovink would see as suppressing our lives to a certain extent. Today one should interact in global networks and come together as one, to enhance our social, economic, political and cultural ideals in communications richest and most interconnected form yet. We may be trapped in the network society but we are also subject to the deepest and richest form of communication to date and all without the pre existing barriers of time and space.