The opening quotation of the authors from Milton reminds me of the following quote in which an author raves about how corrupt and wayward the youth have become:
“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words… When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint”
While this quotation seems to be by a contemporary of ours, judging from the trend of modern youth, it must be said that the above quote is of the 8th century BC – by Hesiod, a greek oral poet who lived between 750 and 650 B.C. It goes to show how the people of each age view their current times as avant-garde, and bearing characteristics way beyond that of the past. Our times are no exception to that. The authors of the article, David Thorburn and Henry Jenkins, are right in their own way in stating that we are indeed in an era of rapid transition and transformation with regard to the media of communication. Ad yet it is only the inevitable, since life is constantly on the flux, constantly evolving. Our mode of communication would naturally have to keep evolving.
My involvement in the current iMedia program ratifies that thesis, at least as I am experiencing here and now. Way back in the 80’s when I studied Media things were so different. The media i studied and used was so much analog in nature. Digital media was still in the early stages of growth. My professors taught us about how the differing media of communication were converging, but then they could only talk of convergence of textual communication with visual communication of television and the audio communication by telephone. Teletext was already in vogue and was considered as a giant leap in communication.
Thirty years hence I can see how the transformation has been rapid and also truly transformative. And thus I find myself at a juncture to get immersed into the Digital media and to become familiar with the means of communication that is in vogue in the present times, so as not to feel as belonging to “pre-historic times”. Interactive Media Program of Elon has come as a solution for me that direction. It is true that “process of media transition is always a mix of tradition and innovation, always declaring for evolution, not revolution.”(page 12). Young people may seem to be out on a revolution, but actually they too are just evolving. So are the Media of communication – always evolving. That is what life is about.