Livingstone.+On+Learning+Lessons

= Livingstone, Sonia."Young People and the New Media: On learning lessons from TV = =to apply to the PC."= Persee Scientific Journals. 1999. Web. 2 Mar 2011.

By Roaquiem Manderson

=﻿Abstract= = = With the current proliferation of personal media in the home and particularly I children’s bedrooms, analogies between early television and today’s new screen-based media are taken as a basis for applying to the personal computer lessons learned from television. A parallel can be drawn in terms of usage and effects on time and space, on social and family relations and lifestyles, for young people are generally at the cutting edge of these developments. The two main tendencies of our societies, towards ‘privatization’ and individualization, constitute the historical backdrop to these processes. Apart from social and cultural changes and the proliferation of currently available media, it is relevant to study the cycle of usage – from the elite to the general public to specialists – of these media seem(sic) as their status evolves from ‘new’ to ‘familiar’.

=﻿Arguement=

Through first-hand research conducted throughout Europe on children ages 6-17, Livingstone presents an interesting argument by stating that new media is turning youth in western society into a “…’mediatized’ bedroom culture…” (77). She compares and contrasts her findings to a study conducted in the 1950’s on the advent of television and its impact on children, discovering few similarities but many differences with the effects of the introduction of “the electronic screen” (65), which encompasses cable TV, computers, the internet and mobile devices. On her examination of the family unit she discovers that the family has become privatized, with each member retreating into their room to watch TV or log onto their computers. Furthermore, a similarity to America can be easily drawn as Livingstone devotes an entire section to Britain and explains why their culture is more inclined to devote more time to watch TV than the rest of Europe.

=﻿Key Passages=

In contrasting her article from Himmelweit’s study, Livingstone points out: “In contrast to Himmelweit, however, we lack suitable comparisons for before-and-after studies which could compare children who have a medium with those who do not. Rather, We face a complex set of patterns in which different children have access to different combinations of media” (66).

=﻿Selected Works Cited=

Ang, I. (1996). //Living room wars: Rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world.// London: Routledge.

Himmelweit, H.T., Oppenheim, A.N., & Vince, P. (1958). //Television and the Child: An Emperical Study of the Effect ofTelevision on the Young.// London and New York: Oxford University Press.

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