Bob Stein We Could Be Better Ancestors Than This

Will Technology Truly create a World Culture?

In Bob Stein’s essay, “We Could Be Better Ancestors Than This”, The Reader is Confronted with Stein’s ideas on how New Media technologies are shaping the world. One very important point Stein raises is that although Globalization is happening through New Media Technologies, it’s not a real Global community. Instead of all cultures influencing the “melting pot” if you will and creating a truly blended global culture instead we are seeing the stronger capitalist cultures imposing upon cultures that are seen as weaker cultures there ideas and views.
Like Stein says if you look at the internet today the top sites are “Time magazine, ESPN, and so on. The content does not look very different then the New York Times top ten list of anything: movies, TV, even books” ( Stein 202). But this is not just with the internet today this has been the trend for years. Not that it is anywhere near the beginning but one example in my mind would be MTV, MTV allowed American music to be seen around the world and slowly influence the music in other parts of the world. But it has happened at least to the point where American music is popular the whole world over. However, you don’t see much music (outside of maybe Reggaeton) that influences American culture. You don’t hear African music or German Waltz’s being played on Top Forty Radio Stations. The same can be said for movies and TV it is very hard for a foreign movie or TV show to make it here in the States.
I don’t think Americans see this globalization happens because we are the ones globalizing. In a way manifest destiny still is not dead. The Idea of Spreading American influence lives on.
Another form of New Technology that needs to be carefully watched is these new means of User generated communication. Communication through these new technologies has become less formal and less real. Instead of in the past when people wrote heart felt letters, instead today people receive instant messages and text messages that say “whr u @”, it is highly impersonal. As an example I get my mail forwarded to campus by my parents and most times my mom will write a little not to the effect of miss you love you mom. Nothing special but just seeing her handwriting on that paper can brighten my day in a way a text message never could. Maybe we need to think about ways that communication can go back to being personal notes on highly commercialized websites like Myspace or Facebook, maybe from time to time a letter is better.
We need to be more conscious about the way we handle or new technology. Like Stein says, technology is not revolutionary people are. Let’s make sure that technology serves us in the right way towards a real world culture and towards a form of communication that is advanced but still heart felt.