Information flows constantly and will reach you with the next notification. So what?
The medium, the message, and the uncle hanging out with the youth
If traditional modes of dialogue no longer suffice, we must rethink the forms and tools at our disposal.
Millennials will certainly remember the New Year’s resolution editorials that appeared every January, especially throughout the ’90s and ’00s. Whether anything actually changed or not, the year changed—and that alone was enough to inspire hope, or at least the illusion of hope. Today, that’s no longer enough. Not that it ever truly was, but now there’s no room left even for illusion. Information flows constantly and will reach you with the next notification.
So what happens next? After the alert with the breaking-news headline—did you understand what happened? Did you actually learn what took place out there, nearby, or right next to you?
Technology keeps advancing, and artificial intelligence (so much talked about) advances with it. But what about understanding and being informed? Is it enough for someone to tell you that you’re living, or do you need to know exactly where—and under what conditions—your life is unfolding?
New technologies and breaking-news headlines are not enough to change anything beyond the passage of time, which will move on regardless. The shift that can reawaken our connection with society and with what’s happening around us—that is what can bring real change, and it’s something journalism can rebuild by integrating technology. The reverse, however, is not possible.
So let this be this year’s resolution.
