Chinese or Hong Konger? Although Hong Kong is a part of China, it was the colony of British. This makes us to think that we are separate from China and thus people are more used to say they are Hong Kongers. When people ask about my nationality, my answer is just the same as most Hong Kong people. However, now, I have hesitation about the answer. In the past, I was confidence to say I am a Hong Kong people. When telling others I am from Hong Kong, especially when visiting in the mainland China, seems that I am more superior. For me, the identity of Hong Kong carried a message of civilization. We are being educated, from in a modern city which is stable and prosperous. Thus, it is a positive label.
However, the advantages of Hong Kong are being deemphasized while the influential of China towards Hong Kong as well as the world is sharply increased in the recent years. The rapid development of economic and the great success of Beijing Olympic in 2008 have promoted the international status of China. At the same time, more and more national education and high coverage of news about China are received from the media over these 12 years. Combing with different reasons, my national identity of Chinese is being stronger and stronger. On the other hand, there are several fundamental problems that make China being criticized by the others, such as the problem of fake products and poor condition of human rights. As referring to the question of nationality, I remember a person has suggested a way to answer and I think I will do the same. That person suggested that whether answering you are Hong Kongers or Chinese, the best answer should depends on where you are and what topic is being discussed.
For many youngsters, most of us are confused about our nationality identity but the truth is that we do not take it as a serious issue to think it seriously. The political sense in our generation is relatively low. In contrast, we spend much time and effort on a virtual world. Mobile phone and computer become an essential part of our daily life. The all-in-one function mobile phones and computers have replaced many face to face interaction and real–life social activities with our family members and friends. We share and communicate with others by using the online communication tools such as facebook, Xanga, MSN etc. These communication tools allow us to share our messages no longer limited on text but delivering with images, sounds, video and audience can give instant responses to the sender. Thanks to the technology, many innovative communication styles are being found so as to provide a lot of fun and interesting to us. For example, Facebook is now the most popular communication network. One thing we enjoy most is to receive and give out instant comment with any friends. Sometimes, the comments are supportive and funny which let us feel cheerful. Teenagers are just hard to avoid and even addict on them as we value entertainment and social with friends.
To share about the use of Facebook with my mother, she is surprised about everything. As she is not a computer user, she does not know about the Internet. She is not only surprise with the convenient given in communication of Facebook but also teenagers now are sharing their personal life and feeling with people they even not familiar with. For their generation, people wrote down their feeling or ideas in diary which was not supposed to disclose. Although they also liked talking with friends, they only share their personal feeling with close friends or mostly they kept it as their own secrete. Therefore, it is hard for her to understand why people in our generation type everything on a public sphere.
I have also asked my mother about her media usage pattern or entertainment in her generation. However, due to the poor living condition when she was young, she said it was far away to afford any entertainment, let alone to have a radio. My mother was living in a village in mainland and gave help in the farm. “I only wanted no more farming work!”. When I asked my mother about what was her dream, she told me without hesitation. Finally, she was able to live in Hong Kong and her dream came true. The reason for my mother to leave farming is because of the instability and harshness she faced. Of course, due to the improvement on living condition, what I think and want are very different from my mother. It is hard to tell what I exactly want to do in my future career but I am looking for a job that I can develop myself. In the rest of the time, I can do some volunteer works and visit different parts of the world in order to work out my life in meaningful and enjoyable manners.
The developing of technology and growth of economic change what people pursue in their life as well as our values change. For me, some important values are still preserving and love is one of the most important values for us. The value of love is not only limit on the relationship between couples. People nowadays are also concern and looking for love on their friendship and family members. Although many of us do not know how to work it out, we seek love to make ourselves feeling affiliate and being valued. We value love because most of us still believe love is the core to bring happiness to our life. However, many people think Hong Kong is now a city where people value much on materialism, entertainment and are self-oriented. Despite of the importance of love to us, it is hard to deny that sometimes love have become related to materialism, entertainment and self-satisfaction. For many people, they are friends but they are each other’s partner for games only. Many women want to have true love but they also looking for men who can satisfy their needs on materials. In my opinion, it is difficult to tell it is good or bad, however, it is a way to preserve the tradition value while integrating with the present important value in our society.
No matter things are physically existing or intangible, we would like to preserve which we value in our generation. However, our society keeps changing in every minute. From the media, the life of the older generation is being informed. For example, we, this generation know the song Under the Lion Rock and the plastic bag, “Red, White, Blue” are symbols to represent the spirit of hard-working and flexible of the Hong Kongers but it is hard for us to receive the same sympathy as our parents. One day, the time we communicate with friends via Facebook, Xanga and MSN will also become the collectively memory of our generation.
4/19/2010
Ming Fearon -- Final Post
I suppose the biggest things that have served to define me are—as cliché as they may sound—my city and my family. I am a New Yorker in every sense of the word. I was born two blocks from where I grew up and had never lived anywhere but Manhattan until I came to Hong Kong to study in January for the semester. Like most New Yorkers, I hold the warped belief that the city (this excludes Staten Island, if I’m going to be a true snob) is a separate entity from the rest of the United States; I am a New Yorker first and an American second. I feel that this is important for me to mention because a lot of what I consider to be my political and ideological identity was shaped by the more liberal values of New York City, and contrasts with the more conservative nature of the rest of the country.
Other cities I have been to, such as Los Angeles, Athens, Paris, London, Seoul, Vienna, and especially Hong Kong, all have their charm. But when it comes down to it, none of them match the beauty and complexity of New York. I have a relationship with the city much like I would with a significant other; it aggravates me constantly and never ceases to stun me with its melodrama and numerous flaws. But after each fight, we make up and everything is right again. I feel a love for the city that makes it more than just a city to me.
My family has also played an important role in helping to establish my identity. My father grew up in a stereotypical Long Island suburb to two Irish Roman Catholics. To me, my father’s side of the family pretty much represents what it means to be “all-American” to outsiders: they are staunchly middle-class (both my grandfather and my father’s youngest brother were firefighters), embrace religion, drink a lot, eat a lot, laugh a lot, and love sports. They drive big cars and buy big TVs. They are literally pretty big people. Their kids are quarterbacks on their high school football teams and some of them have joined the military or the navy. Many of them are blonde or red-haired and very fair, and their kids will most likely continue to look that way, although my father was an exception. This is because my mother is from Hong Kong; she moved to the U.S. to get a master’s degree in Chemistry after attending Hong Kong University. She met my father in dental school and married him soon after graduation.
I relate a lot to my mother’s side of the family because I spent most of my childhood at my aunt’s house in Queens on weekends. Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays were spent playing with my cousins, going to Chinese school, attending piano and Tae Kwon Do lessons, receiving tutoring, and being subject to marathon, coma-inducing Dim Sum breakfasts with my relatives. I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which meant being Asian made me a relative minority. Being bi-racial has, to this day, caused me discomfort in a lot of situations. Anyone who is will say that. I watched a documentary about President Obama and a good majority of it dealt with his insecurities that he wasn’t “black enough” or “white enough” to satisfy his family or his constituents. I’ve often felt similarly, that my tendencies weren’t “white enough” for my friends on the Upper West Side, and that I wasn’t “Chinese enough” to suit my family.
It didn’t help that I didn’t relate to other kids that well because I spent whole weekends kept away from my friends, and, when I got older, the lack of Judaism in my life meant that I didn’t get to have my own pivotal coming-of-age ceremony, the bat mitzvah. As a whole, I felt pretty removed from people of my own generation until high school. Until that point, I had a very low opinion of my classmates’ intelligence and didn’t have much in common with them. For high school, I went to a specialized science high school, which is a nice way of saying that pretty much everyone who attended was a nerd, closeted or not. In high school I learned a great deal about myself and that there are tons of people in the world who are much more intelligent than I am in multitudes of ways.
I went from a performing arts middle school to a high school that shoved math, physics, and computer science down my throat. I couldn’t remember organic chemistry, but I had no trouble reciting passages from Nabokov’s Pale Fire. My math skills were never developed enough to place me in pre-calculus courses, but I took advanced English courses. I wrote for the school newspaper and went into college thinking I’d become a journalist. By the end of my freshman year the dream was dispelled to make way for a more specific goal: to work in publishing as an editor or in television as a producer. This goal changed because I think that no matter what happens in society, the people who get to control the messages sent out by the media are the ones who have the power. Media is supposed to be a check on government, but it is also a tool to inform the masses—or manipulate them. Therefore, it’s so important to have the right people to decide the kinds of messages that are sent out to the public and how they’re sent out. To me, this was a basic message that resonated throughout this course this semester. I always grew up thinking I wanted to do “something that matters.” This kind of job seems to fit those criteria.
Week 13: Self Reflection (Karen Lam)
Week 13: Self Reflection (Karen Lam)
I was born and live in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. I am a 100% local Hong Kong citizen. All the things, people, information and events around me formulate my identity as a Hong Konger. Cantonese is my mother language while English is my major learning instrument. I always go to Chinese restaurant to “Yum Cha” on Sunday with my family. Dim-sum, milk tea and egg tart are some of my favorite foods which represent the dining culture of Hong Kong. I love shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui and sing karaoke in Mongkok with my friends in the weekends. These are part of my daily life, which is closely related to the Hong Kong culture and every Hong Konger will share similar experience and habit.
Because of the demonstration of express railway, society put more concerns on the generation – “Post 80s”, which I belong to. Generally, our generation is always described as impetuous, lazy and irresponsible. To a large extent, such impressions towards post 80s mainly come from the media. For example, the news reporting about the chaos in the demonstration is one of the sources for the media to stereotype our generation. In fact, I don’t think our generation is that bad as the media descriptions. I do love my age and the collective memories that we share. For example, the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and the bad times during SARS are some valuable memories among our age group. For me, joining the 4 June incident gathering last year gives me a deep impression and memory. 2009 is a remarkable year as the incident has passed for 20 years and it was the first time that I participate the event. When I was walking to the Victoria Park, I was wondering the majority would be old men and ladies. Unexpectedly, I saw many youngsters like me holding the white candles, sitting on the grassland. The theme of the gathering was “薪火相傳”and a group of university students came on the stage swearing that our generation would never forget the lesson learnt from history. The atmosphere was very touching at that night and it makes me feel proud of joining the event. From my viewpoint, post 80s is a group of people that is passionate, brave and rightful. And these characteristics are rarely founded in the older generations. Maybe it is because the older generations have much more other concerns other than fighting for justice, just like family and career burden. But no worries, I think now is a good time for us, the post 80s, to fight for the benefits for the society. Besides, some people may think our generation is lack of planning. However, I don’t think it is a weakness to us and oppositely we are flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changeable society. In fact, as a post 80s in the society nowadays, it is really hard to talk about “dream” achievement because of many restrictions and difficulties brought by the social system. For me, living healthily with my family without any worries is already an ideal life for me. The most important value is that no matter what kind of job you get in the future, never forget your reality and conscience.
I was born and live in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. I am a 100% local Hong Kong citizen. All the things, people, information and events around me formulate my identity as a Hong Konger. Cantonese is my mother language while English is my major learning instrument. I always go to Chinese restaurant to “Yum Cha” on Sunday with my family. Dim-sum, milk tea and egg tart are some of my favorite foods which represent the dining culture of Hong Kong. I love shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui and sing karaoke in Mongkok with my friends in the weekends. These are part of my daily life, which is closely related to the Hong Kong culture and every Hong Konger will share similar experience and habit.
Because of the demonstration of express railway, society put more concerns on the generation – “Post 80s”, which I belong to. Generally, our generation is always described as impetuous, lazy and irresponsible. To a large extent, such impressions towards post 80s mainly come from the media. For example, the news reporting about the chaos in the demonstration is one of the sources for the media to stereotype our generation. In fact, I don’t think our generation is that bad as the media descriptions. I do love my age and the collective memories that we share. For example, the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and the bad times during SARS are some valuable memories among our age group. For me, joining the 4 June incident gathering last year gives me a deep impression and memory. 2009 is a remarkable year as the incident has passed for 20 years and it was the first time that I participate the event. When I was walking to the Victoria Park, I was wondering the majority would be old men and ladies. Unexpectedly, I saw many youngsters like me holding the white candles, sitting on the grassland. The theme of the gathering was “薪火相傳”and a group of university students came on the stage swearing that our generation would never forget the lesson learnt from history. The atmosphere was very touching at that night and it makes me feel proud of joining the event. From my viewpoint, post 80s is a group of people that is passionate, brave and rightful. And these characteristics are rarely founded in the older generations. Maybe it is because the older generations have much more other concerns other than fighting for justice, just like family and career burden. But no worries, I think now is a good time for us, the post 80s, to fight for the benefits for the society. Besides, some people may think our generation is lack of planning. However, I don’t think it is a weakness to us and oppositely we are flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changeable society. In fact, as a post 80s in the society nowadays, it is really hard to talk about “dream” achievement because of many restrictions and difficulties brought by the social system. For me, living healthily with my family without any worries is already an ideal life for me. The most important value is that no matter what kind of job you get in the future, never forget your reality and conscience.
4/13/2010
Week 11: The Generational Difference in Media Usage (Ming and Jackie)
Ming:
My dad was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in 1954, to a mother and father whose parents had all immigrated to the United States from Ireland and Wales. When he was five his parents and brothers moved to Seaford, Long Island, where they lived in a stereotypically sleepy, suburban neighborhood. My father grew up on a block of identical houses built right after World War II. Each house was a slightly different color, with a backyard, driveway, and front lawn. During his childhood he amused himself with sports and games he played with his three brothers.
My father remembers a television being an integral part of his childhood early on, from at least the age of eight. He was never allowed to watch it as much as he would have liked because my grandfather was very cynical and derisive of the device in general and referred to it as the “boob tube.” However, when my dad was allowed to watch it he recalls watching shows that he liked, such as “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Mod Squad.” When he was around my age, he remembers watching a lot of his favorite television show, “M*A*S*H.” Although he mostly listened to the radio as a child to hear his favorite baseball games, he later on watched TV more often to see his favorite baseball and football teams.
I can tell that the radio had a huge influence on my father’s life; he still listens to his favorite talk shows to this day, and falls asleep listening to the radio at night. My father said he clearly remembers what it was like to hear the Beatles first play when he was about nine or ten years old, but he also remembers watching them in black and white on television, playing a sold-out, frenzied concert at Shea Stadium in 1965. I grew up listening to the radio in the car, but unlike my father, the television played a much bigger role in my childhood than it did in his, and I rarely listen to the radio anymore, except for certain programs on National Public Radio. However, even those tend to be on podcasts and not when they are broadcasted on an actual radio.
Jackie:
My parents grew up in a very different setting than I. They both grew up in mainland China, whereas I was born and raised in New York City. During the 1970s and 1980s, my parents relied mostly on radio and print media to learn about what was going on in the world. Television was also a growing media at the time, but because it was not as easily accessible for my parents, it did not play much of a role in their lives. My father still, to this day, very rarely watches television.
My media usage both growing up and now, however, differs so enormously from my parents when they were my age. I grew up with the television being an important part of my life; I watched hours of cartoons every Saturday morning, and received much of my earlier education from shows such as Barney and Sesame Street. Having grown up in an electronic age, it is not surprising that I now rely mostly on the Internet and television for news. I do listen to the radio at times, but even then, I often stream it from the Internet or download podcasts through iTunes.
None of the media sources that I use now were available to my parents when they were my age, and I feel lucky to have such technologies. Although my parents both know how to use the Internet, neither of them use it to the extent that I do. They do not rely on online versions of newspapers like I do—my father reads Chinese print newspapers, and my mother watches the news on television or reads the free newspapers that are handed out on a daily basis in the New York City subway. My parents have an attachment to print newspapers because it is what they grew up with, even though to me, using the Internet seems so much more convenient.
My dad was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in 1954, to a mother and father whose parents had all immigrated to the United States from Ireland and Wales. When he was five his parents and brothers moved to Seaford, Long Island, where they lived in a stereotypically sleepy, suburban neighborhood. My father grew up on a block of identical houses built right after World War II. Each house was a slightly different color, with a backyard, driveway, and front lawn. During his childhood he amused himself with sports and games he played with his three brothers.
My father remembers a television being an integral part of his childhood early on, from at least the age of eight. He was never allowed to watch it as much as he would have liked because my grandfather was very cynical and derisive of the device in general and referred to it as the “boob tube.” However, when my dad was allowed to watch it he recalls watching shows that he liked, such as “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Mod Squad.” When he was around my age, he remembers watching a lot of his favorite television show, “M*A*S*H.” Although he mostly listened to the radio as a child to hear his favorite baseball games, he later on watched TV more often to see his favorite baseball and football teams.
I can tell that the radio had a huge influence on my father’s life; he still listens to his favorite talk shows to this day, and falls asleep listening to the radio at night. My father said he clearly remembers what it was like to hear the Beatles first play when he was about nine or ten years old, but he also remembers watching them in black and white on television, playing a sold-out, frenzied concert at Shea Stadium in 1965. I grew up listening to the radio in the car, but unlike my father, the television played a much bigger role in my childhood than it did in his, and I rarely listen to the radio anymore, except for certain programs on National Public Radio. However, even those tend to be on podcasts and not when they are broadcasted on an actual radio.
Jackie:
My parents grew up in a very different setting than I. They both grew up in mainland China, whereas I was born and raised in New York City. During the 1970s and 1980s, my parents relied mostly on radio and print media to learn about what was going on in the world. Television was also a growing media at the time, but because it was not as easily accessible for my parents, it did not play much of a role in their lives. My father still, to this day, very rarely watches television.
My media usage both growing up and now, however, differs so enormously from my parents when they were my age. I grew up with the television being an important part of my life; I watched hours of cartoons every Saturday morning, and received much of my earlier education from shows such as Barney and Sesame Street. Having grown up in an electronic age, it is not surprising that I now rely mostly on the Internet and television for news. I do listen to the radio at times, but even then, I often stream it from the Internet or download podcasts through iTunes.
None of the media sources that I use now were available to my parents when they were my age, and I feel lucky to have such technologies. Although my parents both know how to use the Internet, neither of them use it to the extent that I do. They do not rely on online versions of newspapers like I do—my father reads Chinese print newspapers, and my mother watches the news on television or reads the free newspapers that are handed out on a daily basis in the New York City subway. My parents have an attachment to print newspapers because it is what they grew up with, even though to me, using the Internet seems so much more convenient.
4/12/2010
The difference between me and my parents ( By Ann,Ivan and Cherry)
It’s really an interesting topic. After the interview, not only can I have better understanding about my parent’s childhood, but also have a deep conservation between me and my parents. My main interviewee is my father; he told me that when he was 20, the largest entertainment for him was watching television. Television programs at that time were just broadcasted a few hours a day, and only had black and white pictures. At the time, television was an unusual entertainment because not all family can afford to buy a television. Fortunately, his home got a television, so he can enjoy some TV dramas every evening. As I mention that, not every family can buy a television, so his neighbor’s children will come to his home to enjoy the TV drama every night. Because of the “ask for television activity” everyday, he can met his neighbors and understand them more easily. Apart from the television, radio was also the favorite media for his childhood. Most of the international news were come from the radio and he can reach everywhere around the world just sat before the radio. Also, he loved listening certain radio show host or DJ program, but the timeframe was subject to the broadcasting schedule. It was inconvenient for him to stay at home every day at the same time to listen to the radio, so he always cannot finish the whole story of the radio show.
When I asked him, were there any telephone and newspaper for you? The answer is NO! It’s unbelievable. How come there was no telephone on the world. Unfortunately, the truth is that. Even you can afford the price of telephone, but the other side you want to talk to cannot afford it, that means useless. When he was 20, the cheapest way to get information was from the people. Most of the news was come from his schoolmates and neighbors. However, the authenticity and the extensity of the news were low, so he always got fake news from his neighbors.
Nowadays, internet and television are my favorite. I seldom listen to radio. I can easily watch the TV program at anywhere. I do not need to go to my friend’s home to ask for television. Even though I missed the TV program, I can use the internet to search it out easily. There is no more restriction due to the broadcasting schedule. Also, everyone have a mobile phone. I can talk to my friend even she is on the other side of the world every time and everywhere. Not only can I hear her voice, but I can also see her face. What I need is just open the webcam on my computer. After the interview with my father, I really cannot understand how he can live without internet and telephone. But I admit that the “ask for television activity” really can strengthen the relationship between people. That’s why he still has contact with his neighbors now. This is what modern teenagers lacking of. That’s the reason why many people said that the teenagers who are called “after 80” are self centered. Because they can do everything just before their computers so that they will not go out and indulge in their own world. Everything has two sides. Technology can help us to interact with others easily in a virtual way, but it will also make us do not know how to communicate with others in person. However, if I can have a chance to choose, I will still choose live in now. It is because I cannot live without telephone.
When I asked him, were there any telephone and newspaper for you? The answer is NO! It’s unbelievable. How come there was no telephone on the world. Unfortunately, the truth is that. Even you can afford the price of telephone, but the other side you want to talk to cannot afford it, that means useless. When he was 20, the cheapest way to get information was from the people. Most of the news was come from his schoolmates and neighbors. However, the authenticity and the extensity of the news were low, so he always got fake news from his neighbors.
Nowadays, internet and television are my favorite. I seldom listen to radio. I can easily watch the TV program at anywhere. I do not need to go to my friend’s home to ask for television. Even though I missed the TV program, I can use the internet to search it out easily. There is no more restriction due to the broadcasting schedule. Also, everyone have a mobile phone. I can talk to my friend even she is on the other side of the world every time and everywhere. Not only can I hear her voice, but I can also see her face. What I need is just open the webcam on my computer. After the interview with my father, I really cannot understand how he can live without internet and telephone. But I admit that the “ask for television activity” really can strengthen the relationship between people. That’s why he still has contact with his neighbors now. This is what modern teenagers lacking of. That’s the reason why many people said that the teenagers who are called “after 80” are self centered. Because they can do everything just before their computers so that they will not go out and indulge in their own world. Everything has two sides. Technology can help us to interact with others easily in a virtual way, but it will also make us do not know how to communicate with others in person. However, if I can have a chance to choose, I will still choose live in now. It is because I cannot live without telephone.
Week 11 - Janice, Karen, Vanessa & Yannie
Generational difference in media usage:
youngsters in 1960's VS youngsters in 2000's
According to the technological determinism suggested by Marshall McLuhan, different modes of communication cause a cultural change and shape human life. As we are living in the computer-mediated culture, our current access to various media is certainly different to that of my parents’ generation in 1960-70s. Living in a global village, people can share the latest information via the internet simultaneously anytime. As students, we obtain the updated knowledge for our academic school work or simply for our interests and curiosity towards some specific issues, we, therefore, always surf the net to gather some relevant information, books and other credible print materials like newspapers and academic publications, are also the media we frequently access to. Whenever we have to conduct an academic research, we rely on books most in order to look for credible supporting statements and references.
On the contrary, whenever we want to have entertainment, being local youngsters, reading books or glossy magazines, listening to the radio, watching TV and going for movies in theaters are our common leisure. Although we can get lots of information while we are undergoing the above leisure activities, to entertain is our leading purpose of the access to those media. In the meantime, as the internet can provide us with entertainment where we may enjoy abundant pieces of music, songs, movies, books and even news for free, we may fulfill our different desires through the same media, disregarding that all the entertainment is the on-line form. In overview, we would suggest that the proportion of our current access to the print media (books, magazines and newspapers), to the electronic media (radio and TV), and the internet is 3: 2: 5.
From our knowledge after conducting some informal interviews with our parents, we would say that our parents’ media use at the young ages, 1960 -70s, was totally different from ours. As it had not developed into the computer-mediated stage at the time when our parents were young, our parents did not have the opportunity to access to computers, not to mention the internet. Thus, comparing to our daily life, our parents spent rather a lot more time in reading books, newspapers and listening to the radio for acquiring knowledge and entertainment. Some of them might even have the access to TV programs. In overview, we would comment that the proportion of their previous access to the print media to the electronic media was 7 : 3, excluding the computer and internet use. Apparently, there is a huge difference between our daily lives and our parents’ when they were young. We would like to hereby share some of the interesting findings of our parents’ media usage below.
In the 60s when Yannie’s mum was young, she liked watching TV. However, she didn’t have television at home, so when she wanted to watch TV, she had to go to some stores where there was an installed television. Yet, she had to pay for it as an entertainment. At first, it cost HK $5 cents and HK $20 cents the most later. She usually went there with her siblings or neighbors. It was just like going for movies nowadays. Watching TV was always a social activity for her at that time. And later, she met some friends who had a TV at home. Therefore, she could go to their flats and watched TV for free.
Years later, she was happy to have a black and white TV at home. It was because my mum was a fisher and lived on boats, the TV had to be connected to a small generator or a big battery which had been charged at some stores. There was an aerial in the TV and you had to tune it to receive signals. She was so excited whenever the TV received signals successfully. One day in the 70s, her family finally had a color TV. She enjoyed the time when the whole family sat together watching TV. Her favorite TV program was “EYT” (Enjoy yourself Tonight-歡樂今宵).
Besides watching TV, she liked listening to the radio too. She listened to some specific programs which were about current affairs or controversies, such as “18/F Block C” (十八樓C座) and some programs about ghost stories. Also, it was the only channel for her to obtain news. Anyway, the ‘news’, to her, was weather reports. At that time, there was not much international news available. People did not care so much of international news. As a fisher at that time, what she cared most was the climate and weather. She said there were many advertisements too. Many advertisements talked about the price of different kinds of products. Furthermore, she could listen to some local and foreign songs when listened to the radio, such as Elvis Presley’s songs.
Nowadays, at the 21st century, technological innovation has changed the face of media. ‘Developers are beginning to fuse telephone, television, fax, stereo, digital video, and computer into a single media center.’ It’s definitely true. Imagine what your mobile ‘phone’ can do. Of cause, you can call in and out with your mobile ‘phone’. But what’s more? You can listen to radio, listen to music, take photos and videos, and even watch TV. You can even do much more, such as reading news, checking and sending emails, surfing the internet if your mobile phones can go online.
In the case of Vanessa’ Dad, his favorite medium was the radio. He is a music lover and likes to listen to various kinds of music. Apart from watching some famous artists’ or bands’ performance like those of Sam Hui (許冠傑) and Wynners (溫拿樂隊) on TV, he was fond of being exposed to the western music through the radio. Uncle Ray’s radio program is one of his favorites as Uncle Ray kept broadcasting foreign pop songs on RTHK. ABBA, the Eagles and the Carpenters are some of his favorite western bands in his old days. Apparently, radio and TV are the leading media. People were just ‘fed’ by them. But now, we no longer solely rely on the radio and TV, in this computer-mediated century, we mainly rely on the internet. Once we search on the Internet, we can easily obtain lots of information about the latest songs, the most famous singers and works. We can get to know about the latest music trends and activities whenever we want via the internet. Hence, approaches and time to reach the world via the media are two major differences between us and our parents.
Moreover, comparing to our parents’ generation, the media usage has become more interactive nowadays. In the past, it was a one-way feeding communication done by the mass media. Today, we may lead the mass media as a reverse. For instance, when people upload a video clip onto Youtube and it will receive many hits if it interests the public. Because of netizens’ heavy likeliness, it may even appear on newspapers, TV and others media as a piece of soft “news”. Take the case of the Taiwanese, Lin Yu Chun, who sang “I will always love you” on a Taiwanese talent show as an example. His voice is great. Yet, no one would know about him if no one uploaded the video clips onto Youtube. Now, everyone worldwide can listen to his voice on the internet and because of the frequent hits, he has become a hot issue in many top shows worldwide and many mass media, such as ABC, BBC. The boy was even interviewed by Thompson Reuters. Nowadays, mass media is no longer the only parties which bring different music and news to audiences. Audiences can also become influential parties who bring start sharing and direct mass media. In other words, “one-way feeding” and ‘one-to-many’ are not appropriate enough to describe the current communication mode, but ‘many-to-many’.
In addition, because of the different media usage, our social behaviors have also been changed. Told by Yannie’s Mum, she often watched TV with her family members or friends in the past. But now, we seldom seriously sit in front of the TV and watch those programs because we may go online and select our own favorite TV programs or videos. Going to cinemas, to us and our parents, it still is a common and popular kind of leisure. Yet, we may watch movies on the internet as well. Hence, it is not a strong and frequent social activity for us when compared to our parents.
More significantly, media usage can go beyond our expectation and indirectly influence one’s life. Before the advent of the interactive internet, people made friends directly in person and through current friends’ referral. Today, you can simply make “friends” with whoever you are interested in through the function of Facebook. Much earlier than Facebook, MSN and even ICQ are popular online communication tools for people to connect with others and to meet new strangers. We may make new “friends” via those instant messengers even we have no idea about each others’ real identity. Some of our friends are even dating with someone whom they had never met in real person before. This phenomenon is not rare at all nowadays but if it happened in our parents’ generation, it might be heavily criticized as ridiculous. Back to earlier than our parents’ generation, Vanessa’ grandma and grandpa’s marriage also began with the help of a radio. When they were young, they stayed in a corridor in the public estate where they lived in when they were young. Every evening, they listened to the same radio program and discussed about the contents of the program. It was the beginning of their story. Likewise, media usage has kept influencing us, but just in different aspects and by different means.
For sure, technology innovation may increase the chances of connecting others as we have Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, blogs and other applications to share everything with the world interactively. It seems that we connect with each others with no distance in the age of Web 2.0. It seems that we are very close to each others as we can enjoy same songs, same TV programs and open conversations about similar topics or issues acquired from the mass media. However, are we really getting closer and closer while technology is getting more and more advanced? It is not absolute.
youngsters in 1960's VS youngsters in 2000's
According to the technological determinism suggested by Marshall McLuhan, different modes of communication cause a cultural change and shape human life. As we are living in the computer-mediated culture, our current access to various media is certainly different to that of my parents’ generation in 1960-70s. Living in a global village, people can share the latest information via the internet simultaneously anytime. As students, we obtain the updated knowledge for our academic school work or simply for our interests and curiosity towards some specific issues, we, therefore, always surf the net to gather some relevant information, books and other credible print materials like newspapers and academic publications, are also the media we frequently access to. Whenever we have to conduct an academic research, we rely on books most in order to look for credible supporting statements and references.
On the contrary, whenever we want to have entertainment, being local youngsters, reading books or glossy magazines, listening to the radio, watching TV and going for movies in theaters are our common leisure. Although we can get lots of information while we are undergoing the above leisure activities, to entertain is our leading purpose of the access to those media. In the meantime, as the internet can provide us with entertainment where we may enjoy abundant pieces of music, songs, movies, books and even news for free, we may fulfill our different desires through the same media, disregarding that all the entertainment is the on-line form. In overview, we would suggest that the proportion of our current access to the print media (books, magazines and newspapers), to the electronic media (radio and TV), and the internet is 3: 2: 5.
From our knowledge after conducting some informal interviews with our parents, we would say that our parents’ media use at the young ages, 1960 -70s, was totally different from ours. As it had not developed into the computer-mediated stage at the time when our parents were young, our parents did not have the opportunity to access to computers, not to mention the internet. Thus, comparing to our daily life, our parents spent rather a lot more time in reading books, newspapers and listening to the radio for acquiring knowledge and entertainment. Some of them might even have the access to TV programs. In overview, we would comment that the proportion of their previous access to the print media to the electronic media was 7 : 3, excluding the computer and internet use. Apparently, there is a huge difference between our daily lives and our parents’ when they were young. We would like to hereby share some of the interesting findings of our parents’ media usage below.
In the 60s when Yannie’s mum was young, she liked watching TV. However, she didn’t have television at home, so when she wanted to watch TV, she had to go to some stores where there was an installed television. Yet, she had to pay for it as an entertainment. At first, it cost HK $5 cents and HK $20 cents the most later. She usually went there with her siblings or neighbors. It was just like going for movies nowadays. Watching TV was always a social activity for her at that time. And later, she met some friends who had a TV at home. Therefore, she could go to their flats and watched TV for free.
Years later, she was happy to have a black and white TV at home. It was because my mum was a fisher and lived on boats, the TV had to be connected to a small generator or a big battery which had been charged at some stores. There was an aerial in the TV and you had to tune it to receive signals. She was so excited whenever the TV received signals successfully. One day in the 70s, her family finally had a color TV. She enjoyed the time when the whole family sat together watching TV. Her favorite TV program was “EYT” (Enjoy yourself Tonight-歡樂今宵).
Besides watching TV, she liked listening to the radio too. She listened to some specific programs which were about current affairs or controversies, such as “18/F Block C” (十八樓C座) and some programs about ghost stories. Also, it was the only channel for her to obtain news. Anyway, the ‘news’, to her, was weather reports. At that time, there was not much international news available. People did not care so much of international news. As a fisher at that time, what she cared most was the climate and weather. She said there were many advertisements too. Many advertisements talked about the price of different kinds of products. Furthermore, she could listen to some local and foreign songs when listened to the radio, such as Elvis Presley’s songs.
Nowadays, at the 21st century, technological innovation has changed the face of media. ‘Developers are beginning to fuse telephone, television, fax, stereo, digital video, and computer into a single media center.’ It’s definitely true. Imagine what your mobile ‘phone’ can do. Of cause, you can call in and out with your mobile ‘phone’. But what’s more? You can listen to radio, listen to music, take photos and videos, and even watch TV. You can even do much more, such as reading news, checking and sending emails, surfing the internet if your mobile phones can go online.
In the case of Vanessa’ Dad, his favorite medium was the radio. He is a music lover and likes to listen to various kinds of music. Apart from watching some famous artists’ or bands’ performance like those of Sam Hui (許冠傑) and Wynners (溫拿樂隊) on TV, he was fond of being exposed to the western music through the radio. Uncle Ray’s radio program is one of his favorites as Uncle Ray kept broadcasting foreign pop songs on RTHK. ABBA, the Eagles and the Carpenters are some of his favorite western bands in his old days. Apparently, radio and TV are the leading media. People were just ‘fed’ by them. But now, we no longer solely rely on the radio and TV, in this computer-mediated century, we mainly rely on the internet. Once we search on the Internet, we can easily obtain lots of information about the latest songs, the most famous singers and works. We can get to know about the latest music trends and activities whenever we want via the internet. Hence, approaches and time to reach the world via the media are two major differences between us and our parents.
Moreover, comparing to our parents’ generation, the media usage has become more interactive nowadays. In the past, it was a one-way feeding communication done by the mass media. Today, we may lead the mass media as a reverse. For instance, when people upload a video clip onto Youtube and it will receive many hits if it interests the public. Because of netizens’ heavy likeliness, it may even appear on newspapers, TV and others media as a piece of soft “news”. Take the case of the Taiwanese, Lin Yu Chun, who sang “I will always love you” on a Taiwanese talent show as an example. His voice is great. Yet, no one would know about him if no one uploaded the video clips onto Youtube. Now, everyone worldwide can listen to his voice on the internet and because of the frequent hits, he has become a hot issue in many top shows worldwide and many mass media, such as ABC, BBC. The boy was even interviewed by Thompson Reuters. Nowadays, mass media is no longer the only parties which bring different music and news to audiences. Audiences can also become influential parties who bring start sharing and direct mass media. In other words, “one-way feeding” and ‘one-to-many’ are not appropriate enough to describe the current communication mode, but ‘many-to-many’.
In addition, because of the different media usage, our social behaviors have also been changed. Told by Yannie’s Mum, she often watched TV with her family members or friends in the past. But now, we seldom seriously sit in front of the TV and watch those programs because we may go online and select our own favorite TV programs or videos. Going to cinemas, to us and our parents, it still is a common and popular kind of leisure. Yet, we may watch movies on the internet as well. Hence, it is not a strong and frequent social activity for us when compared to our parents.
More significantly, media usage can go beyond our expectation and indirectly influence one’s life. Before the advent of the interactive internet, people made friends directly in person and through current friends’ referral. Today, you can simply make “friends” with whoever you are interested in through the function of Facebook. Much earlier than Facebook, MSN and even ICQ are popular online communication tools for people to connect with others and to meet new strangers. We may make new “friends” via those instant messengers even we have no idea about each others’ real identity. Some of our friends are even dating with someone whom they had never met in real person before. This phenomenon is not rare at all nowadays but if it happened in our parents’ generation, it might be heavily criticized as ridiculous. Back to earlier than our parents’ generation, Vanessa’ grandma and grandpa’s marriage also began with the help of a radio. When they were young, they stayed in a corridor in the public estate where they lived in when they were young. Every evening, they listened to the same radio program and discussed about the contents of the program. It was the beginning of their story. Likewise, media usage has kept influencing us, but just in different aspects and by different means.
For sure, technology innovation may increase the chances of connecting others as we have Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, blogs and other applications to share everything with the world interactively. It seems that we connect with each others with no distance in the age of Web 2.0. It seems that we are very close to each others as we can enjoy same songs, same TV programs and open conversations about similar topics or issues acquired from the mass media. However, are we really getting closer and closer while technology is getting more and more advanced? It is not absolute.
4/11/2010
Karen, Kason, Man, Winnie: Week 11 "Generational difference among different media"
Study: "The media usage difference between our parents and generation Y"
Many media theorists claimed that technology is an essential external force of the social changes, and people are all moved by the technologies elements. In other words, the society is transformed based on the technical advances rather than cultural changes in any community. At the very beginning of the human communication, people could only express their messages to others with spoken languages and later on, graphics. After the invention of the woodblock printing tactic in 220, people had another channel to communicate with others and even spread their ideas widely. Afterwards, the technicians and scientists devoted to contrive more and more media to improve human’s life in terms of communication. Then, there were telephone, radio, television, and, later, computer existing in human history in specific periods of time. Some scholars indicated that the presence of any new technology will penetrate into the society and cultivate people’s habits and culture practices, and thus, form into media usage. Briefly, people in different generations have made use of existing technologies with different usage patterns, just like our parents and us. Let’s discuss that in the following and examine the reasons of that.
Hong Kong people fifty years ago lived in a primitive lifestyle. Most Hong Kong families have very little money; children in these poor families either play on the street, or work as a “child worker” in factories to earn money for their families. In those years, people are more likely to acquire news from radio and television. And for the leisure time, they went to watch films or dated in the countryside. In 1970, the Hong Kong Government carried out many policies actively. Almost every family in the 4 million population owned one set of television. The information spread out due to the high usage of television made Hong Kong people more willing to learn different knowledge or news from all over the world.
Few years later, the Hong Kong population became youth-oriented, with their lifestyles affected a lot by the Western culture. And one very important policy carried out by the Hong Kong Government is a nine years free education program. People tended to advance learning English. In virtue of the policy, children have the right to go to school; television cooperated with the Education Bureau Department, and produced the ETV (educating television programs) for the junior students. Thus, television was more commonly used by the Hong Kong people at that age. In a later stage, with the Western movies and music trending up, popular artists and bands (such as Wynners 溫拿樂隊) showed up in different magazines. People also love to read the gossips and celebrities interviews in the magazines, too.
We found that our parents in our age used television and radio most commonly. The reason is roughly because of the development of the Hong Kong economy, and the abundant resources shared. Most of the Hong Kong people worked in the manufacturing industry in that century. They worked in factories; therefore, they often listen to the radio for music and news while working. Moreover, our mothers at our age are probably already married, thus, they spent most of their time at home, doing house chores and taking care of the family.
Besides, our parents had very little leisure activities during their holidays. Hence, they tend to watch television (which has sounds and visuals) that allowed them to watch fashion shows, TV programs, wrestling competitions, or dance performance etc.—a medium that is more entertaining than other media at that time.
Nowadays, we tend to rely on the television and the Internet heavily. While the television has become a part of our daily lives, its importance seems to be overshadowed by the Internet. The Internet can be referred to as a “revolution” of media, because not only can we watch reruns of TV shows online for entertainment, we can also gain information of current events and watch old news programs. We can even chat and webcam with our favorite celebrities online, with immediate responses. With more and more companies and advertisers turning to the Internet as a medium for business and interactivity, youngsters nowadays enjoy more and more entertainment from the Internet. One perfect example is Youtube and Facebook.
Meanwhile, in the communication aspect, most of us automatically turn to the Internet to “find our friends” instead of the phone, for example, using the Windows Live Messenger program, which allows us to chat with our peers. Only if our friends are “offline” do we then choose to dial our friends’ numbers. Even so, we may choose to text our friends an “SMS” message instead of actually calling the friend. So, it is no wonder that researchers claim that youngsters today are seen having more communication problems, for example, the “train boy” phenomenon.
As for radio, which is the most frequently used media back in our parents’ generation, it has been less in used in generation Y. This may be due to the fact that the radio only has audio, but no visual. Since we are so used to having both audio and visual, as well as interactivity, the radio has become a less mainstream medium in our generation.
The generational difference occurs because of the technological advancement. It is the key element in triggering the change in media usage. The emergence of Internet provides a multi-functional platform for the general publics. In the past, various media platforms were independently separated. As TV was more entertained, it became a more popular platform for the people, including our parents. But now, we can use our computer to access the Internet. Afterwards, we can conveniently gather information from different types of media. For instance, our computer allows us to watch television, listen to radio, and read newspaper online at the same time. Our computer becomes a multi-functional mechanism for combining all the media and entertainment. As technology improves, our usage on the improved media is affected. From a previous stage in which our parents used multiple media for entertainment and information, to the current stage in which we could use a single medium for the same things, technology has greatly deepened our generation gap between our parents and us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing
Many media theorists claimed that technology is an essential external force of the social changes, and people are all moved by the technologies elements. In other words, the society is transformed based on the technical advances rather than cultural changes in any community. At the very beginning of the human communication, people could only express their messages to others with spoken languages and later on, graphics. After the invention of the woodblock printing tactic in 220, people had another channel to communicate with others and even spread their ideas widely. Afterwards, the technicians and scientists devoted to contrive more and more media to improve human’s life in terms of communication. Then, there were telephone, radio, television, and, later, computer existing in human history in specific periods of time. Some scholars indicated that the presence of any new technology will penetrate into the society and cultivate people’s habits and culture practices, and thus, form into media usage. Briefly, people in different generations have made use of existing technologies with different usage patterns, just like our parents and us. Let’s discuss that in the following and examine the reasons of that.
Hong Kong people fifty years ago lived in a primitive lifestyle. Most Hong Kong families have very little money; children in these poor families either play on the street, or work as a “child worker” in factories to earn money for their families. In those years, people are more likely to acquire news from radio and television. And for the leisure time, they went to watch films or dated in the countryside. In 1970, the Hong Kong Government carried out many policies actively. Almost every family in the 4 million population owned one set of television. The information spread out due to the high usage of television made Hong Kong people more willing to learn different knowledge or news from all over the world.
Few years later, the Hong Kong population became youth-oriented, with their lifestyles affected a lot by the Western culture. And one very important policy carried out by the Hong Kong Government is a nine years free education program. People tended to advance learning English. In virtue of the policy, children have the right to go to school; television cooperated with the Education Bureau Department, and produced the ETV (educating television programs) for the junior students. Thus, television was more commonly used by the Hong Kong people at that age. In a later stage, with the Western movies and music trending up, popular artists and bands (such as Wynners 溫拿樂隊) showed up in different magazines. People also love to read the gossips and celebrities interviews in the magazines, too.
We found that our parents in our age used television and radio most commonly. The reason is roughly because of the development of the Hong Kong economy, and the abundant resources shared. Most of the Hong Kong people worked in the manufacturing industry in that century. They worked in factories; therefore, they often listen to the radio for music and news while working. Moreover, our mothers at our age are probably already married, thus, they spent most of their time at home, doing house chores and taking care of the family.
Besides, our parents had very little leisure activities during their holidays. Hence, they tend to watch television (which has sounds and visuals) that allowed them to watch fashion shows, TV programs, wrestling competitions, or dance performance etc.—a medium that is more entertaining than other media at that time.
Nowadays, we tend to rely on the television and the Internet heavily. While the television has become a part of our daily lives, its importance seems to be overshadowed by the Internet. The Internet can be referred to as a “revolution” of media, because not only can we watch reruns of TV shows online for entertainment, we can also gain information of current events and watch old news programs. We can even chat and webcam with our favorite celebrities online, with immediate responses. With more and more companies and advertisers turning to the Internet as a medium for business and interactivity, youngsters nowadays enjoy more and more entertainment from the Internet. One perfect example is Youtube and Facebook.
Meanwhile, in the communication aspect, most of us automatically turn to the Internet to “find our friends” instead of the phone, for example, using the Windows Live Messenger program, which allows us to chat with our peers. Only if our friends are “offline” do we then choose to dial our friends’ numbers. Even so, we may choose to text our friends an “SMS” message instead of actually calling the friend. So, it is no wonder that researchers claim that youngsters today are seen having more communication problems, for example, the “train boy” phenomenon.
As for radio, which is the most frequently used media back in our parents’ generation, it has been less in used in generation Y. This may be due to the fact that the radio only has audio, but no visual. Since we are so used to having both audio and visual, as well as interactivity, the radio has become a less mainstream medium in our generation.
The generational difference occurs because of the technological advancement. It is the key element in triggering the change in media usage. The emergence of Internet provides a multi-functional platform for the general publics. In the past, various media platforms were independently separated. As TV was more entertained, it became a more popular platform for the people, including our parents. But now, we can use our computer to access the Internet. Afterwards, we can conveniently gather information from different types of media. For instance, our computer allows us to watch television, listen to radio, and read newspaper online at the same time. Our computer becomes a multi-functional mechanism for combining all the media and entertainment. As technology improves, our usage on the improved media is affected. From a previous stage in which our parents used multiple media for entertainment and information, to the current stage in which we could use a single medium for the same things, technology has greatly deepened our generation gap between our parents and us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing
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