Humanness on The Internet

Today, the internet plays a big role in our daily lives, especially in communication. Previously, people sent letters or faxes to their business counterparts. In the informal context, people used to make phone calls whenever they had to contact people. However, today, people can easily deal business by sending the paper work through emails. People no longer call each other, but they chat online. Internet seems to make our lives easier. Internet saves our time. Hence, we can save our time to do other things.

On the contrary, internet causes people to depend on it too much. For instance, people say that they cannot live without the internet these days. The net becomes a very crucial part of their lives; furthermore, some even become addicted to it. When this happens, people no longer use the internet as a tool for communication. Thus, it leads people to connect to the internet anytime and anywhere.

So, how can we employ the internet in human communication without sacrificing the ‘human’ aspect of communication??

As human beings, people have emotions. In order to show emotions, people have to communicate face to face in order to perform it. One way to show your emotions is communicating via the phone to substitute the face to face communication. It is believed that the ones speaking are able to convey his/her emotions through his/her voice. In the internet context, people cannot totally communicate their emotions. People express their opinions and ideas via words. However, this might not be the case anymore. Due to the technology advancement today, people can communicate via the video conferencing.

In reality, even though the video conferencing helps us to convey our emotions as depicted in our facial expressions through in the web, it still lacks the basic human feelings. People cannot totally feel the deep emotions through image on the screen only. People have to meet each other in order to do it. Hence, traditional face to face communication still has more advantage.

In today’s technological advancement era, it is impossible not to use technology as a part of our lives, but we have to limit ourselves. We use the internet as a medium in communication, and not to depend our communication solely on the internet. Hence, we have time to engage in the real world communication, which is the face to face communication. Thus, limiting our time in engaging on the internet is necessary. Additionally, knowing the right way to use the net is also crucial which means not to be addicted to the net.

Is there any other way that we can employ the internet without sacrificing the ‘human’ aspects??

MEDIA HEGEMONY

What is media hegemony?? According to Antonio Gramsci, the media in this era represents the views of the powerful elite with political and economic power. The media does not let public express their ideas, especially the opposition views. Opposition views are banned. The media only shows whatever news that benefits the powerful elite.



For instance, there was a time where media hegemony exists in Indonesia. It was the time called “New Order” during President Soeharto regime which lasted for 32 years. He was well known for his authoritarian leadership. The media at that time was not free to make a full coverage of the national and international news. They had to get approval before they were able to publish the issue. The media was oppressed especially in publishing article that comprises critic to the government. The most evident phenomenon was the closing of several print media, such as, Tempo magazine. The magazine company was forced to close because it reported negative critic that offended the ruling government.

At that time, government established a media organization to ensure the media freedom. However, the media organization turned up to be the government watchdog in the media industry. Every negative critic and opinion about the current leader was repressed. At that time, media hegemony was practiced because it was one way to ensure the continuity of the leadership. However, the hegemony collapsed in 1998. Since democracy was introduced, media gained their freedom to make a full coverage of every news around the country and around the globe. This era was known as the “Reformation Era”.



Today, technology advancement plays a big role in the media industry. For instance, the rise of the internet as the ‘new media’ serves as a medium to deliver the news. Mobile phones and television enable the media industry to deliver their message efficiently. Hence, people’s knowledge are not limited to one point of view only. People absorb a lot of information from the media today. Due to the vast information that they can access, people view things from many perspectives. Hence, the viewer are more educated today.

Additionally, democracy also plays a major role in today’s media development. Since the rise of democracy, the media are able to publish critics about the current issue in the country. The pressure from the authority no longer exists. No opposing views are banned. However, the civilians’ voices have to be delivered in an ethical manner. It should not be delivered arbitrarily.

In today’s context, with the technological advancement that lead to more educated viewers and democracy, is it still possible for media hegemony to flourish?? Is media hegemony a healthy style for the media industry??