Digital Culture

“A post-industrial economy is one in which an economic transition has taken place from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy.”

Our cultural conditions have changed in the rise of the digital age. We saw mass manufacturing in the industrial age. Then we moved into the mass consumption particularly in the 80s and 90s of, the cinema, television, newspapers, magazines and so on. The Frankfurt school talked about Americanisation and saw American media like Henry ford’s production line, constantly turning out advertisements and celebrities to keep us dumbed down.  

This is constantly being spat out to the consumers but in resent years the consumer has got the chance to become the producer and the manufacture. The viewer has the chance to make content based on what they like from their bedroom. Now with the rise in the digital age we are beginning to manufacture software and code rather than heavy machinery we stay at home and work from computers rather than going to work everyday. 

The change of the cultural conditions has shown that modernism has the power to change life for the better. We don’t have to make products in factories anymore because we have machines to do it for us, then machines to make the machines. We as a culture are making things more and more easy so we can focus on more important things like new technology. Technology is ever evolving and we as the consumers have to push it forward. These cultural changes are the by-product of consumer society. 

Today leisure and consumption determine our experiences in life rather than having work and production experience in the industrial age. Today it is far more social. We can pick and choose what we want to do, see or even change identities to fit what we want and don’t want. In the past there was limited things you do with your life. Now we can exploder our interests and likes and build our lives around that. 

Glen Creeber and Royston Martin (2009). Digital Cultures. Berkshire: Open University Press.