Essay On Effects Of Modern Technology On Societal Culture: An Ethnographic Report

The capstone assessment for this course is in the form of an ethnographic report.

1.research question (i.e.- what are you hoping to observe?)

when writing research, it is important that your paper remain focused.  Your research question(s) are the guide for your paper that informs the reader about what you are hoping to find.  The research questions are important for a research paper. They will appear in the Introduction of your paper.  In this section, explain what your paper is about, why you chose the topic, and why your topic is important to research.  Cite the information from your references hear to support your beliefs.  

2.Methodology (i.e. how did you carry out the project?)

The Methodology is its own section within the paper.  While this section isn't the most entertaining, its job is to clearly describe how you carried out your observations for the project.  During this section describe the methods you used for your observations-how you made the observations ( live or recorded)- and how often the information was collected.  

3.Report of your findings (i.e.-what did you observe?)

Within the Results section explain what you observed, and support this with evidence taken from your personal notes, or quotes from interviews.  Take special care to attribute all ideas to the appropriate source.  In this section stay focused, and only include information that is relevant to your research question.

4.Interpret your findings (i.e. what do you think about your findings?)

This final section (discussion section) has two functions (1) to analyze your findings, and present conclusions based on those findings.  During this section you will look critically at your findings to notice patterns or unique observations that you feel are important for supporting your research question(s) (2) to evaluate how you carried out your research, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of your methodology and any limitations of your study.  Also, if your observations do not support your research question(s) here is the place to propose ideas or suggestions for further research.  

Ethnography as one of the branches of Anthropology refers to the systemic and social study of the human culture of a specific group or even society (Hutchby & Moran-Ellis, 2013). In this study of the culture of a group or society, the researcher document or even writes down his or her observation of the culture from the contest of the participants. Culture, on the other hand, involves the way a specific or certain society or group conduct its affairs. For example, from the family, community or musical events from the social culture. In this project, I will research on positive impact brought by modern technology on societal culture more so family, community and event of cultural music. The relationship between culture and technology can be regarded to as cyclical. It is the culture of a certain people that will provoke them to develop certain technologies by obtaining motivation from certain factors such as the needs and desires of the people in that culture among others. It is also important to note that as technology spreads and develops it has the ability to totally absorb other people’s way of life. Basically the intentions of this particular write-up are to find positive impact brought by modern technology on societal culture more so family, community and event of cultural music (Buckingham , 2013).

The research question for this particular report is “What are the effects of modern technology on societal culture more so the family, community and event on cultural music?”

Various methods were used in data collection. Depending on the nature of this particular topic of interest in order to truly understand the effects that technology has had on culture it’s important to understand the people. Various people from various backgrounds were used as participants so as to identify what it that has changed as far as the family is and cultural music has been impacted by modern technology.

Some of the methods used for data collection were use of questioners and surveys, interviews were also conducted and these were of various kinds such as interviews done over the phone, one on one interviews among others. Observation was also another method that was used. Observation was one of the methods that played a very great role in this research. It allowed the study of extremely dynamic situations where technology had adversely affected culture and cultural integration and issues. Ethnographies, oral history and case studies also had a part to play in this research. This is a technique of data collection that involved studying a single phenomenon and carefully examining their natural setting. Some of the data obtained was pulled out from other historical documents and records (Spaargaren, 2011).

Results

Based on the data obtain, the following were some of the findings unveiled;

1. Technology has affected culture both negatively and positively
2. Technology has also had some effects on the family, both positive and negative
3. Technology has revolutionized cultural music

Based on the findings that were obtained, the following is an interpretation on each of them

So many aspects of our lives today are influenced by technology. For instance it was found out that in agriculture the introduction of machines that can plant, harvest have revolutionized it. This has resulted to reduced need for manual labor implying that there are much fewer jobs in the rural areas than they were before. This has resulted into urbanization as many people are trying to shift to the town centers (Atkinson, Coffey, Delamont, Lofland, Lofland, 2001)

Also on some of the interviews that were conducted, it was observed that there has been an increase in the knowledge gap that exists between persons who have had an access to much more advanced technology that those who have not. Technology has also brought about civilization; people are now in a position to carry them in a much civilized manner portraying their attitude and sense of belonging to a certain way of life that is much better.

Technology has also had a negative mark on cultural values and standards of various people across the globe. From the research conducted it was noted that the behavior patterns of young people especially those between the ages of 20-45 have changed. Most of them are exposed to pornographic materials thanks to technology and technological advancements. This has greatly eroded their moral values as they engage themselves in early sex which in turn leads to wanted and early pregnancies.  The findings also indicated a rising number of young parents each and every day, which is not a bad thing but these young parents cannot support themselves and their children. The dependency ration has increased. Statistics show that the dependency ratio has been increasing with about 2.3% ever year (Taylor, 2014)

There are number instances that technology has helped break and reduce barriers that have existed between various families but also at times technology has been seen to create divisions among members in a family.

Looking at the family aspect, we see that technology has developed from just simple and mere computer gaming, simple chatting and even video calls. This has made parenting quite a tough duty than it has ever been before (Wajcman, 2010).

Some of the positive impacts of technology of the family setting are outlined below;

Discussion

Technology has facilitated and coordinated the change of plans among family members. In the early days when technology was not that advanced, family members had to informed earlier about changes in plans activities but with the increased advancements in technology it’s easy to communicate and inform family members of plans and also any changes made in regard to the plans.

Technology has made it possible to reach out to family members in the case they are in trouble. This has been made possible by the location tracking devices that are present today. Cell phones can now be fitted with tracking devices that make it possible to facilitate the tracking of family members (Fleron, 1997).

Apart from the few positive impacts of technology on family, there are also some negative effects that have been brought about by a direct consequence of technology. These negative effects are outlined below;

Technology has resulted to total lack of quality time among family members. It is always important to share quality time with each other in a family. Technology has, however, deprived the family from this very important aspect. Most of the family members are usually glued to their phones busy chatting on social media and other technological social platforms.

Limited outdoor activities, technology has to a very great extent reduced the outdoor activities that families used to have. Outdoor activities have the ability to increase and strengthen the nod that exists between family members (El-Shinnawy & Vinze, 1997). This has not been the case since technology is make each family member busy on their own forgetting the need for outdoor activities to create a long lasting bond between each other.

Technology has completely altered the structure and composition of the so called cultural music. The aspect of culture in modern music has been completely eroded. Roles of various people in the music industry such as song writers, singers and instrumentalists have been completely changes by technology. The taste of music by various persons has completely changed. From the research that was conducted an interview showed that 89% of the participants preferred contemporary music with much modern settings that the original cultural music. Their argument was that things have changed and so should music (Ong, 2012).Gone are the days when people would use the old instruments and the traditional ones, it’s now time that musicians and song writers employ new and modern electronic instruments in their work.

Moreover, an interview that was held with modern musicians and song writers revealed that they prefer using the modern instruments and avoid as much as possible not to include more than enough cultural aspects in their songs because the current generations does not fancy old school songs and song design but rather they prefer the modern tempo which they feel is much cool.

Conclusion

This research was so dynamic in nature and complex. A number of problems were encountered in the cause of the research such as language barriers with participants, lack of enough resources to complete every aspect of the report among others.

However, it can be concluded that the research was a success and the research question was fully and satisfactory answered. Yes, indeed technology has greatly affected societal culture more so the family, community and event on cultural music (Feenberg, 2012).

References

Atkinson, P., Coffey, A., Delamont, S., Lofland, J., & Lofland, L. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of ethnography. Sage.

El-Shinnawy, M., & Vinze, A. S. (1997). Technology, culture and persuasiveness: a study of choice-shifts in group settings. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 47(3), 473-496.

Fleron, F. J. (1977). Technology and Communist culture: the socio-cultural impact of technology under socialism. Praeger Publishers.

Hutchby, I., & Moran-Ellis, J. (2013). Children, technology and culture: The impacts of technologies in children's everyday lives. Routledge.

Mitchelstein, E., & Boczkowski, P. J. (2009). Between tradition and change: A review of recent research on online news production. Journalism, 10(5), 562-586.

Taylor, T. D. (2014). Strange sounds: Music, technology and culture. Routledge.

Pigott, G. (2017). Seafood: effects of technology on nutrition. Routledge.

Spaargaren, G. (2011). Theories of practices: Agency, technology, and culture: Exploring the relevance of practice theories for the governance of sustainable consumption practices in the new world-order. Global Environmental Change, 21(3), 813-822.

Buckingham, D. (2013). Beyond technology: Children's learning in the age of digital culture. John Wiley & Sons.

Wajcman, J. (2010). Feminist theories of technology. Cambridge journal of economics, 34(1), 143-152..

Feenberg, A. (2012). Questioning technology. Routledge.

Ong, W. J. (2012). Rhetoric, romance, and technology: Studies in the interaction of expression and culture. Cornell University Press.