Fifty years ago, the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth broadcast her first Christmas message on television. This past season, the Royal Communications Department (so I call it) was thoughtful enough to bring this traditional broadcast online by establishing a premiere YouTube Inc. presence -- coincidentally called The Royal Channel. With more than one million views in just three months, the Royal Channel is yet another fine example of how tradition and technology are still blending together to continuously form our new digital landscape.
Although the 1957 TV broadcast was Queen of England’s first-ever video production, the annual Royal Holiday message was a tradition started by the King some 25 years earlier when it was produced for live radio. In her address, a young Queen Elizabeth pointed out how technology was advancing rapidly. By having her message broadcast on TV, she explained that her reign becomes much more personal to those citizens never touched by the Royal way of life.
The Queen also made an interesting and prophetic comment regarding the social dilemma people will ultimately face in the unknown expanse of new technology. Referencing her revolutionary television broadcast, the Queen stated, “That it is possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us. Because of these changes, I’m not surprised that many people feel lost and unable to decide what to hold on to and what to discard; how to take advantage of the new life without losing the best of the old.”
It’s amazing to listen to the Queen’s broadcast and realize how relevant her words are today. It may seem humorous now to think that in 1957 things were moving quickly, but change is a relative measure that depends on your personal perspective. Today, the challenge of deciding what technologies to embrace and which ones to leave behind still lingers for all of us.
For example, if you have yet to experience any part of the virtual world of Second Life, take an hour and witness how technology is pushing for a completely new environment of communication and commerce. In my case, that one hour was enough for me to decide not to embrace this new social technology, despite its appeal to millions of others. Is it necessary to consider the social impact as we transition into technology dependency? According to the Queen, we absolutely should.
In this new era of digital segmentation and instant access to every fact, fiction, or fetish, we must all take a look at how we interact and contribute within our own space and time. Burning countless hours online, on some PDA, or on a new wired entertainment device does not define who we are as individuals or as a society.
Are we seeing a shift where new moral standards are being re-developed online only to contradict our offline traditions? With a catchy fake username, a Web-based email, and a funky personal avatar you can become whoever you want to be online. But how do we teach future generations to maintain the traditional values that have kept our civilization intact for so many years?
Being middle aged in this digital era, I get the unique opportunity to see a large senior population reject social participation online, while the younger generation drives most of its activity. Fifty years from now, will the words of Her Majesty the Queen remain valid? I tend to believe that true traditional values will continue to dilute further. The increase of social technology will make those values yet another minority movement from our past. For now, just keep on clicking.
— Peter W. Bowman, Executive Vice President, Avericom
I would not look at it as being completely bad. Are most of these individuals using it because lack of time for social participation? For example I attend college online for my doctorate degree, because of my responsibilities.
I don't think that it's so bad. I know a lot of senior people who get involved in socail participation on-line.It's not so active as some of younger people's.but not every young boy and girl use 100% of Internet.I realized that Second Life is not for me as well and lots of my friends don't like it either.Every one finds in Internet what he/she is looking for.Some people have something that "will never materialize anything positive in return", but many find friends and knowledge and opportunities that would be imposible without the Internet. Of course, people always do something wrong with the power and tools they posses(nuclear energy and nuclear bomb for example).But let's hope that 50 years later, when there is something else really new, they will say, it was so clear with radio, tv and internet- they can't really damage the society but this new damn thing...:)))
Normally I am not a pessimist at all but looking ahead I see two Internets shaping up and in serious conflict. One is a vibrant and worthwhile social, business and philanthropic media and the other is nothing more than an Internet ghetto of wasted time, space and online relationships between societal dregs that will never materialize anything positive in return. This whole evolution will be another global test to see how man handles what I like to now call "broadband freewill".
I was positively surprised to see that the Queen Elizabeth II keeps up with new ways of communicating with people despite her age and the potential threats that go with the new technology. She is aware of the impact she will have on a large audience by joining web 2.0. Her goal is "to reach a wider, and younger audience through the popular video-sharing Web site". And I think she is achieving her goal with the number of views in just three months. LONG LIFE FOR THE ROYAL CHANNEL!
By posting the 1957 video alongside with the 2007 one, the Queen is still aware of the world constant change and her message to all of us is that we should know how it is important to preserve our traditional values that have maintained our civilization so stable through the preservation of our family ties. One of the things that make the Queen happy in this changing world, is the stability of her family that enables her to see her beloved ones on her side when she need them. She said that "the positive value of a happy family is one of the factors of human existence that has not changed. The immediate family of grandparents, parents and children, together with their extended family, is still the core of a thriving community.
To maintain the traditional values that have kept our civilization intact for so many years, parents should start spending valuable time with their children and make them understand the importance to preserve the family and the community values in whitch they are living. Today, It is frustrating how we devote much of our time to our so many myspace.com and facebook.com (virtual) friends than we do with our parents and children, rendering the concept of famity obsolete. The consequence is that if we continue with this trends, not only will our traditional values be diluted, but they will eventually mean nothing to the future generation. We should think about how to use the technology to preserse our real families and communities and not replace them with our "online communities" It urges that we think about it NOW, and not "just keep on clicking".
I read your post with a 'heavy heart' and i think there is no better way to describe how much your post expressed my innermost fears and concerns. At least i've been encourage by the facts that there are still people out there who have great respect for our once cherished traditional values. We are now living in an age where everything is 'relative' and the internet has certainly blown matters off. It's now true that most of us have one identity off-line and another on-line and sadly though we seems to be enjoying our on-line lives at the detriment of some vital social goals.
And as you rightly pointed out th future does not look promising as the so-call 'Generation Y' sees the internet as their 'panacea'. With the internet throwing an avalanche of web applications daily on our paths, it seems we are powerless to hold on to our traditional norms in the face of this social menace. It won't be too long though before people start en-acting to the fullest their virtual lives in the real world.
The million -dollar question now is what can be done to maintain some balance? Is it too late now to act or simply powerless to do anything about it? Can we just sit and watch how the internet continually erode our core social values and in the process redefine the way we live? I'm afraid there is little we can do and even at that, it would be an exercise in futility!!!
I think that the Queen hit it right on the money with her comment of people not knowing what to hold on to, etc. One thing that I am seeing with all of this technology, is that we may be depending way, way too much on it. As a result, are we letting go of too much of the "old"?
How many times do we see the power going out, and offices that just 15 years ago would still be running, now come to a screeching halt. Think about how many places cannot even bring up a simple record any longer if the "system is down". How many kids would be unable to compile research for a term paper from books, if they did not have access to the internet any longer?
While technology certainly does have a definite place in business and in personal lives, I think we need to take a few steps back and rethink how we're doing things a bit. Is it really such a good idea to be so dependent on technology, that we can no longer even carry out the simplest function of obtaining a file if the computer is down? Is it wise to get into a position where a computer outage could and has shut everything down, including the corner grocery?
In the end, I think there is still lots of room for the "old way" of doing things, if for nothing else, as a back up to save your butt in a situation where computers (or other technologies) are down and out. I keep a "regular" phone plugged in at all times, as I got sick and tired of my cordless not working every time the power went out. And, I find that I actually stopped using my cordless and went back to my "old dependable". And yes, I do have a cell, which I use quite a bit, but it really is nice to have the old phone back as well. Also, I got tired of throwing a perfectly good phone away every few years, because when it died, it was cheaper to replace the entire phone then buy the battery. Seemed like a waste to me.
I use the computer daily for my work, but even I have started to look at what deep trouble I would be in should the entire system go. Following my own thoughts, I have begun to work at developing all sorts of non computer backup plans.....hoping I never have to use them, of course!
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