Yi Lin- Have the new media changed our lives for the better?

New media has changed our social lives for the better by allowing us to know what is happening in other people’s lives every day. Without new media, people had to visit their friends or relatives frequently or talk on the phone to get in touch with each other. These activities are time-consuming and expensive, considering the travelling time and cost and the phone bills we receive at the end of the month. With the help of new media, we can view the blog posts, photos of others whenever we want to. For example, with social networks like Facebook and Twitter, we can post comments, pictures and videos about our daily lives and our friends will be able to view it. This makes it convenient for us to get in touch with our friends as we will be able to know what is going on in their lives and comment on them. It is also time-consuming as we do not have to meet up with them personally to be able to talk to them. However, people may feel that socializing using the internet is not as good as meeting our friends in person as they are limitations to what we can do on using the computer. For instance, we cannot touch them physically. Some may feel that this is what makes it different from talking to their friends in person. But with the improvements in technology, we can ‘poke’ others using Facebook and see them via webcams on MSN. Therefore, new media has changed our lives for the better as it makes socializing more convenient.