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Published on 06/23/1999 All articles from this issue

Where are we headed with new communications?

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By David L. Grey

Media Watch

Speed. Efficiency. Easiness. Laziness? Where are our evolving media headed with some of their technologies? To monitor the experts, it seems we're destined for ever-faster transmissions and deliveries-ever-more information circulated at ever-more convenience (more portable, less bulky) at eventually "reduced" costs.

And trimmed to help condense many future work-leisure patterns, habits.

Traditonal news media are already being challenged by ready accessibility of so many more and faster news, features and advertising.

One conspicuous exception, and thus to illustrate by contrast, is the weekly newspaper. While the Los Altos Town Crier is online and more diversely available, it still functions primarily to be once a week, for a week.

A weekly stresses local names, issues and occurrences. It deals with our times but in blocks of days rather than overnight or hours to minutes, even seconds.

As Town Crier editor Bruce Barton describes it, weekly newspaper reading still tends to be "relaxed." Each edition has a "longer shelf life" than daily printed or online papers and broadcasts (with likely some Sunday exceptions).

Let us now not even try tallying all possible permeations among developing Internet connections, from dial-up modems to perhaps 10-times-faster telephone digital subscriber lines (D.S.L.) to promised twice-faster-than-D.S.L. cable modems. Many of us are headed towards being instantly online, which means even more time freed to try to take on still other things.

But then, stop. We've also got multi-functioning technology systems (including so-called information appliances) which can "screen" information while we shower, make coffee and/or trade antiques. Time-savers, we're told.

Rather than more traditional isolated signals of broadcast stations, we are entering the worlds of "broadbanding." Thanks especially to expanding telecommunication giants, our futures will encourage all kinds of messages, other communication and consuming behaviors at roughly the same instant.

Of course, we already do some of this when the television or radio, or even both, are turned on when we have paper, magazine or book in hand. Or obviously, AM/FM stereos are already common staples in our kitchen or car/truck/SUV.

Just add cell phones, pagers, even laptops and mini-entertainment centers to multiplying highway habits and it should be sobering how far we've already gone into multi-tasking, with all its lures and implications.

Without leaning just on negatives, we need to consider all the newer learning, communicating and "listening" skills these multi-media appliances are now expecting us to juggle. Are we going to be absorbing background messages (including music) or adding still other noises?

Forget the Walkmans. We're talking potentially big-time message bombardment that is ever-more "together" in the name of time and effort efficiencies or escapes from single-task constraints.

Now seems overdue to think about these speed trends with their added push toward more all at once-if and when we can make the moment.

David L. Grey, Ph.D, is professor emeritus of journalism at San Jose State University , where for 24 years he taught and researched on media law and ethics. He is a Mountain View resident.