Blog Post One

Julian Breyette
Blog Post One
Professor Casanueva
September 23rd, 2014

     In Miller's "Television Studies: The Basics" he discusses a vast array of topics. One that I could personally relate to was that of young people being extremely inclined to use social media, saying that "When new technologies emerge; young people are identified as both pioneers and victims - the first to know and the last to understand" ( Miller 25) growing up I was always amongst the first to use emerging social media sites; I had Tumblr back in 2010, deleted Facebook by 2012, and became addicted to Instagram sometime that same year.
     In an article titled "Instagram is more important than Facebook to teens" posted on SocialTimes.com, information gathered from a study conducted by Piper Jaffray proved that between 2012 and 2014, Instagram became the most important network amongst teens. This information proves Miller's point that as time goes on, trends change and youth are the first to adapt to these new changes. Miller also points out that "moral panics emerge," (Miller 25) such as parents joining Facebook to check up on what their children are doing. The article on SocialTrends.com confirms this by pointing out that while Facebook still has more users than Instagram, it is far less important to teens than the square-photo sharing smartphone app; "Facebook still dominates in terms of usage, with 80 percent of 12-24 year-olds on the platform." (SocialTrends.com)
      Instagram does include ads in their users, feeds as well as all other social media networks, which brings up the point of mediums of technology being used as economic tools.
      While these views could be viewed as biased due to them being from Television Studies 1.0, I personally think that the points Miller makes regarding the nature of Television Studies 1.0 hold true to life not only today, but also throughout history; "-cheap novels In the 1900s, silent then sound films in the 1920s, radio in the 1930s, comic books of the 1940s and 1950s, pop music and television from the 1950s and 1960s..." Therefore, I believe that the trends of technology; social media, television, cinema, and all other mediums will continue to evolve and youth will continue to be the first to discover them. While Miller says we are the last to understand them however I am not completely sure that I agree. Perhaps in the context of when he wrote the article the statement would have made more sense, but today I would definitely say the youth is the first to understand new technologies.