Understanding key terms

Over the past few decades, mass media have become an organic part of our lives, so much so that we might not even be fully aware how much they affect our perception of certain phenomena, or how much have we learnt through them, consciously or unconsciously. However, I think most of us would agree on the fact that the rapid flow of information made the everyday life far easier. This epoch we live in, that started to develop some time after World War II had ended, in which mass media is the prevalent means of communication (thanks to the advances in technology that also took place in this era), is the so-called postmodernity. For this to be realized, the media had to go through a couple of phases of development. Formerly different media had to come together, e.g. to shift to a new, joint platform, or at least to become connected to one another in some way, which has made the information more accessible for people. This notion is known as convergence. Also, since information is flowing all around the world in every minute, and there is an active exchange of goods, and of knowledge between countries, different nations from different parts of the globe are coming closer and closer to each other, and are influecing each other. This is a lengthy process, and is known as globalization.

In today’s media, simulation plays an important role. Simulation is basically an imitation of something real. Images displayed in media don’t necessarily represent reality in any means.