1. Identify the ways in which new media impact your life.

New media in the Communication Age foster the convergence of old and new media, allowing for connections across boundaries, borders, and countries with the click of a button. These new forms of mediated communication are deeply integrated into our everyday lives.

2. Explain why the characteristics of the First and Second Media Ages are important to your study of communication.

The Electronic Tradition (First Media Age), also referred to as the Electronic Age or Electronic Media, includes media that require users to make use of electronics to access content. Because of the multifunctionality of many new media devices, such as the smartphone, researchers created a new classification for technological advancements, called the New Media Tradition (Second Media Age).

3. Describe the qualities of new media and how they influence communication.

In the context of your everyday lifestyle and behaviors, you engage and interact with new media due to their qualities of participation and empowerment. For the first time, the Communication Age enables us to be in control of our media.

4. Describe the characteristics of new media theory.

New media theory was designed to describe the unique, customized communication styles of today.

5. Explain how identity is formed through new media and their relationship to communication.

Identity development, the presentation of self online, and community are shaped in various ways through new media. New media in the Communication Age are about the endless experiences of entering into a virtual reality.

6. Examine how new media foster community.

Remember some of the characteristics of new media: interactive, personalized, creative, flexible, and always evolving. These characteristics of new media help to foster community in the Communication Age.