Media

Life

Mark Deuze

An expert on media life

Living in media

versus
Living with media

media artifacts

Humans and
Machines:

A convergence?

Making a living on

YouTube

with 1 thing in common

Dear reader,
Welcome to the first (and only) edition of Media Life. This is a magazine we created as an assignment for the
course Media Life at the University of Amsterdam as taught by Mark Deuze. In this edition we discuss several
topics that have to do with living in media as opposed to living with media. Theres a distinct difference
between the two as will become clear in one of the articles (see page 3). Furthermore, wed like to inform you
about the trajectory of media artifacts and look at how theyve been getting smaller and smaller and closer
and closer to our body (see page 7).
We hope you enjoy this first (and only) edition of Media Life.
Happy reading!
Abigail Tjhay and Pam Swinkels

Content
03

How to live in media

Pam Swinkels

Pam Swinkels

Abigail Tjhay

Abigail Tjhay

05
07
09

Youtubers: making money by living in media

Taking control: 4 media artifacts with 1 thing in common
Dealing with media

11 Colofon

How to live in media

odays world can be seen as what Roger

Silverstone (2007, p.111) calls a mediapolis:
a mediated public space where media underpin and overarch the expressions of everyday life. In
this world we do not live with media, but in media
(Deuze, 2012, p.1). Now the question is, how can
we live a good life in media? Quite often there is a
pessimistic view on the growing technology. Storing
and sharing everything leads for example to the loss
of serendipity, too much information, an inauthentic
self and a disconnection from reality. The problem is
that we do not really have a choice. It seems like we
have arrived at a point in time where an unmediated
life is inconceivable and even impossible. Media and
life are mutually implicated. Even though we think
we have control over it, that is not always the case
(p.28).

The problem is that we do not really have a choice. It

seems like we have arrived at a point in time where an
unmediated life is inconceivable and even impossible.

Living in media means being watched at all times

by government agencies, companies and businesses,
as well as by anyone else. But living life in modern
media and with todays technology has its advantages. Firstly, this surveillance has rewards. If you follow
the system the way you are supposed to and if you
fit the standard, you can really gain something from
it. Secondly, attention is addictive. Attention creates
dopamine in your brain and that is something we

all crave. Thirdly, nowadays it is part of our needs to

see and be seen, and what better way to do that than
with current technology. Lastly, our media life helps
with social bonding and grooming. Technology has
given us the chance to communicate in many different ways and it helps us to stay in contact with our
friends (Deuze, 2012, p.116-130).
There are also adaptive advantages of living in media.
One of them is the point of seeing and being seen, as
discussed before. Furthermore, media also helps us
learn what (not) to do. We only have to look up a recipe to make a dish or play a videogame to know what
it feels like to be in a war. Again, modern technology helps us manage social groups. And finally, our
primary reason to adapt is the struggle for existence
and mates. Current media has made that a whole lot
easier (Deuze, 2012, p.205-215).
So there are benefits of this media life. But there is no
doubt that technology will only become bigger and
stronger. How do we live with that? Mark Deuze says
that there are three options: a war against the machines, surrender to mediated reality or become media (and hack life). Samuel Butler is one of the people
who was afraid that the inevitable conclusion of the
evolution of media is that the machines sooner or
later will gain the upper hand. And that the solution
is a war to the death with machines (Deuze, 2012,
p.217). Another option is to just surrender to this
mediated reality. We do not have much control over
it, so that is the easiest way to deal with it. Maybe just
3

inform ourselves a bit more about technology. But we

can also go all the way and become media ourselves
(p.220-222).
In conclusion, do not only focus on the downsides
of modern technology and media. Maybe it leads to
more individualization and a disconnection from
reality in some way, but on the other hand it also
has its advantages. As Vilm Flusser stated: living
in media means a person will no longer be a worker
(homo faber) but rather an information processor,
a player with information (homo ludens) (1990,
p.399). For more information on living life in media,
I recommend everyone to read the book Media Life
by Mark Deuze.

Literature
Deuze, M. (2012). Media Life. Cambridge: Polity
Press.
Flusser, V. (1990). On memory (electronic or other
wise). Leonardo, 23(4), 397-399.
Silverstone, R. (2007). Media and morality. Cam
bridge: Polity Press.

living in media means a person will no longer be

a worker (homo faber) but rather an information
processor, a player with information (homo ludens)

Pam Swinkels

YouTubers: Making money by living

in media

This is not just their hobby, for most of them it is their

job.

s Mark Deuze states in his book Media Life

(2012, p.x), we do not live with media, but
in media. Who you are, what you do, and
what all of this means to you does not exist outside
of media. Media are to us as water is to fish. (Deuze,
2012, p.x). However, not everyone has this feeling
that we live in media. But there are people who are
perfectly aware of it and even made it their profession; the so-called YouTubers. YouTubers are YouTube personalities, people or groups who are popular
because of their videos on YouTube (Wikipedia, list
of YouTube personalities). They are also referred to
as vloggers, which is a shortened form of video bloggers, because that is what most of them do. Instead
of writing a blog, they talk to a camera and upload
it on YouTube. Some of them are beauty gurus or
gamers or singers. But the actual vloggers do not do
anything specific, they are normal people who talk
to a camera about what is on their mind or they film
their daily lives. This is not just their hobby, for most
of them it is their job. If they get enough subscribers,
they can make money from their videos on YouTube.
They can earn up to 5000 for mentioning a specific
product and up to 25.000 for advertisements on
their YouTube-channels (Chawla, 2014).
Even though many people still have never heard
about these YouTubers, they get bigger every day.

YouTube attracts more than 1 billion viewers a

month and they watch more than 6 billion hours of
video (YouTube statistics). YouTube reaches more
American adults than any cable network (YouTube
statistics), but youth between the ages of 11 and
15 actually watch half as much television as adults,
mostly because they use YouTube as their source of
entertainment (Sweney, 2014). Furthermore, a survey
of Variety showed that YouTubers are more popular
than mainstream celebrities among American teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 (Ault, 2014).
So, these YouTubers often walk around with a camera and they document their lives, but that is not the
only kind of media they use. They are very active on
other social media such as Twitter, Tumblr and Snapchat. But they are also very often in the news or on
television. Lately, YouTubers also get a lot of opportunities to make their own albums, have their own
brand of beauty products, play in a movie or write a
book (Solsman, 2015). On the other hand not everyone agrees with the fame these YouTubers get. They
are being criticized, because some people think they
are talentless and should not get these opportunities
(Bish, 2014) or that they are bad role-models (Hamilton, 2014). But why are they so successful then?

YouTubers often walk around with a camera and they

document their lives, but that is not the only kind of
media they use.

Because YouTube is accessible for everyone, millions

of people from all over the world can watch these
YouTubers.

Last year I did a research on why these YouTubers are

becoming so popular. Using a theoretical framework,
in-depth interviews and social media, I was looking
for an answer to the question: What motivates young
people to spend their time watching videos of YouTubers?. In short it can be said that the main reason
for youngsters to watch YouTubers is because it is a
form of entertainment. The videos are amusing and
help people beat their boredom. Also some YouTubers actually learn their viewers something, that is
also a reason to watch them. They are so appealing
because they are regular people with similar lives as
the viewers, which makes it very relatable. That is
also the biggest difference between YouTubers and
people on television or other media. It is much more
real. The videos are made in their bedroom, without
a script or director. The YouTubers have total control
over everything. There is also much more of a community around YouTube than around other media
(Swinkels, 2014, p.1,14).
Because YouTube is accessible for everyone, millions
of people from all over the world can watch these
YouTubers. They have cleverly made use of modern
technology and they now make money by documenting their lives online. Thus, if you realize that you
cannot escape this media life, it is also an option to
make the most out of it.
Pam Swinkels

Literature
Ault, S. (2014, August 5). Survey: YouTube stars
more popular than mainstream celebs among U.S.
teens. Variety. Accessed April 26, via http://vari
ety.com/2014/digital/news/survey-youtube-starsmore-popular-than-mainstream-celebs-among-u-steens-1201275245/
Bish, J. (2014, September 4). Vain and Inane: The
Rise of Britains Dickhead Vloggers. Vice. Accessed
April 26, via http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/vlog
gers-are-the-death-of-entertainment-194
Chawla, D.S. (2014, September 28). The young
vloggers and their fans who are changing the face
of youth culture. The Guardian. Accessed April 26,
via http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/
sep/28/vloggers-changing-future-advertising
Deuze, M. (2012). Media Life. Cambridge: Polity
Press.
Hamilton, C. (2014, October 21). Of course, teenage
girls need role models - but not like beauty vlog
ger Zoella. The independent. Accessed April 26,
via http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/
sure-teenage-girls-need-role-models--but-not-ofthe-zoella-kind-9809136.html.
Solsman, J.E. (2015, April 23). Generation YouTube:
Todays fastest-rising stars arent coming out of
Hollywood. Cnet. Accessed April 26, via http://
www.cnet.com/news/generation-youtube/
Sweney, M. (2014, November 25). Teenagers and
tweens watching TV half as much as adults, Ofcom
finds. The Guardian. Accessed April 26, via http://
www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/25/teenag
ers-watch-tv-half-adults-ofcom-report
Swinkels, P. (2014). I cant stop watching YouTubers:
What motivates young people to spend their time
watching videos of YouTubers?
Wikipedia. List of YouTube personalities. Accessed
April 26, via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_
YouTube_personalities
YouTube statistics. Accessed April 26, via http://
www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html

Taking control: 4 artifacts with

1 thing in common
Remote control. Video recorder. Joystick. Mobile phone.
Over the years media artifacts have been getting
closer and closer to our body. Just looking at the
way these four artifacts have changed over the years
shows that devices have been getting smaller and
smaller so much so that theyre incorporated in
other devices or even more stunning; some cases
where you have become the device. This trajectory
could be interpreted as taking more control over
the devices, but are we taking control over the
devices or are the devices taking control over us?
Lets take a look at the trajectory of media artifacts
through time.

1.

Its the year 1956. The Zenith Radio Corporations brings the first wireless remote control
on the market: the Zenith Space Command.
With this remote control you could change the channel and the volume. If you wanted to turn your TV
off, youd still have to get up and physically turn it off.
A remote control is a way to control you, it controls
you to sit in front of a TV. Through the years the
remote control has been getting smaller and its got
more functions. The process of this device becoming
smaller has come so far that todays remote control is
our body. The invention of motion sensing technology has made it possibly to control your TV or other
remote controlled device through your own movements. Youre in control now, not the remote control,
you. Theres nothing between the device and you but
space.

When you watch TV, you watch what are called programs. The head of programming used to be very important. Its called programming because it programs
you to sit in front of the television. You could only
watch that series you like so much at eight pm on a
Thursday. So, what has caused the shift that allows us
to watch any series or movie on Netflix whenever we
want?

Suddenly, it wasnt only possible to control what

programs to watch, but also when to watch them.

2.

Along with the first wireless remote control came the video recorder. A device that
allows you to shift programming. Suddenly,
it wasnt only possible to control what programs to
watch, but also when to watch them. It defeated the
purpose of programming. The premise of the video
recorder is appealing, you can record anything you
want and keep it however long you want. You have a
lot of control. What happened to the video recorder
is interesting. Todays video recorder isnt a separate
device anymore, its built into the device. It also lives
on your tablet and phone. It keeps evolving with us
and becoming more discreet.

4.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone

in 1876. It completely changed the way people communicated. News could travel really
fast.
The
only restriction is that you had to be at
Then in 1967 the joystick, which had been
around for a long time in the military, was in- home (and in a certain place in your house) to make
tegrated in video games. Whats so significant a call. In 1973 Motorola introduced the first mobile
about a joystick? What can you do with your joystick phone, it weighed 2 kilograms. From that moment
that you cant with a remote control? Moving around the mobile phone has experienced great and very
rapid innovations. There are almost no restrictions
a joystick changes the experience on the screen for
to using a phone anymore, its small enough to be
you. Youre no longer a passive bystander, you can
on your body at all times. You can not only use it for
actively change what happens on the screen. It was
making phone calls but you can use it as your calenunique to your engagement with media. Now we
dar, your to-do list, you can listen music, play games,
have game consoles like the WII and the Playstation
Move that let you control the screen with your body. go on the internet and use all your social media. You
can even control your TV with your phone.

Youre no longer a passive bystander, you can actively

change what happens on the screen.

3.

There are almost no restrictions to using a phone

anymore, its small enough to be on your body at all
times.

Were now at a place where many people wont leave

the house without their phone. And are incredibly
dependent on having it with them. So this poses the
question: are we in control of our media or is media
in control of us?
Abigail Tjhay

Dealing with media

We are slowly becoming one with our media. How
can we deal with this constant connectedness with
the world?

hen the first steam locomotive was introduced in 1804 a whole new world opened
in terms of transport. Suddenly, geography wasnt as important, not everything needed
to be close to the city anymore. This was the first
moment of compression of time and space in the
modern world. Produce could be transported over
great lengths in very little time (at least compared
to the previous situation). Around the same time
the telegraph was invented, which enabled people to
communicate immediately over long distances. Keep
in mind that the only mode of communication beforehand was sending letters which could take weeks
or even months over long distances.
The early 1900s brought along the automobile as
most prominent mode of transportation. Which
made travel possible whenever one would please,
transport became even easier than it was before. This
was also the time that the telephone had its big break.
Many people had a telephone at home, you no longer
had to know Morse code to get a message across,
making communication across long distances much
more accessible for normal people (Knox, 2005).

Space and time had very little meaning left at that

point.

After that came the inventions of airplanes, computers and later the World Wide Web. Space and time

had very little meaning left at that point. Traveling

halfway across the world will only take you about 24
hours and through the internet you can get in touch
with people from Europe, America, Asia and Africa

with the press of a single button. You could speak of a

compression of time and space (Giddens, 1990). We
live in a society where its impossible to live without
media. Over the years theres been a trend of not only
more use of media but also a more constant use of
media (Deuze, 2012, p. 39). According to research
in the Netherlands 70% of Dutch citizens dont leave
the house without their cell phone (Ipsos MediaCT,
2013).
We are constantly connected to each other through
Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter etc. When you think
about it, thats a lot of notifications coming in on a
daily basis, thats a lot of stimuli to deal with. Simmel
(2003) posed the question of how we, as people, deal
with an overflow of stimuli when living in a city. We
couldnt possibly process everything that comes at us.
Simmel says that people develop a blas attitude as a
9

When you think about it, thats a lot of notifications

coming in on a daily basis, thats a lot of stimuli to
deal with.

defence mechanism against the large amount of stimuli that the city throws at them. You could suggest
that everyone whos connected to the internet lives in
a virtual metropolis (van Thiel, 2015) and that weve
created a blas attitude towards the large amount of
notifications we get and the connectedness we live in
24/7. We dont process everything anymore and pick
and choose what we deem important enough.

Literature
Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity.
Cambridge, UK: Polity. 1 54
Ipsos MediaCT (2013). Our mobile network.
Amsterdam
Knox, P. L. (2005). Urbanization: An introduction to
urban geography. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Simmel, G. (1903). The Metropolis and Mental
Life. Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson, eds. The
Blackwell City Reader. Oxford and Malden, MA:
Wiley-Blackwell (2002). 324 - 339
van Thiel, N.J. (2015). De smartphone als sociaal
kapitaal.

Abigail Tjhay

10

Colofon
This magazine was created as an assignment
for the course Media Life at the University of
Amsterdam in 2015.
E-mail
this-isnt-real@medialife.com
Editor
Abigail Tjhay
Co-editor
Pam Swinkels
Art direction
Pam Swinkels
Cover
Abigail Tjhay
Lay-out
Abigail Tjhay
Journalists
Abigail Tjhay, Pam Swinkels

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