As we landed on Jose Marti Airport in Havana, Cuba, me and my three other friends were having mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety; it was our first time in a communist country and we knew nothing about it. We could not book our hotel beforehand since there was no proper websites for hotels, and we were not even sure if we would make it to Cuba. We tried turning our cell phones on but we did not have service. After settling in some hotel that the cab driver took us, we found out that their credit card machines has not been working for a while and we had to pay cash. There were no TVs in the rooms, or nowhere in the hotel for that matter. There was one ancient computer in the lobby which was very slow and almost all websites were forbidden.
Cuba is a socialist country where everything is owned and controlled by the government including media. In Havana, they have few local newspapers, not many households have TV or radios, very small percentage of people have cell phones and they barely use them. In 21st century when we cannot even breathe without media, there is a nation that has never been introduced to it. Media is a way of communication between masses; it is social, cheap, amateur and unstoppable. Today, it is heavily dependent on technology. Although Cubans do not have the technology, it does not mean they do not have media. They created media in their own way. Each community has created media depending on its needs and way of life. Everywhere in the world media has the same purpose: communication; but what it is depends on the standard of living of that community. There are no websites or guides about Cuba for tourists to check the best restaurants, there are no advertisements or TimeOut Havana magazines. I observed that their best media tool is the word of mouth; all the information is conveyed through one on one interaction with people. Another most significant media in Cuba is music; wherever you go there are groups of people singing and dancing. In the capitalist world, media used to be for professionals to broadcast messages to amateurs; but technology has changed the way we consume media. Today, the professionals reach public and public can communicate directly with one another as well. Media is not just professional anymore; the former audience is now an active participant. Undoubtedly, internet has the largest role in changing the nature of media. It opened up new job opportunities; blogs enhanced the notion of free speech. Another thing I detected in Cuba was the limitations on communication; it is true that they have media in their own way, but it is not enough to reach the outside world, or even outside the neighborhood. Life without a cell phone or internet is not impossible it is simply very limited. These mediums expand our worlds; enable us to reach to more people and information. There is always a way to express yourself, such as music in Cuba, but it only reaches to people that are passing from the street at that time. It is not the same medium as music we know it: a recorded medium that is distributed to masses globally. Media they have in Cuba is cold whereas for us majority is hot media.
Mcluhan states “The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance.” (Mcluhan, 9) I do not agree that media changes our lives; we develop and shape media as our lifestyles change. Prior to establishment of metropolitan cities, smaller families, people used to live in communities where communication was very easy and people knew everything about the neighborhood. Privacy was an issue at that time as well, since it was such a small community. Today as people started living in large cities, communication got harder and need for other ways was naturally expected. Internet and other media have enabled people to feel like part of a certain community; sense of community is shifted from being physical to being cyber. And as our lifestyles continue to change, it is inevitable that media will change as well.
The recorded media is changing the patterns of ownership in the entertainment business; for instance, the movie business has been fighting against piracy and copyright infringement ever since recorded media devices became available to the public. But it is not just that. Digital media is manipulating the limitations of time and space. Things that are becoming more cyber rather than digital are not just objects but people themselves too. While being physically there at the concert, people are not really there to enjoy the moment. We don’t appreciate live or real anymore, as much as we do the digital. So we end up with our videos saved in our laptops, without having any memorable, lived experiences.