Closing thoughts

 Digital technologies have changed and impacted virtually every facet of human life, including how we learn, work, conduct businesses, and even out political processes. The capacity of digital technology to change lives, economies, cultures, and societies is universally accepted. From the development of mobile phones to the advent of the internet, digital technology disruptions have enhanced the field of communication, making it easier for people to create and access content seamlessly. This includes the ability to control communications and make interpersonal communications more effortless.

Communication has grown increasingly visual, and specifically more video-based, as a result of digital technologies. The development of mobile gadgets with advanced camera features, coupled with high-speed internet, has enabled the instant transmission of breaking news and global events to millions of people. This means news and information containing more details than previously possible can travel faster and cover more distance. For example, information about and video from the Beirut explosion reached millions worldwide within minutes of the blast in the Lebanese capital, killing more than 200 people.

Digital technologies have also provided new resources to help individuals socialize in the workplace and develop new skills. This is especially important for communication professionals, including journalists and reporters, whose productivity is hinged on staying connected with colleagues. These tools have also made learning new skills easier by making resources more accessible.

We go together like Apple and Music

Before iTunes, music was different. Buying a song meant walking into a brick-and-mortar store and buying a physical record or CD. All of that has changed.

iTunes not only made it easier to find the music you wanted to hear, but it also made it easier to buy. Today we're used to digital content marketplaces, like the App Store and the Google Play Store, but that idea of centralizing and distributing content entirely online started with iTunes. It helped us transition from an analog music world to today's digital music landscape.

With iTunes, you no longer had to buy a whole album to hear a single song. That meant you could get the songs you wanted and get them for a lot less money. Consumers loved it. But because so many people were starting to buy individual songs and ignoring albums, the music industry was forced to adapt. That meant releasing more singles and shifting the focus away from albums and longer projects.

Netflix and Kill...the entertainment industry

 This article outlines how the streaming service Netflix made its initial foray into original programming and its impact on how modern consumers watch television.

Netflix fitted into the world’s cultural lexicon; “Netflix and chill” became part of common parlance in the same way that “Google” transitioned from a noun to a verb. Suddenly, Netflix had become part of modern online life like eBay, Apple, and cat videos on YouTube.

Influential or Disruptive?

In business theory, disruptive innovation is innovation that creates a new market and value network or enters at the bottom of an existing market and eventually displaces established market-leading firms, products, and alliances.  

This video and this article describes disruptive innovation and focuses on how large companies can be taken down by smaller companies with cheaper, simpler products that better fit the consumer’s wants or needs.