The Research Of Media As Human Memory

The relation of media and memory may be considered as expansion of media studies to memory studies, and vice versa. As an important area of research in the fields of psychology, sociology, computer science, history and culture, memory concerns not only the individual’s perception of past experiences but also the individual’s self-perception. Apart from these, memory also concerns collective memory and social memory, i.e., how the community or the society constructs and transmits its own history and cultural memory, how human civilization accumulates and evolves in history. Since media act as a huge container and necessary carrier of these memories in the inheritance, the study of media memory becomes a major breakthrough and innovation in the traditional study of memory. With the infinitely prolonged time axis and the expanding boundary of memory, the use and influence of media breaks through the barriers of time and space as far as memory-sharing and memory-transmitting are concerned. At the same time, the globalization of media and the variety of content and forms broaden the scope of memory research.Based on the present media technology and the trend of media, this paper begins with the previous studies of memory in the fields of psychology, sociology, history, culture, computer science, employs the theories and methodologies from communication, sociology, psychology, memory, analyses the history, current situation and tendency of media memory in the contexts of new media and globalization, studies the features and functions of media memory in different districts (or space), discusses the social hierarchy of media memory and constructs the theories of its own.First, the paper sets the scope of media memory by combing the rationale of media memory and distinguishing media memory from historical memory, cultural memory, individual memory and collective memory, thus laying the foundation for the construction of its own theory. Second, by analyzing the working mechanism of media memory, the inner workings of media memory and the factors which may influence its workings are abstracted. Third, the essay presents the functions and effects of media memory related to individual memory, collective memory and social memory, and then, reflects the positive and negative effects media memory may have on the various communities. Fourth, the paper classifies the various problems in media memory, and explores memory disorders, memory distortion and loss of media memory from the perspective of pathology. The paper concludes with the outlook of media memory from the macro point of view of the development of media technology. It is predicted that the digital media memory is home to human memory, and the construction and improvement of "global brain" will surely expand memory space for human beings.