HANGING WITH MR. COOPER…smith

The Coopersmith article was an article that expressed what he felt starts technology.  He feels that pornography was the reason that new technologies are created and is credited with shaping society as we know it today.  I feel the same as he does.  Coopersmith has countless stats to back up what he feels about.  He says that the pornography industry is one of the few in the world to still make a profit and have a steady percentage of internet sales.  He says that it all started with the printing press to the VCR, to now the internet.  He more or less gave a timeline on new technologies and how they are related to porn. 

The VCR was his first main technology discussed.  The VCR allowed the “shameful” feelings of watching porn, to be in the comfort of your own household.  You didn’t have to go down to a theatre and seek what you’re interested in seeing.  Now, the privacy was at an all time high and the sales of porn on video, sky-rocketed and laid the path for an increase of VCRs.  This ultimately shaped our society from watching movies to even education both at home and in school.  From this stemmed the “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) porn, with the addition of camcorders.  Now, anybody willing to, can become a producer and make their own private movies.  They could sell them for a profit, or just keep it for themselves.  Soon, video stores would begin selling these DIYs and making more money and it became an important part of the porn industry.  These videos often cost less than professional made videos, so more people were willing to purchase them.  In the late 1970’s, it was estimated that over half of the videos were pornographic.  That’s an unavoidable stat and thus did shape our economy and society.

Now, with the addition of the internet, porn has taken another shift in shaping our society.  The internet provides users with the same privacy, of porn, as the VCRs do, but with an increased amount of availability and choice like never before.  Such things as CD-ROM, video games, links and interactive activities, porn was growing with the internet and re-shaping it.  With the amount of money invested, the porn companies are seeking better ways to reach and serve their customers.  These new technologies will allow other industries, like educational services, to use what the porn industry has come up with to better our society.  

Porn has shaped our society in ways that we don’t even know.  We don’t know because we are uneducated and just the topic alone is enough to scare people away.  We need to stop being so ashamed and shy, and start to see what they have learned to better our selves and society for the future.