I am a Prosumer In the making
What is a prosumer? A Google search will
suggest that it is an “amateur user of electronic equipment that is of a
standard suitable for professional use.” However this is incorrect, a prosumer
is a concept explored by Ritzer and Jurgenson which morphs the word Consumer
and Producer “both
production and consumption rather than focusing on either one (production) or
the other (consumption)’ (Riztzer & Jurgenson 2010, p. 13), where we the consumer also simultaneously
are performing the functions of the producer in other words 'prosumption'.
But are we really a prosumer? When I first
heard of this term I immediately rejected the theory, I hated the idea that I was
a prosumer or more specifically that I was a producer. But after I gave a hard
look at my life I had the sad realisation that yes I am most definitely a
prosumer. Due to living in the age of social media site such as Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube presumption has impacted our everyday life heavily, “Given the
recent explosion of user-generated content online, we have reason to see
prosumption as increasingly central,” (Riztzer & Jurgenson 2010) This can be seen on my Facebook page
where I produce my content “facebook posts” and I am also a consumer by following
others and reading their posts.
I am not only a prosumer on the internet
but I also in my everyday life, when I go to the supermarket I “consume” the
products I want and need for the week, but I also act as the “producer” when I go
to the self serve section and scan my own items. When I go see a movie at the
cinema I get a $5 discount because I am a student hence I “produce” and “consume”
the identity of a student.
At the end of the day are we not all
prosumers? Every day we both consume and produce information from and to our
surroundings, we produce and consume our identity of who we are to the world. Thanks to social media as technology advances
so will “prosumption,” it seems that prosumption is inevitable and unavoidable
part of our lives and like it or not it’s here to stay.
References:
Ritzer, G & Jurgenson, N 2010 ‘Production, Consumption,
Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 10 no.
1, pp 13-36.
Links:
Link 1: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prosumer
Link 2: http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2010/07/03/the-shift-from-consumers-to-prosumers/
Link 3: http://thesocietypages.org/sociologylens/2009/01/16/prosumers-of-the-world-unite/
Links:
Link 1: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prosumer
Link 2: http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2010/07/03/the-shift-from-consumers-to-prosumers/
Link 3: http://thesocietypages.org/sociologylens/2009/01/16/prosumers-of-the-world-unite/
Images:
Image 1: http://laurenjones94.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/dia-internet-03.jpg
Image 2: http://c3185012.r12.cf0.rackcdn.com/v3/feature/ncr-retail-selfserv-checkout.jpg/3b672cffd0b4cadafc7307755c3f6c82/ncr-retail-selfserv-checkout.jpg
Image 3: http://curiositykilledtheconsumer.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/prosumer.jpg
