The Difference of concepts of the societies of Pre-Media and Post-Media: Absence of a moral and ethical justice in Sexuality in online media society

Abstract

With the invention of mass media in the 18th century in the face of the Industrial Revolution, press media was a catalyst in providing a platform for many socially marginal groups and those with limited access to means of conducting social dialogues in conventional, non-democratic, capitalistic societies. The media oriented culture formed many post-media concepts and phenomena, such as freedom, media freedom, rule of law, democracy, liberty as well as liberty in sexual behaviors. Pre-media concepts like aesthetics, classics, philosophy, morals, and ethics were inadequate in understanding the occurrences and sensations of post-media society. This phenomenon is highly significant in contemporary online media culture. This study investigates the use of Google and Facebook in Sri Lanka with special reference to the rapidly expanding behavioral changes of sexuality shown in these online media channels. Despite the fact that Sri Lanka, which has long been a Buddhist religious society which claims to be highly moral and ethical in social inter-relations, online media has provided an easy outlet for enjoying a variety of sexual behaviors. Subsequently, online service providers such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and other forms of social media have been a place for a sexual freedom that provides more same-sex opportunities among interested groups. Further, communication connectivity and the information contribution of online service providers has provided avenues for a large amount of material content for pornographic and many audio-visual sexual texts. This study was conducted using qualitative methods of textual analysis, observation and in-depth interviews during a period of twelve months from June 2014 up to June 2015. Twenty textual analyses were conducted using selected sites of pornography in Google and Yahoo. Another twenty textual analyses were conducted using fake Facebook addresses to observe how others respond to close sexual communications. In addition, twenty in-depth interviews were conducted using Facebook users aged 18 to 24. Finally, this study assumes that though Buddhist religious societies have long been respected as morally and ethically reputed well-cultured societies, when they are given opportunities for interpersonal relations in the OSP channels, their hidden sexual interests are well-communicated without limitations or restrictions. However, conventional pre-media concepts of ethical and moral behaviors are insufficient to understand or explain these new behaviors or trends, which have emerged as a result of this new media culture. Thus, pre- media concepts of ethics and morals do not make pragmatic sense in the real world practice of the online media society. The role of the online service providers has been shaped by the identification of this natural social anthropology of highly religious cultures. In other words, these new media platforms are instrumental in exposing many inclinations of human behavior of sexual interest, thus, challenging the maintenance of conventional morals and ethics in the new media world.