Convergence culture

     As Jenkins notes in his work, convergence culture has been with us for some time, as the world has grown more multidimensional in terms of the technology we use and the demands we make of that technology. Our phones are no longer just phones, even those comparatively unsophisticated versions we hardwire in and dub "land lines." Certainly, they make calls, but even for the land lines there's an increasing degree of complexity in the behind-the-scenes process while a decrease in complexity by the end user. Analog signals have fallen by the wayside in telecommunications, in favor of (at least at points) digital translation. Our words over the lines are broken into digital packets, delivered, and reassembled in (ideally) the same order as they were offered, through a series of difficult-to-follow paths, packet switches, and so on. Given that the land line itself now has become more the back-up option to the default preference we offer cell phones, we see how such a shift speaks volumes as to what we prioritize in our efforts to communicate. We demand constant accessibility (though some do bemoan it, often on the device they purportedly lament), accessibility to others and from others.
    
     Add, then, the features of smart phones, and their similar displacement of "dumb" cell phones, and we see additional qualities demanded from our hardware. It isn't enough not to just communicate from wherever to wherever, but we want to be able to communicate in different ways through the same device. On the same phone, one can call traditionally, or initiate a video or audio conference over the internet, or send text messages and still images. We can choose alternate means for the latter, using social media applications to send our thoughts and pictures and videos, not just to one, but to many at once. We're always on the grid, so to speak, and producing content to display on that grid, from the banal to the sublime.
    
     Phones are an obvious example, but other traditionally "dumb" appliances now have had an intelligence boost. Smart televisions feed our viewing habits to advertisers, who in turn target us with more specific advertisements. Some models even send information on the peripherals plugged into the television, and information on those secondary devices themselves, such as thumb drives. Some, even more disturbingly, have cameras built in that (some fear) will activate and offer advertisers live images of us, from which they can derive through our clothes, surroundings, etc what content would most likely appeal. Our game systems, as Jenkins mentions, are no longer solely platforms for games, but offer services as varied as the phones earlier, allowing movie streaming, data storage, audio playing, and so on. Game players are, in some cases, encouraged to generate their own content and make that available to other gamers, as in the case of user-generated challenges in Dante's Inferno.
In short, we become more abstractly and more directly involved with each other as the lines of media blur and the delivery systems merge. While we still don't have the universal "black box" that Jenkins mentions (and likely won't, likewise as he predicts), we do have technology that allows for multiple roles to be fulfilled within a single framework. We become more integrated with our tech, and our tech grows to reflect our perceived needs. In this culture of human-machine evolution, we're not cyborgs yet, but we're getting there.