Do we 'read' imagery differently today as oppsed to our 19thC forebears?

To a measure, I think. Technology in general changes the way society views its environment so the arguement is much more broad than simply being localized within photography. Sure, the way information is now transmitted and recieved amongst the mes differs greatly than what was possible even 20 years ago. That alone makes it possible to view imagery differently, even before digital photography took hold. Still, photography has been around for more than a hundred years. Now we can change the meaning of an image to suit our perspective, but that has been done as well in the past. I see digital technology as the future, no matter what anyone thinks of it. It will continue to change how we view not only imagery of our environment, but how we live our lives. That's about as good a response as I can give, given this question by its very nature is somewhat argumentative. I imagine there will be many opinions given, this is mine.