How do technologies become cultural technologies?

The question discussed by Terry Flew of how new media technologies come to exist "not simply as material forms that impact upon culture, but rather as themselves cultural forms" is an interesting one. It has much to do with the connectedness and and connection that said technology has with it's cultural and social surroundings. For rather then existing as just an operational tool the technology becomes a cultural technology when it is bestowed with cultural worth and a important place within social heirachies.