Social media has the great power to inform or misinform. Is it changing our democracy? Perhaps. For the better? Not exactly.
I remember attending my Digital Revolution class during the Arab Spring, I remember us discussing with such excitement how social media was changing democracy. At last we could broadcast the thoughts of the common man to the masses. It was a really exciting time to feel like a revolution was being organized through social media. Yet, here we are a few years later and we still haven't seen much REAL change. If anything through social media engagement or disengagement we are only reinforcing our own political ideals without much discourse or deliberation. This isn't real change.
Let me explain, I think in times past people were more engaged, they listened to the debates, they sat and debated themselves in real time and came to their own conclusions and opinions. You couldn't ignore someone sitting across the table from you. You didn't have the choice to not respond or stoop to emotional arguments. You certainly couldn't sit and correct grammar to add "validity" to your own argument. Now, with the growth of social media people rarely want to discuss politics with people whose opinions differ from their own. Most people either avoid these conversations or disengaged when they meet an idea different from their own. It also seems we are much less likely to post political views when they think their viewers opinions will be much different than theirs. For instance, I don't speak out about police brutality because I'm friends with many wives of officers. I wouldn't want to offend them or get into a heated argument over the matter so I hold my opinions silently.
With an ever shifting context away from face-to-face interaction, we also begin to lack common courtesy. Since social media is pretty much done solitary I think we have lost a lot of our civility. Its no wonder people don't want to discuss politics when arguments can quickly become personal attacks and full of fallacious arguments. I know I'm often guilty of choosing silence over disagreement. I understand this behavior is dangerous, but I'm not quite sure how to change it.
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ReplyDeleteLacey,
ReplyDeleteI agree that our society is more engaged to interact online rather than in person and that's where we fall short in being informed and civil to one another. The media is constantly covering politics, but as of right now, it seems to be all of Trump and I believe that is framing us to give our undivided attention to him when so many people say they despise the man. By us viewing and sharing these videos, I believe we are playing into Trump's hands and distracting us from the real issues and the importance of being the leader of the free world.
Without social media, we would be forced to pay closer to government and politics, but unfortunately technology has made us lazy and less willing to engage when the world is in the palm of our hands. Great post!