Democracy involves participation. Participation involves activism, resistance, and conflict as much as “the creative deployment of new media literacies and productive cultures of media co-creation encompassed by ideal forms of networked publics” (McCosker 2014, p.201-2). Simply put, there is no room for a healthy democracy with the presence of filter bubbles acting as a mirror for the people using Facebook and Google and leading them to believe that so many others share the same opinions as them. Despite the fact that these websites are now deciding how news and information is disseminated to its users, there are still democratic practices that are useful in generating a suitable discourse and civic understanding/engagement. Obviously, I approach my theory it with a heavy bias against the filter bubble and I insist on critically examining them. But one could very well argue that with the recent tailoring of content, people have more time to spend enjoying materials that they have been looking for all this time. No longer are you expected to spend heaps of time sifting through stacks of newspapers, scrolling through hundreds of television channels, or strolling through rows and rows of library books to find content to enjoy. Instead, algorithms have increased the convenience and ease with which we can access our news on topics that we are interested in. On another more positive note, websites like Facebook and Twitter are also effective in spreading awareness about social
As time goes on, social networking sites can influence millions of people without thinking about the consequences. Foer wanted the readers to understand the full impact of Facebook by mentioning that “No other company has so precisely boasted about its ability to shape democracy like this-and for good reason. It’s too much power to entrust to a corporation” (75). The author found it peculiar that Facebook wanted to boast about their success, and the amount of influence that they have. Foer meant by “the ability to shape democracy” is Mark Zuckerberg is allowing Facebook to change the Democratic Party and he does not deny this accusation. He is able to reshape democracy due to the excessive use of algorithms. The people controlling the algorithms are allowing it to pick videos or post pictures that could have social pressures which can influence a person to sway from their original stance. Algorithms should be posting videos at random and should pick related videos if the users asks for it; that way, the user knows what they want and it will be their chose if they want to continuing watching the same videos. Facebook could be sneaky and can be inhumane when it comes to human emotions. Resulting in another treacherous scenario because Facebook does not care, “Whether the information is true or concocted, authoritative reporting or conspiratorial opinion, doesn’t really seem to matter much to Facebook. The crowd gets what it wants and deserves” (Foer 76). Foer mentions something that can be tremendously petrifying to the world and it is that Facebook does not care whether or not a piece of news is genuine on their site. The word “concocted” means made up and Facebook does not filter or check out the sources that make up facts that millions of people read. By ignoring their obligation to check out news like a journalist does, they allow the crowd to get what they want, even if it is fabricated.
In the past ten years the way we as a people communicate has changed greatly. No longer is it uncommon for conversations to not be face to face and now more so than ever conversations take place through text. As with any change there will be and is push back to it. The conflict over the consequences of the social media dependent society have now intensified as a result of social media playing ever greater roles in how politics is seen and even conducted. This has been a major societal question since the presidential election of 2008 and the debate has been written about, discussed, and argued by thousands of different politicians,
The purpose of this video is to persuade the general public to get out of their “filter bubble” to get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our views, which will otherwise be detrimental to not only us, but also democracy as a whole.
1. News you can choose – People are selective viewers now, “they approach their news consumption the way they approach their iPod”. Viewers can choose the Internet, Facebook, Messaging, Twitter, Snap-Chat, You Tube, TiVo, Cable TV, and the best one is word of mouth of where they saw something.
In a pluralist country such as America, there are numerous opinions over what society's goals should be, and the best method of achieving them. In theory, every American citizen has an equal say in the political affairs of this county. By participating in politics, people air their voices and thereby contribute to nation through representatives, hence the term representative democracy. It may seem to be beyond argument that political participation is a key objective in all democratic institutions. However, there is room for legitimate disagreement about the health of our democracy, in regards to the extent of civic participation. This raises the important question of how much participation there actually
A Direct Democracy is where the people rule the country themselves. Getting all together and hashing out how their country will be ran. A Representative Democracy is where the people vote on someone to make their decisions for them. Obviously a direct democracy is favorable but when you grow to size of thousands than millions of people it becomes an unrealistic expectation to get everyone to agree to do it one way or another. A representative democracy or a republic is a much more feasible option for highly populated areas. Republics are countries that have no monarch and are governed by the people. (Magleby, D)
Just like humans evolve and change over time, so do social views and types of government. History has seen the world move from dynasties to communism to democracy. Looking deeper, history has seen each one of these concepts evolve into something new and different than in previous periods of time. Most notably changed is democracy. Although the definition of democracy once meant that the public population had a say in all affairs, foreign and domestic, through representatives, it now means that the public population has a say in all affairs, foreign and domestic, through representatives who manipulate the public’s understanding of these affairs through social media.
The political system I would use for Viva la Vida Islands, is the Representative Democracy. I think it’s better to have citizens vote on representatives to represent them, rather than gathering everybody to vote on one law. It would be extremely difficult to gather people to have them vote. It’s easier to have citizens vote for a leader that has a voice for them and that they trust. Using this system would be easier and fairer making everyone have a voice in one way or another.
Over the years the media has made citizens major role players in politics. Ross Perot opened eyes by putting the 1992 Election in the media and thereby allowing voters to become directly involved in politics. The Internet, the new form of mass media “has turned into a major political and media industry” (Grossman 16). Because of the rise the Internet has taken, the idea of direct democracy has risen. The foundation of direct democracy is in self-government. The claim is that the presence of the Internet will increase citizens’ involvement in political issues by allowing them access to more information. This is significant because it takes a look at the impact of technology on society and politics, as well by
They just had to sit and listen to what others had to deliver on radios, newspapers, and TVs. Now with the vast possibilities the internet and technological devices have created for us, it is a necessity for people to acquire “searching, navigating, and assembling”(128) skills in learning “digital literacy”(129). These skills help raise what is now called digital citizenship, which unlike passive citizenship, depends on people becoming active in participating with and spreading of information. Throughout reading my NYT story, what struck me the most was the miraculous loads of information I can obtain from blog posts, short videos and twitter feeds. Depending on what I subscribe to and follow on social media, I see whatever media I’m interested in, and only the media that matches the thoughts and ideas I
This essay explores the different relationships between social media platforms and the government to provide insight into the different ways the government uses media masses to further their agendas and how its good business is used for political gain. This essay also discusses the different ideologies and fallacies individuals have of the media’s role in society. This essay wasn’t written to persuade one either way, but rather to bring the important relationship to light, so with better understanding people can make wiser decisions as voters, consumers or investors.
Through reading Kwon’s study, we can see that applying Mill’s ideas to a digital society will unlock a wealth of information for individuals. Kwon’s research looked at students “willingness to self-censor political expression” (Kwon 1417) on social media. A concrete part of Kwon’s theories in her research is that “humans fear isolation, which motivates us to observe our social environment to determine social standards and align our public behavior with observed standards” (Kwon 1419). This observation further exposes itself in the results of Kwon’s study, as she observes that “Because a larger social network produces greater level of social
In the case of the UNFCCC negotiations, there is not efficiency because no agreement has been reached. Legitimacy could be achieved through democracy or efficiency, or through a trade-off between these two aspects. The citizen’s engagement is a desirable value in a democratic system but it could also be a strong point for efficient policy decisions. In the case of the UNFCCC negotiations citizens’ participation is possible thanks to the NGOs action . As written by Anne-Mette Kjær , democracy refers to “input-oriented” legitimacy, while efficiency is linked to” output-oriented” legitimacy because it comes from efficient results of policies. Taking into consideration the four model of postliberal democracy described by Eva Sorensen and
In contemporary New Zealand, over eighty percent of households have access to the Internet. Technology permeates almost all aspects of our cultural lives, so developments in technology can have immense consequences on the way we think, behave and interact. Political culture is not free from the influence of technology. From the printing press, television and now the digital tools utilised in modern New Zealand, technology has helped to shape our political culture. This essay will analyse the way that digital technology, specifically online social media, has impacted political engagement in New Zealand. It is proposed that digital technology has shaped the political culture in New Zealand by encouraging participation, but this new participation is largely superficial. In order to fully examine this proposition, it is imperative to firstly define the concepts of political culture, digital technology and online social media. Following this, new methods of political participation allowed by online tools will be analysed, to determine how they are influencing peoples’ political behaviour. Blogging will be the focal method of this analysis. Finally, conclusions will be drawn on these discussions; in order to determine the way that online social media has transformed and shaped the political behaviour.
Winston Churchill once remarked that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried”. In agreement with his statement, this paper will examine the problems of democratic governments using specific examples, and compare it to the failure of fascist governments in Nazi Germany and Italy and communist governments in the Soviet Union and China.