Dystopian Social Media

Sanders was right. At the time of his writing social media was just beginning to take root in our society, Facebook was in it’s infancy, and twitter had been founded year prior. As the two social media giants engrossed us all, like perfect dancers, we danced to the megaphone’s noise. This spread gave us all a megaphone and Jon Ronson’s book So You’ve been Publicly Shamed explores just how we have been using it. But while Saunders was right that we would abuse this megaphone and dumb down our society, the hatred and vitriol it has spread in our society is something that he never could have guessed. The book explores public shaming, evens where many individuals attacked a person for trivial reasons, ruining their lives, hurting their future, and scarring them until the day they die. An avalanche of hatred covers and suffocates this person, but not single one of those snowflakes feels responsible, no one of those snowflakes ever thinks how their actions might are hurting the person, nonetheless, the person dies; a life ruined, and not a person to blame. The megaphone and the distraction it causes allows some to excuses their actions and do things that would be otherwise reprehensible.

Social Media is a form of communication in which a person shares information, personal ideas, and thoughts online. The foundation of social media began in 1997 when the first social media site Six Degrees was developed. Since 1997, social media has become an iconic name and has become part of this generation's conversation. There are over 100 million people using social media to gain access to the digital world, with over 20 social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram (Milanovic 1). Roughly 80 percent of teens and 20 percent of adults use social media daily and almost half of the users were bullied or criticized for a single comment. Comments that include discrimination, sexism, or political beliefs can be retweeted to thousands in a matter of hours. “Accusations go viral, globally, within hours, and instead of having dozens of angry voices baying for your blood, you have tens of thousands” (Haley 1). Although social media has made it easier to communicate these sites, make it easier to be critical or prejudiced to others online instead of face-to-face.

Today, people seem blinded by their outsized enthusiasm for social media. According to them, a few clicks can change the whole world and accomplish wonders such as curing cancer. Good intentions become sufficient on their own, as if there were no need for medicine and scientific researches anymore. Well, this is pure nonsense. Facebook’s likes cannot save African children from starvation, the same way Twitter’s 140 characters will not put an end to acts of terrorism. This notion is not even remotely debatable. For instance, the project Kony2012 had a perfect starting point; inspiring video, moving story and most importantly worldwide spread. Unfortunately, the terrorist is still at liberty, and the lack of thorough investigations is to blame. Instead of focusing on the real problems of war and kidnapping of children, the so-called activist related to the obvious and spent all of his money and energy on his movie. Ultimately, due to the predominance of weak-ties, the project was not successful. More importantly, certain tools of social networks, especially “likes” and “retweets”, encourage people to feel good about themselves, when actually they should incite them to put their efforts and means in the cause they supposedly defend. As Gladwell wrote, “[current] activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that

When we think of the internet and technology we usually think of all the benefits and innovations that make up our generation. We have all the information we need right on our phones. We can also be connected with anyone or with everyone at anytime of the day, but is being connected with everyone a good thing? “The Loneliness Of The Interconnected” by Charles Seife explores this idea and shines a light on the negative effects that being connected with everyone might have. Seife’s exploration of online extremism challenge Schmidt and Cohen’s optimistic portrayal of technology by analyzing how having a voice in the ocean of the internet and being connected with everyone isn’t always positive.

With the recent advent of social media we are now more aware to the plights of the less fortunate. Former Vice Provost of Duke University Cathy Davidson, author of the essay “Project Classroom Makeover”, discusses the rise of our interconnected society through the use of social media in her essay. In tandem with Davidson is Maggie Nelson, whose essay “Great to Watch” explores the violence that is so entrenched in our society. The advent of the internet created social media platforms for previously unheard of connection. Giving everyone an equal voice, this platform was prime for being used for activism. However it is not that simple, being an activist for human rights will expose a complex world of parallel and sometimes contradictory ideas. Well used is social media for activism, and for good purpose, it is the most powerful tool for exposing the oft overlooked humanitarian issues of our world.

Racism is a serious social menace not only in the US, but also the world over, including Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The situation has escalated to a new high, especially in this twenty-first century where technological advancements have necessitated mass and quick sharing of information (Nairn et al. 188). Indeed, social media elements like Facebook, Snap Chat, Twitter, Instagram, and What Sapp has been core in enhancing globalization and its effects, some of which affect and influence racial discrimination both directly and indirectly. As opposed to the views that racism is real and has gained momentum globally, the work of media has on the other hand chosen to report the manifesting cases on the extreme degrees, so that it appears as though the world has come to a halt because of such discriminations. At a critical approach, scholars have noted that media is a channel that creates awareness about racism, and hence could easily escalate the situation if a critical balance on the news and reports aired to the public are not balanced between estimates and practical occurrences (Baker and Rowe 443). While discussing the subject of racism and racial discrimination, it is not only essential to outline how the situation is apparently but also imperative to confirm that race relations are depicted to be really bad in today’s times but the media tries to persuade people to believe an exaggerated side of the situation.

The social media websites prove the phrase, “birds of a feather flock together”, where teens link with friends of the same race. Boyd argues that “the mere existence of new technology neither creates nor magically solves cultural problems” (307). This division inevitably show in every social topic such as the 2009 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards where a white teenage girl posted a racist remark on Twitter from lack of knowledge of what is going on and countless other websites like Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, etc., where there are raging racism and hate speech. On the other hand, these also triggered outrage among anti-racists online where they shamed those who contributed to them, where “it incites a new type of hate, which continues to reinforce structural divides” (309). Boyd also interviewed a young black student named Keke where the girl said “skin shouldn’t separate nobody.

The words community and conversation both have concrete definitions. The definition of community is a group of people that either live together or share a common characteristic. A conversation is an exchange of ideas through spoken words. In the article, titled Technology, Neil Postman states: “how the words 'community' and 'conversation' are now used to mean, simply, people with similar interests, a considerable change from an older meaning...” (53) Postman is implying that these two words have been extended and redefined. The introduction of social media and the Internet have redefined the terms community and conversation.

Because of public humiliation, Raza lived every day in shame and fear. Furthermore, Facebook is online social media which we can share our pictures, or news with our friends. On the other side, Facebook is considered as a device to attract people. For instance, someone made a fake new to blame a student at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Ore for being sexual offense. Due to the protection of privacy, they don’t use his real name; however, all over Facebook called him “rapist”. Further, we are all human races, if we don’t like to get hurt, why we hurt other with our words. In case we hadn’t posted the video of a South Korean student online who was named “Dog poop girl”, she wouldn’t have dropped out of college. Because of our joke,we can cause irrevocable harm to someone else’s life Likewise, Bennett also noticed, “ For people who use blogs and social-networking sites like diaries, putting their personal imformation out there for the world to see, this presents a serious risk.” (92). Most people agree with her argument because social media is virtual world, and we can’t identify good or bad people. In some case, identity thief steals our personal information and used for different

With social media, sharing information has become easier and easier, leading to people to express their thoughts and ideas with others more efficiently. Differences in opinions cause disputes across our nation, but our rights let us have and speak our opinions, even if it may cause people to fight. Some of these arguments are peaceful though, whether it is just online or in a peaceful protest. In the past, our country had gone to war with itself. The U.S. was divided in two and pinned against each other. Even though we almost got divided, we managed to pull through and make our country even better. We cannot change the past, but we can focus on making a better

Life is a tough place where ideas and opinions can be smacked down by anyone at anytime, but because of the internet people can find a lifeline in others when they log online. However, not all ideas are constructive or destructive, but often when someone feels offended they look for someone else to confide in. Someone that understands them, relates to them, and accepts them. Seife observes in society that “The most potent weapon for fighting off uncomfortable facts is other people- a network of the faithful who are willing to believe with you (291)”. It is great when you finally find someone who understands you, when you are feeling alone. However, when people start looking online for support to do unfavorable things it can turn harmless quirks into negligent situations. Seife references Mrs. Martin, who was part of an apocalyptic cult and claimed that the “spaceman was going to come save her and her fellow followers the a few hours before the world was about to end (290)”. Naturally, this hasn’t happened yet as we are standing here today, but members of the group all sacrificed many things such as their homes, cars, and based on what one person said. This is why the internet is dangerous, anyone can share their ideas online and through the internet this process can happen at an exponential rate with even larger groups of

Community media is often depicted as idyllic representing the quant small-town newspaper. In many ways it represents classic Americana similar to the images in a Norman Rockwell painting. These representations, however, do not necessarily include digital communities that form using social media. Instead of communities of place, online communities will often revolve around interests; and some of those interests are far outside the mainstream. This paper seeks to study one specific group that has formed digital communities. It will use agenda melding, selective exposure, and the spiral of silence as its theoretical basis. Specifically the study examines Podblanc, a video site created by Craig Cobb a well-known white supremacist (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2016), designed as Youtube for extremists.

The Internet, social media, and the emergence of terrorist groups in America; what do these three have in common? The mere fact that they are some America’s daily trends of the modern era. Being a child of the millennial age, I strongly feel as if no one has experienced racial tension in America as much as my fellow millennials and I. We see it in news headlines all over, the Internet, and hear about it during our daily commutes. All asking one question; what's your opinion on this racial inequality? Since we are the land of the free, the opinion of the public is highly valued, as well as diverse. Recently, the diversity has become more than just the simple opinions of the people; it's become the issue of racial tension. A tension so deep that it has accounted for many physical altercations, uproars, and unfortunate deaths within the country. How do you put into this detrimental norm of society you ask? Here's what I think.

In this paper, I argue that social media may be an outlet for freedom of expression but it has been widely misused since there is little control over social media. The aim is to convince the reader that social media is a ground for insults, threats and bullying, given the freedom of expression and lack of governance that

For the past decade or so there has been a considerable shift in the way we communicate with each other; instead of speaking face-to-face, we prefer to stay in touch by way of a Facebook post or Tweet. Social media dominates our life whether we’re using it, or not. However, not all online dissonance has been healthy and civil. The internet has seen a rise in the number of trolls and predators that lurk the dark corners of the Internet. Threats, and heinous insults flood media networks like Reddit and Snapchat. Online predators who fling insults are enamored by the internet’s alluring anonymity and can’t give it up. Like Christine Rosen says in her article called, “In the Beginning Was the Word,” “technology has introduced new words, changed the meaning of others, and has even introduced new forms of language and communication” (230). The evolutionary trend and prevalence of people intentionally offending others online has led to a