Prejudice, Racism And Discrimination In Social Media

Rachel Ehmke addresses the negative effects of social media in a strident, yet true, way. The use of social media among teens in America is 75 percent and out of that percentage 68 percent use Facebook more than any other site or app (Common Sense Media, as cited by Ramasubbu, 2016, p.1). According to Suren Ramasubbu in his article “Influence of Social Media on Teenagers”, Facebook is an outlet for depression, sexting, and cyberbullying (2016, p.1). Ehmke points these effects as well to support her opinion along with other effects like indirect communication, loss of experiences, the imposter syndrome, and stalking. It can be concluded that the reasons provided by Ehmke are valid reasons to prove why social media can affect a person negatively.

As the most globally known form of communication, social media outlets has continuously contributed to the dehumanization of African American males for decades starting with propaganda stereotyping the black men as the “black buck” to justify their domination and labor exploitation under chattel slavery in the mid-19th century(Herd 2014). To a hyper sexual rapist possessed by the over desire for white women during the era of wide spread lynching’s, helping to fuel the disenfranchisement and ideological support for extreme anti-black terrorism (Herd 2014). Ultimately providing the public with the idea that the black man is to be feared. From this historical backing of anti-black ideology by the system with laws such as black codes and segregation

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.

Nikita Carney’s “All Lives Matter, but so Does Race: Black Lives Matter and the Evolving Role of Social Media” assesses the role of social media as a public sphere, capable of influencing public discourse and the evolution of social media as a platform for discussing racial injustice. Carney uses twitter as her subject and analyzes the opposing discourse surrounding hashtags “#BlackLivesMatter” and “#AllLivesMatter” occurring after the non-indictments of white police officers in the killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. These hashtags represent opposing ideology about police brutality and the persecution of black bodies. Carney begins by establishing Twitter as a place for marginalized youth of color to engage in meaningful discourse about their experiences of racial inequality. Carney notes that “different groups viewing the same media coverage interpret issues of race and police violence in drastically different ways”, proving the existence of confirmation bias on social media. Millennials have

In past century, optimists have predicted the post racial utopian after new technology brought in virtual lives online, however, in “ Inequality: Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisions?” Social media scholar Danah Boyd argues that social media has not erase the social or racial divisions that are deeply rooted in our physical schools and communities, on contrary, it extends offline social divisions including racism and bigotry virtually online. Boyd develops her idea by in-depth interviewing numerous teenagers with different racial and social backgrounds and analyzing various sources regarding social networks and their effect on teens lives. She shows concern and frustration towards the fact that race-based dynamics of

When the ink stopped flowing on the Emancipation Proclamation, black men, women, and children breathed a sigh of relief. But did they rejoice? They couldn’t have, not if they still had to deal with the infinite hate that could force them into cages for people to laugh at. Talk is cheap, so it’s easy for people emphasize the numbers in the phrase, “It’s two-thousand-seventeen, why do we still fight for this?,” but it will never be enough to mask the presence of racism in this age. Not only do stereotype reinforcements exist in the real world, but it thrives in the virtual one; it ranges from Twitter to valid news sites, leaving a trail of crumbs behind it. Patriotic citizens of the United States proudly sing that their country is the “land of the free, and home of the brave,” but how is it that groups of “free” citizens can’t get equal representation in the media? It sure is brave of news sources to hide the good actions minorities take to defeat stereotypes and still sit privileged folk on the throne for doing things those minorities have been doing for centuries. On Twitter especially, it is easy to find news articles

Social Media has become a huge part of our lives. It is a way to connect to those far away, or to share things that we find interesting or exciting and can be a very personal presentation of who we are. But in both positive and negative ways we can share our opinions and our view on certain events in the world. These can lead to rallies, protests, uprisings or in some cases revolution, the internet has become one of the most influential forces in this world and a large part of that is due to social media. In the case of the Michael Brown shooting, social media focused on the positive and negative relationships between minorities and cops in the United States of America. Sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Vine were all used to show

A reoccurring issue that has been detrimental in today’s society is racism. Today, many people have used social media to speak out against this troublesome topic. The article “Black Tweets Matter” tries to explain how social media has been used in the fight against racism. The text talks about multiple hashtags that have been used on social media to bring these racist events to light. “Black Tweets Matter” is a very short article that can be at times hard to read. However, Jenna Worthin was ineffective in parts of “Black Tweets Matter” by her unprofessional word choice, misused quotes, and inability to stay on topic.

I normally do not voice my opinions on social media, but since this incident happened and the effects of it are within a few miles of from where I currently am, I feel it is reasonable and necessary. Within an hour of the news being released and media completely distorting the actual details, protests began. Immediately some assumed that racial stereotypes had played a part in this matter, despite the fact it was an African-American officer who fired the weapon. Yes, I do understand people can be racist or accept stereotypes of their own race. Yet, what continuously discombobulates me is the fact that in recent shootings, these "victims" have knowingly disobeyed the officer's order. Even though these officers could have (and probably should

It is difficult to find someone among the Internet users who do not have the profile in multiple social networks. The article by Gene Demby “On Social Media, As in Life, White People Are Way Less Likely To Talk About Race” draw the public attention to the issue of race factor in social media. Demby is an African-American and, the lead blogger for NPR's Code Switch team. The relevance of the studied subjects is regarded to the Internet functions as a powerful and comprehensive informational field, which presents a part of the informational sphere. Almost two-thirds of the world population today is active members of the social and global network society, which has impacts on racial issue.

With the popularization and expansion of the internet in recent years, America and other Western countries have found themselves developing into media-dominated cultures. Social media platforms, forums, and other types of online interaction are becoming primary forms of communication between people with similar or differing views, bringing political topics into daily discussion. However, the implications of such a broad and unrestrained network lead to negative outcomes. Whether it be in the form of a direct slur used on Twitter or a slight jab in a discussion board, the ongoing presence of racism on the internet cannot be denied. Although some forms may appear more indirectly, the effects are not diminished; implicit forms of racism are just as impactful as direct attacks. This paper argues that the internet serves as a carrier of racism by allowing racism to thrive through forms of racial microaggressions and cloaked websites. Toward the end of the essay, possible solutions for this issue will be discussed as well.

People no matter their intentions always categorize others based on their first impression. With the media today, many believe that it is getting worse. Whether it be in movies, on social media, or even in the news there are many people in the world trying to change these bias views and change the way people look at each other. Everyday people no matter their race, gender, or class are faced with different stereotypes and different bias views that many wishes to overcome.

“Social media allows people to connect with each other to create and share information. It is people-powered communication, an authentic dialogue motivated by a basic human desire to share information” (CIPD, Social Media and Employee Voice Report 2013). ‘Click’ and my message is on its way to my friend’s Facebook inbox hundred of miles away. The astonishing speed of how quick we can communicate in today’s societies, all thanks to social media. The invention of Facebook simplified everything we know about communication. We can connect to people whenever and wherever, sharing information has never been more convenient and exciting. In Shane Hipps’ Article, “ Is Facebook Killing Our Souls?,” he has no intention to impede technological advancements, instead he wants users to understand technologies with insights. According to my research, although Hipps ' points has some merits, I disagree with him because he overgeneralized the impacts that Facebook and other social media has on users’ behaviors and identities.

Social media has gained immense popularity, following increased access to the internet and technology devices including smart phones. Social media is used to denote platforms in which people build and share social connections; thus enhancing information sharing and interaction. Major examples include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. Through social media, people can connect, interact and exchange information such as pictures, videos and other digital media by registering as users in these platforms and updating information affecting their lives on their profiles. When social media applications came into existence, these were mostly used for interacting and sharing with friends, relations and new friends acquired through these platforms. Social media has however been constantly abused, as people turn it into a ground to vent, lie, insult, bully or threaten others. The social networks no longer serve their intended purpose in the society and users have taken advantage of the free space to say whatever they want with no regard to how it affects others. People have used such domains to brandish their selfish acts and gains.

The internet was invented roughly about 30 years ago by the World Wide Web. However, the first social media came out circa 20 years ago. The name of it was Six Degrees and it was created by Andrew Weinreich in the 1900’s. Six degrees users had the capabilities of uploading a profile, making friends, and sending messages with family and friends. Nevertheless on 2004, Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg, a 19-year-old who created the biggest social media that changed the world. Till this day, Facebook probably has up to 2 billion users and still counting. Nonetheless, most people seen on Facebook ranges from their teens to mid-40s, that have the capability of spreading information across the globe setting a chain reaction that created and spread fake news. Social medias’ fake news is spread by a heap of people that are easily convinced by false statements. According to Gretel, “In the midst of a nationwide debate over the proliferation of fake news on social media sites – and, as one 2015 study by the Media Insight Project shows, at a time when nearly 9 in 10 Millennials regularly get news from Facebook – the numbers, at first glance, may point to a bleak, uninformed future.” (n. pag.) Therefore, teens need to use social media to disintegrate some of the repercussions of real news.