The Impact of Technological Advancements on Media
Analyse The Harmful Or Adverse Effects Of Usage Of The Media.
Media can be seen as a diversified collection of outlets or tools which is used not only for the mass storage of important information but at the same time for the dissemination of the same relevant data or information (Bullingham & Vasconcelos, 2013). Thus, media is considered as one of the most powerful means of communication in the developing as well as developed countries. Media helps in promoting the right things just at the right moment of time while at the same time it has the power to create a disturbance in society or among a group of people (Ellison et al., 2014). Media helps the world by facilitating what is right and what is wrong. However, it is significant to note that many people are of the viewpoint that the role of media is not to decide what is right or for that matter what is wrong (Friesen & Lowe, 2012). The primary job of media is to convey or deliver the news stories just as they are or more appropriately to make an honest presentation of the things which have happened (Friesen & Lowe, 2012). However, it is generally seen that seldom this particular thing happen and most of the news which reaches the common public is adulterated taking the help of the concept of yellow journalism with the inherent objective to gain a wider readership or viewership (Holt et al., 2013). This paper will analyse the manner in which the popular platforms of media are being used to shape the opinions as well as the views of the common people regarding the various political or educational events. The paper will also analyse the harmful or adverse effects of such usage of the media along with the deeper theoretical considerations which underpin them.
The technological advancements of the recent times have made the lives of the human beings more interconnected than in any other times (Halpern, Valenzuela & Katz, 2017). This can be seen in the same manner in which the process of globalisation has transformed the entire world into a global village (Halpern, Valenzuela & Katz, 2017). Thus, it has become important for the human beings more than ever to not only stay connected with the individuals from the different parts of the same nation and also from the different parts of the world and at the same time to have relevant information about the things which are happening with them and also the region to which they belong (Gil de Zúñiga, Jung & Valenzuela, 2012). Therefore, it would be apt to say that the various forms of media like television, newspapers, internet, social media, radios and others have become an indispensible part of the lives of the human beings. It is a reflection of this particular fact that irrespective of the geographical location, popular media helps people to stay updated and informed about the various social activities, events, news, advertisements and entertainments (Gil de Zúñiga, Jung & Valenzuela, 2012). For example, a person sitting in Japan can get all the latest news which is occurring in the USA or UK. Popular media has a profound impact on the culture and society. Media itself breaks the barriers between the societies among a group of individuals resulting in a phenomenon called globalization (Lin, 2017). Globalization is the proper explanation of how people are viewing the occurrences in different nations. Thus, popular media actually acts as a mirror of what people do and if effectively utilised can help in transforming the world as well. Also, media can be defined as a storehouse of information and it educates each and every individual regarding the day to day occurrences and the revelations. These data can sometimes be used to change and alter an individual’s sentiments (Esolz.net, 2018).
Media and Political Engagement
Media plays a major role in shaping the political engagement and involvement. It is a fact that the millennials are ageing and their interest in the social issues and political issues are on the rise (Qi et al., 2018). When elections heat up and more and more voters get involved, the millennials to move alongside with the younger generations needs to stay updated as well as informed and it is precisely here that the role of the various platforms of media gains special prominence. As the millennials are reaching the prime years of their adulthood, staying informed and updated has become one of the important aspects of their lives. According to one of the studies conducted by the American Press Institute, it has been found that about 69 percent of the millennials get their news daily, while 85 percent revealed that staying up to date with the recent occurring in somewhat important to them (Forbes.com, 2018). While it has also been found that the news accessed by the millennials is different from that of the boomers. A study conducted by the Achieve research agency called the Millennial Impact Project has revealed that during the election years the engagement behaviours of the millennials change. The study also looked upon how the factors like emerging candidates, race, age, gender, location and political affiliations changed (Forbes.com, 2018). According to this study, it has been posted on the social media that the millennials are 2.5 times more likely to be early adopters of the new technology in comparison to the other generations. Thus, it is a commonly known fact that the social media has played a bigger role and a majority of the millennials agree that integrating with the social media has enriched their life (Rai, 2012). Also according to Adweek, the politicians are stepping up the social media campaigns in order to influence the voters in a much more effective manner. Estimations have revealed that the political parties are willing to invest almost 9 percent of their budget on to the social and the digital media in an effort to engage with the millennials (Rai, 2012). Social media has the power to put the election at the fingertips of the millennials in the United States. Thus it is important for the top candidates to take into effective consideration the process of social media campaigning which is likely to help them to influence the millennials in a much better manner (Bennett, 2018). Firstly, participatory is a new form of political movement that both engages and encourages the millennials to participate in the discussions and the debates as this take place in the social realm. The millennials are more demanding in comparison to the national and the local governments and thus the politicians are more than a willingness to listen and engage with the millennials all the time. Secondly, the real-time conversations like the one seen in Twitter have for many politicians have changed the political landscape. Twitter is generally used as a platform for self-expression and management of news thus facilitating the national and the local leaders with the opportunity to measure the sentiment of the millennials like never before. Usually, the millennials had low participation but they can now feel included and motivated to participate in the polls (Halpern, Valenzuela & Katz, 2017).
Social Media and Political Engagement
Social media allows the common man to view and participate in the political discussion like never before. One of the best things about the social media is that each and every individual has the right of expression and thus social media can be considered as a marketplace of ideas (Larsson & Kalsnes, 2014). Also, it is important to highlight that some of the voices which are not correct at all sometimes gets amplified. Keeping the communists perspective aside, the people that reside in a democracy are assured that their voices will be heard through the fundamental right “Right to Freedom of Expression of Thought” which the majority of the nations of the world guarantees to their citizens (Larsson & Kalsnes, 2014). However, one of the negative aspects is the fact that people often fail to take into consideration the logical aspect of the news stories and only prefer to listen to the voice that they completely agree with. This particular thing more often than not gives rise to the kind of news stories which are completely paradoxical with reality and would have been better left alone. Thus, instead of taking up the diversified public conversation, people end up being an echo chamber (Holt et al., 2013).
Over the years it has been seen that the politicians have become more and more active on the social media. According to a writer in the Washington Post, it has been said that American President Donald Trump has never spent a single 46 hours without tweeting (Forbes.com, 2018). Thus, when the politicians use the social media, the politicians are able to grab the public sentiments, public constituents and are able to engage and understand their desires. According to a survey by e-Marketer, 80% of the internet users in which majority are adults feel that social media has some influence on the public policy decisions. Nowadays, the political leaders find it useful to discuss a social issue and the associated public policies (Larsson & Kalsnes, 2014).
Social media slowly and steadily gained traction and credibility as an authentic source of information and as a platform where educational organizations interact with the audiences (Ellison et al., 2014). The educational institutions rely heavily on the social media platform to connect with the different learning groups so that the education system is made convenient. Social media provides the space for the students where they can connect with the experts and start following the experts and gain the useful knowledge that is required for the process of their education (Halpern, Valenzuela & Katz, 2017). Social media has the much-needed capability of broadening up the various subjects and thus illuminates the contents that are new to the students. Different institutes communicate with the students through Facebook, YouTube and other media platforms (Friesen & Lowe, 2012). Information like important announcements, campus news can be used to build effective engagement between the students and the colleges and at the same time it also helps in the resolution of the various issues among them through group discussions. Enhanced learning management systems (LMS) are the latest integration into the social media platform and the various features include the lesson resources, sharing information through the online forum, options to watch the video lesson and chat functions. The LMS facilitates the instant interaction systems between the system and the users. This new systems promotes proper student interaction and helps in easy collaboration in team projects. LMS also assist in tackling with the student that have difficulty in learning and is beneficial for an institution at the same time (Wang et al., 2012).
Negative Aspects of Social Media Usage
Facebook is one of the major platforms of social media and boasts of more than 2.19 billion active users. Facebook is being used both for communicating with friends and families members and at the same time for sharing information with people from different parts of the world as well. Facebook thus provide ample opportunities for the present generation to share information that they feel is derogatory for themselves and for the society as a whole (Lin, 2017). Thus such issues are often posted on the Facebook and they are often shared by the friends and families in turn. This is a cyclical process and after the Facebook post gets highlighted on the other social media platform, an uproar and dissent occur within the people (Gil de Zúñiga, Jung & Valenzuela, 2012). Such incidents often grab media attention and such news are shown on televisions news channels, grabbing the attention of the politicians and the national leaders (Lin, 2017). Leaders too on the social media platform like Twitter and Facebook communicate and try to connect and communicate with the people regarding a societal issue (Lin, 2017). Ultimately, this result in a major social movement and such issues are taken up by the ruling party, finally leading to the formulation of public policy.
Yellow journalism or pulp journalism is generally considered to be one of the banes of the modern forms of media and for that matter of the entire process of journalism itself (Twenge, 2013). The process of yellow journalism can be defined as the process by means of which the various news as well as media agencies try to create the kind of news stories without much research for the sole purpose of catching the attention of the readers and the consumers of the news stories (Twenge, 2013). Thus, it is pointless to say that there is not much ethical consideration on the part of these news or media agencies during the process of the formulation of these news stories and is directed solely to enhance the circulation rate of the media or news agencies. However, it is significant to note that these kinds of news stories or media reports cause a significant harm to the human beings as well as the various nations of the world. It is generally seen that the majority of the readers gets easily affected by the news or media stories which they devour or come across without thoroughly analysing the authenticity of these news or media stories (Wang et al., 2012). Thus, it is seen that a lot of unnecessary commotion as well as confusion is being created which could easily have been avoided and are in most cases needless.
Conclusion
Social media inspite of the various advantages which it provides not only to the common people but at the same time to the various news or media agencies is susceptible to the process of yellow journalism (Twenge, 2013). It is generally seen that the various news or media agencies often take the help of the process of yellow journalism over the various platforms of social media in order to affect the behaviour as well as the lives of the individuals who take the help of these platforms. The misrepresentation of the news stories or the wrong portrayal of them not only keeps the people uninformed or makes them wrongly informed but at the same it is generally seen that many people often end up make decisions on the basis of these news stories (Twenge, 2013).
The recent European refugee crisis is one of the highlighting issues that is being highlighted on the social media as well as the mass media. Even though some of the European government states were unwilling to let the refugees enter into their borders, a united effort put up by the citizens of different European nations finally forced the government to change their decision (Alencar, 2018). Thus, such an incident was highlighted in both the mass media and the social media and the plight of refugees was sympathized internationally (Alencar, 2018). A pertinent example of this particular fact is the media coverage of the Egyptian Revolution of the year 2011 which was staged to protest against the autocratic government of the Egyptian President Mubarak. The revolution received much attention from the media and in a way it can be said that one of the major reasons for the popularity which the incident received was because of the extensive coverage which it received from the media (Egypt’s Revolution, 2018). For example it was seen that most of the major media platforms like television, internet, Facebook and others made an extensive coverage of the event. However, it needs to be said at this particular juncture that most of the facts portrayed by the media for the coverage of this particular incident were misrepresented with the objective to further enhance the usage of their channels. Thus, it was seen that through the aid of the concept of yellow journalism Facebook was able to boost its usage time and other media platforms also hawked on the opportunity provided by the incident. Therefore, it would be apt to say that the media instead of fulfilling its role of conveying the incidents which had actually happening took of the protest staged by the people of the nation of Egypt to achieve their own personal ends. Another important example of this particular fact is the media coverage of the Syrian Crisis which the nation of Syria has been facing since the year 2011. It is significant to note that there are some people who have tried to portray the national government of the nation of Syria in the right light whereas there are others who have tried to show the people of the nation who have revolted against the national government of Syria to be in the right light. It is a reflection of this fact that there have been mixed feelings among the people from the different parts of the world regarding the ongoing crisis in the nation of Syria. Furthermore, it is also seen that there are various people who are taking the advantage of the platform of Facebook to achieve their own personal goals.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau famously said that “Man is born free but every where he is in chains” (Holt et al., 2013). This particular statement of Rousseau becomes even more significant when the current situation of the world is being taken into consideration especially in the manner in which the fake news or the process of yellow journalism is dictating the course of actions undertaken by the people. Another significant insight was made by Jacques Lacan when he said that the modern human beings are actually “the dupe of a discourse… [of] fictions organized in to a discourse” (Holt et al., 2013). In the particular context of the 21st century this particular dupe can be seen as the fake news stories created by the various news or media agencies as well as the various individuals over the social media in order to affect the behaviour of the human beings and also to create confusion and commotion (Holt et al., 2013). Furthermore, this particular process when analysed through the particular lens of the ideology of Marxism would reveal the fact that this particular process can be effectively utilised to gain control over the proletariats by the capitalist class. Marx’s theory on the class structure and social class is one of the ways of understanding socialism and capitalism or in other words the modes of production (Barbalet, 2015). In the capitalist society, there exists the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. However, there also exists the peasant, landlords and the lumpenproletariat (Barbalet, 2015). The bourgeoisie is the capitalists that are the owners of using the labour power, capital power and the purchasing power. Whereas, the proletariat are the ones that own the labour power and has the ability to work. They are the mere owners of the labour power that have no property and only work for the sustenance of themselves and their families. Max Weber on the other had stressed on the social stratification and it includes the concept that emphasizes the societal and communal action, domination, power (Barbalet, 2015). Weber identified three aspects of class and it includes the specific casual component with respect to the actors of the life chances, and this rests exclusively on the wealth and economic interests, while this is represented under the commodity of markets and conditions of labour (Weber, 2013). Emile Durkheim’s theory was different from that of conflict theorists and she put forward a functionalist view that laid emphasis on the role of the social actors or the people. Durkheim believed that harmony defines a society rather than conflict (Durkheim, 2013).
The above mentioned theories as well as the viewpoints held by the various socialists clearly indicates the manner in which the process of journalism and the various platforms of media can be effectively utilised to not only affect the behaviour of the individuals but at the same time to dominate them as well. Thus, it can be said the tool of media is effectively utilised by the individuals can act like a boon for them whereas if the same tools if not affectively utilised by the individuals can at the same time become a bane for them as well (Wang et al., 2012). Therefore, it is very important that the human beings should weigh as well as consider the manner in which they utilise the various platforms of media and also the intent with which it is being used by them. For example, it is generally seen that the process of yellow journalism is being used by the various people not only to gain power as well as authority over the masses and also to disrupt the status quo of the world as well.
Thus, from the above study, it can be concluded that the popular media, social media and mass media have all played a major role in shaping the thinking and the choices an individual makes. Social media in the present 21st century is deeply rooted into our senses. The increased usage has not only hindered a person from gaining true human experiences but made an individual to lead a solitary life. However, the positive effects to have a long-lasting impact on the society as well. The societal issues and the problems often get highlighted which previously used to go unnoticed and ignored.
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