Doubting Social Media. Week 4 Post 3
I guess I come at social media from a very suspicious place. It’s very apparent to me when I read everyone else’s excited blog posts and I feel like mine are sort of pessimistic. But I really do appreciate this class showing me a different side to social media! I was very much in a mindset that it was destroying society, that its tech purveyors were milking us for our private data, that it was eroding my time to do more productive things. I’m still of the belief that it’s doing all that, but hey, it can be used to teach you stuff, too!
I kid.
What appeals to me most about this class is the vision its putting forth, one of how the internet was supposed to be when it was first becoming mainstream. At the time, all the news reports or whatever heralded a new era of communication. The tech giants touted the ability for ideas to flow forth and connections to be made at an unprecedented level. It was so idealistic, it reminds me of industrialists from the Industrial Age promising that utopia was at hand, and workers would have so much more free time now that machines could do so much of their work.
It didn’t work out that way for them, and it’s not quite working out that way for us, is it? Social Media and the internet has proved that it’s just as conducive to hate and disinformation being spread as good ideas. But maybe it’s just a media bias, selling me the worst?
The possibilities this class is promising are fantastic. Twitter is a fast paced, exciting platform, a firehose of information; far from the cesspool of flame wars I’d dismissed it as. If I don’t use it after this class, it might only be because I can’t imagine adding another social media site to my rotation. (Who am I kidding? I’m hooked!)
Maybe the bad is out there with the good, and what is needed is for the purveyors and admin of these platforms to create better spaces.
https://slate.com/technology/2019/06/youtube-facebook-hate-speech-regulation-how.html
The analogy of the article to fair use of radio and television, and that the internet allows for unscreened screamers to get a bigger platform is a very good point. In ages past, unsubstantiated speakers like this would’ve been restricted to pamphlet writing at most.
It’s very sobering, and it’s vitally important to understand when we think about using these same technologies for educational purposes.
I kid.
What appeals to me most about this class is the vision its putting forth, one of how the internet was supposed to be when it was first becoming mainstream. At the time, all the news reports or whatever heralded a new era of communication. The tech giants touted the ability for ideas to flow forth and connections to be made at an unprecedented level. It was so idealistic, it reminds me of industrialists from the Industrial Age promising that utopia was at hand, and workers would have so much more free time now that machines could do so much of their work.
It didn’t work out that way for them, and it’s not quite working out that way for us, is it? Social Media and the internet has proved that it’s just as conducive to hate and disinformation being spread as good ideas. But maybe it’s just a media bias, selling me the worst?
The possibilities this class is promising are fantastic. Twitter is a fast paced, exciting platform, a firehose of information; far from the cesspool of flame wars I’d dismissed it as. If I don’t use it after this class, it might only be because I can’t imagine adding another social media site to my rotation. (Who am I kidding? I’m hooked!)
Maybe the bad is out there with the good, and what is needed is for the purveyors and admin of these platforms to create better spaces.
https://slate.com/technology/2019/06/youtube-facebook-hate-speech-regulation-how.html
“That the content generally comes from users without centralized editorial oversight is one big difference between social and traditional media. Another key difference between tech platforms and broadcast is that many of the creators with gigantic audiences on YouTube and Facebook peddle in hate speech and dangerous misinformation. It’d be much, much harder for Alex Jones or Laura Loomer or a Russian agent pretending to be an American racist to get a national radio or television show and reach the same audience. So it makes sense that these platforms are so appealing to bigots, conspiracy theorists, and trolls who have used their megaphones to spread misinformation and hatred. Before social media, where could they find an audience so large? In response, Congress has regularly held hearings over the past two years concerned with the negative externalities of social media, bringing in everyone from CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai to right-wing pseudo-entertainers like Diamond and Silk.”
The analogy of the article to fair use of radio and television, and that the internet allows for unscreened screamers to get a bigger platform is a very good point. In ages past, unsubstantiated speakers like this would’ve been restricted to pamphlet writing at most.
It’s very sobering, and it’s vitally important to understand when we think about using these same technologies for educational purposes.
I think it's healthy to have some skepticism about technology. It isn't a miracle, it doesn't do everything, and it comes with some downsides. And using tech for tech's sake rarely works out well.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is always that folks will made educated decisions about using technology. In other words, that they will test drive it before deciding to use or not use it, and consider its broad impacts before adoption as well.
This kind of reminds me of the saying "history repeats itself." I am not sure where it was or if it was in a reading or source for this class, but almost every new technology had people up in arms about it. I think it was a YouTube generational video I posted and shared in Diigo.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, radio was going to destroy personal interaction, cars were going to break neighborhoods because people could travel, TV was going to destroy relationships, etc. Then mobile phones and Internet, etc. As technology advances, I think it's normal to realize there are two realities: both a positive and a negative.
Definitely. But I think it's also helpful to remember that with every new technology, just as there are people up in arms about it there are also people selling you the most perfect vision of its implementation, usually those who benefit most. (The ones up in arms are probably those who would benefit from things staying the same.) As you say, the truth is in the middle.
DeleteThe real hard truth, though, is that you can't stop any of it.
To speak to Prof Dennen's point above, I don't think we, as a species/society, generally consider (or could even understand or anticipate) the broad impacts of technological adoption. Managing such considerations on the micro scale of our day to day lives can mitigate some of the drawbacks/negatives, but the tech is out in the world, affecting it or not.
Technology is just a tool. Like any tool, people can use it for good, or use it for evil. They can use it to build up and spread knowledge, or they can use it to tear down others and spread false teachings. Just like face to face relationships, there is etiquette needed- things like empathy, kindness and discretion are still important in online environments. Not being face to face, some people forget that! But the rules of humanity still apply.
ReplyDeleteThe vision is always better than the reality!
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that there is a lot of bad out there on social media. We see a lot of the bad content because it is what gets media attention, articles in the newspaper, and think-pieces and op-eds on every blog. People are more likely to leave a bad review than a good one. It's what we pay attention to. And like Dr. Dennen said, I think it's healthy to have some skepticism. I absolutely love using social media but I am still critical of how our data is used. Mid-week I thought I was a bit of a hypocrite, given that I am critical of how our data is handled online while benefiting from it in my job. Maybe I am. Or maybe I see the good and bad.
What's great about social media is that even though I know all of this bad stuff is occurring, I am not personally affected by it because of how much we are able to customize our audience and content. If I don't want to see someone's content, I can unfollow or block them. If I do not want to see a particular topic, I can download a plugin that blocks it. There is nothing that I have to see.
I wouldn't worry about feeling too pessimistic-I feel the same way. I took this class to try and see another side of social media, because I am also generally skeptical of it and its effects on our lives and society. And yes, of course, everything comes with good and bad. However, I agree with your statement above that most of what you hear is skewed toward the positive in an exaggerated way. Yes they are just tools, yes they can be used for good or bad, but often we are not self-aware enough to understand what the bad entails until it there is a significant problem and we are forced to self-correct.
ReplyDelete