With all of the recent goings on in Egypt (See a good overview of articles from the BBC here), I was thinking about the role that social media played in organizing the initial uprisings last year and of how social media devices were used in Iran and elsewhere.
The power of these tools to help organize like minded people and to help them develop a sense of solidarity was/is amazing. These are people who had/have been held down under rather totalitarian regimes for years (and yes, I recognize the massive differences between the situation in Egypt and the situation in Iran and I am not trying suggest that the experiences of the people in each country are same) and they would have very major challenges to organize and form the mass groups that actually succeeded in overthrowing the government in Egypt (thought I think the fact that the military largely stood by as a third party and let it happen probably had a lot to do with it too. (and if you think that the military isn't the real power in Egypt, I invite you to look at the recent ouster of the democratically elected government and the replacement, on a 'temporary' basis, of ousted democratically elected politicians.
Digital media has let us see what was happening in these countries and spread the word so that when the governments attempted to crack down on protestors and turn off the internet, users in other countries came together in solidarity to figure out ways to keep the voices of the protest movement heard throughout the world. In the case of twitter, users could phone in their tweets and they would be transcribe them and repost them for the world to see. (This is also a great study of how large groups of people can convene temporarily to solve a problem and then disperse to do other things, new models of learning at work!)
So I think about how powerful a toold we have for engaging in world changing activities and I see people tweeting about where a star NBA player will sign, or complaining about the rain canceled their fourth of July fireworks, and it makes me wonder if people do realize what a massive powerful tool is literally at our fingertips.
I don't think people realize it. It's been marketed as entertainment, but it's truly a tool of revolution. It can be used to call out oppression, to organize for change, to help usher in a more fair and just world.
Or we can talk more about Kim and Kanye's baby.
What you do you think? Tool or toy?
This is such a thought provoking questions I would have to say both. The fact is you are able to use it as a toy to mess around with learn new things play games and such but there is a profound aspect of staying informed that is happening through these medias that is out matching other ways in which to be informed. The generations that are coming up are skeptics of all information they have and so they are finding ways in which to be informed by all perspectives. I would argue the TV does not provide this so they are using the internet and social media to find out the "truth". It is amazing to watch!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cara--it's both. In a troubled world, we all need some entertainment to help keep us sane, and people have always been fascinated with celebrities, even in the days before the printing press, people were enamored with royalty. In today's culture, people who would otherwise be unnoticed are made into celebrities through reality television, YouTube, and social media. Even those topics that we hope would be taken more seriously--like presidential elections--are turned into marketing events. I think the question is this: How do we reach people in the midst of their distractions? How do we train people to be good "crap detectors?" I think we begin one person at a time...
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