Literature that I've read thus far, including Room for Debate articles and Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, have all insinuated how influential social media is on politics. As a media medium, highlighted especially by Postman, social media is a way people connect, relay, and inform each other of important or impending news instantaneously. Therefore, the perceptions of the world, including politics, are heavily affected by the way its information is given.
It is an undeniable fact that social media creates opinions and conversation; a positive contribution towards the news and political awareness, as sensitive topics, such as movements or marginalized groups, receive the amount of attention they need. Despite its positive attributes, the spread of fake news, irrational arguments, and sensationalism are all negative byproducts of social media and its effects on news and the politics.
With a click of a button, the quick relaying of information becomes a breeding ground for the spread of inaccurate news or irate words of politicians, growing in popularity and inciting uproar. Platforms, such as Twitter with its comment threads, enable hate to circulate, where angered politicians, users, and newsmen often add to building disarray without preface. Fake news and political irrationality become far more susceptible to being regarded as rational.
Social media encourages a prerogative of likes and comments, where the accuracy of news and politics becomes less and less important in comparison to its popularity. As a result, sensationalism becomes a side effect of social media political coverage, as seat gripping headlines and the most alluringly "click bait" titles infringe upon political accuracy. Recent spike in fake news, most notably during the 2016 American presidential election, is an example of an inadvertent yet unfortunate byproduct of social media.
I also think that social media is very volatile on whether it is detrimental or conducive. As you had mentioned, fake news becomes quickly spread if it appeals to the viewers. With this continuing on, false articles belie the reputation of political events.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It's important to emphasize the destructive nature of fake news and its negative impact on social life. Fake news can lead to extremes like influencing people to dislike something because of a biased tweet or post they read. At this moment, it is not important for people to spread correct information, but rather to spread whatever information they have quickly. It's based on popularity, as you stated. Furthermore, in traditional news reports, the focus has also deviated from informing to providing commentary. This can also cause some misunderstanding, or the spread of wrong information.
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