In fact, messages in the mass media may not be as influential now as they were in the mid-20th century when millions of people watched the same TV shows each week at the same time and read the same major metropolitan daily newspapers and national magazines.
Now the internet is so vast and expansive that unless you are looking for certain information a lot of info will get lost in the masses of articles and posts all over the internet.
Eric Schmidt’s statement implies that privacy in digital networks is limited. This sentiment is echoed by Mark Zuckerberg, who has suggested that privacy is dead.
I am of the same agreement that privacy is dead thanks to social media. A digital footprint is VERY real and can be very impactful. You truly do need to be careful and aware of what you are doing on social media because you never know how it may come back to find you in the future. It could effect your current relationships, future relationships, or even school and workplace activity.
Previously, dating was limited to the people you were likely to meet. You could meet friends of friends. You could meet people at school, at parties, at bars or on blind dates. Your options were limited geographically and by how outgoing you were, how much time you wanted to spend looking, and who you trusted to set you up.
While online dating comes with a huge toll of negative critiques it can also be a very cool and convenient way to meet new people. Just like I said before about making connections with people online through common hobbies and interests the same could be said for online dating. It is very cool that it does not take a “chance meeting” to find someone that you share common goals and ideas with. By online dating you can reach people in your area or out of your area that you otherwise maybe would have never met.
It is worth noting that there are also niche fandoms that probably would not exist without the aid of digital networks.
This is truly why I believe social media is so important for making connections. While someone may feel alone in their interests or hobbies they can use social media to find other like minded people who enjoy all of the things they do and connect with people all over the world.
Of course, we should analyze critically any statements coming from someone whose primary purpose it is to maximize profits for their company.
Never be too afraid to question a person or company’s intent in what they are posting or putting out onto the internet. Nine times out of ten people are telling you about a product or company out of a need for engagement and hunger for profit. It is not wise to be blind to the intentions of posts and online forums.
“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.”
This is very true and will always continue to be true. For as long as we live and have the internet there will always be people who are lost and confused when it comes to how the internet truly functions. Even some people who have been exposed to the internet since its creation are still confused by its functionality and form. It will always be a niche knowledge that only some have access to.
The scene you saw on the street may be explained by the newspaper article you read. However, you may also realize from your own experience including conversations with friends around the topic that the newspaper article author presented a biased view of what you saw, or that you understand things about the scene now than the newspaper author did not.
Even though social media is not always a reliable news source it does prove useful when it comes to seeing multiple sides of situations and in some instances making situations more personal. The news is only able to state facts and give information, they are not as accurate when it comes to the feelings and emotions of the people involved or harmed in events. That is where social media can come in handy.
Regardless of the immense power invested in computing algorithms and models today, computers cannot create knowledge in the way I conceptualize it, and I do not believe they will ever be capable of doing so.
This is why I believe we need to stop trying to make artificial intelligence so advanced because we are trying to make it smarter than us. Which for one is impossible to make it human like in knowledge but two is just going to lead to our own downfall in intelligence.
With so many streams of information coming in, we have trouble carefully forming knowledge, that deep sense of all we learn. Knowledge is both the most important and the most ignored stage of knowing in the digital age.
Going back to my earlier comment this is why social media is such a huge problem. People are too willing to believe everything they see and are not likely enough to question what it is exactly that they are being exposed to. It is good to be skeptical when so much is being thrown at you constantly and at a rate our brains are not made to be accustomed to.
This is the thing about social media: it is grounded in how people talk and behave, not in rules set by any authorities.
This is one of the reasons social media can be so dangerous but is also one of the reasons I enjoy social media so much. My social media is perfectly curated for ME. My social media may look nothing like your social media, or if it is similar it may recommend you to me as someone I’d have common interests with. This can help us gain connections and decenter unwanted topics from our lives. That in of itself can be inherently good and bad.
Nonetheless, posts about government overreach and misinformation skeptical of the coronavirus threat were top trends on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and even TikTok.
This is a perfect example of why I don’t immediately, or usually ever, trust what I see on social media alone when it comes to statistics or new information. It is necessary to double check other sources and reliable outlets as social media is always going to want to get views and traction so they are not above faking important information for exposure.