Digital media, Social Activism and Democracy

This blog post describes the role of digital media in the concepts of social activism and democracy. It also highlights the contemporary social issues with digital and social media.

Blog

Table of Contents
Table of Contents................................................................................................................................
Part 1. BLOG........................................................................................................................................
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................
Part 2.....................................................................................................................................................
Power in and around media.........................................................................................................6
Contemporary social issues with digital and social media..........................................................7
Reflection on own media use.......................................................................................................9
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................

Part 1. BLOG
Digital media, Social Activism and Democracy
Digital media comprises of all those forms of media which would require the use of encoded
machine readable data formats for their operation. It comprises of the digitized content which
can be easily transmitted by using computer networks and internet (Dwyer and Molony, 2019).
These can be in various forms such as audio, video graphics and text. The concept of democracy
has received a new impetus due to the emergence of various platforms of digital media. Social
activism refers to working in coordination with other people with the purpose of bringing a
change in the society. It has also provided a new meaning to the concept of social activism. This
blog posts describes the role of digital media in the concepts of social activism and democracy.
Digital media and democracy
An important role is played by mass media in the social and political lives of people.
Owing to this, it has also impacted the democratic processes. There has been an extensive use of
digital media for influencing opinions of the public. Furthermore, with the emergence of digital
media platforms, there has been distribution of power in the hands of the users who not only
develop engagement with the mass audience but also influence the various democratic processes
and practices (Suwana, 2020). The various digital media platforms have led to the evolution of
the concept of democracy. It also opened new ways in which the citizens can engage with the
government. In addition to this, the governments across nations also use digital media platforms
to engage with the citizens on a large level. However, it can be critically analyzed that with the
prevailing illiteracy and digital divide, it will not be reasonable to expect equality in various
democratic debates. However, it is also debatable that use of digital media platforms will work to
empower the marginalized groups of people.
Digital media and social activism
Social activism involves coordinated and collaborated working for bringing a change in
the society. This is often confrontation and is initiated against an established power. Social
activism can be of various types including demonstrations and protests, boycotts, strikes, letter
writing and petitions, social media campaigns etc. Use of digital media in most of the types of
social activism is evident in the present times (Freelon, Marwick and Kreiss, 2020). Digital
3

activism is a concept which makes use of internet and digital media for bringing about political
action and mass mobilization. Protests are undertaken online through sharing confirmed news on
various social media platforms. Blogging activism is a new concept which helps the citizens to
make protests through use of digital media. Emails are also used for bringing social activism
regarding a particular matter.
In this way, digital media has made its important place in social activism and democracy
in today’s times that are powered by technology. It has transformed the concepts of social
activism and democracy. Along with positively supporting these concepts, digital media has led
to their misuse at the same time.
4

REFERENCES
Dwyer, M. and Molony, T. eds., 2019. Social media and politics in Africa: democracy,
censorship and security. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Suwana, F., 2020. What motivates digital activism? The case of the Save KPK movement in
Indonesia. Information, Communication & Society, 23(9), pp.1295-1310.
Freelon, D., Marwick, A. and Kreiss, D., 2020. False equivalencies: Online activism from left to
right. Science, 369(6508), pp.1197-1201.
5

Part 2.
Power in and around media
Media has power as it keeps people aware and informs them about the various events and
happenings. Over the years, evolution of media has taken place which has made the lives of
people convenient. A significant role is played by media in sharing of information over the
world. This shows the power of media in the field of communication. Media is present in
different types and forms which makes it even easier to easily access the required information
anytime from anywhere (Deseriis, 2021). With the advancement in technology, media has the
power to reach a larger audience. By influencing the thoughts, behaviors and actions of people,
an important role is played by digital media in shaping modern culture and society. The power in
and around media is evident from the fact that many aspects of human life are impacted by it.
These include individual beliefs, values, voting regarding a political party, protesting against a
social issue, raising help for a social cause etc.
Over the years, the influence of media has increased drastically and which will continue to
increase with the ongoing improvements in media. It has become an inevitable part of the
human life as all the topics of interest are covered by media. It contains the power of educating
the people on various areas, both good and bod. Therefore its judicial use is necessary specially
in the case of children and young people. This indicates the power media has over masses. Media
has the power to shape the social identities of people. Politically, it makes people exist as citizens
while socially they exist in various social roles (Forestal, 2017). In cultural aspects of media,
people exist as social groups while economically, they are present as customers.
Media has tremendous influence over the ways in which people are viewed. It has the
power to manipulate people and make them lead life in a particular way. In this way, media
influences masses by making a small news as a sensational one by creating hype about it. Media
takes various forms such as radio, film, television and blogs. Television among them contains
tremendous power as it can educate large number of people at the same time. It also tells people
about the commonalities they share with their neighboring countries (Jungherr, Rivero and
Gayo-Avello, 2020). Furthermore, light is shed by it not only on the powerful but also on the
powerless sections. In this way, it aims to provide holistic information about the world about a
person.
6

For bringing a social change, media acts as a catalyst. It can be called as the backbone of
social growth as for every change, information is required which is provided by it. It performs
the work of creating awareness among the public. It continuously provides information to the
society and makes them knowledgeable about their rights and privileges. In this way, media
performs the role if a catalyst in by making people act interact and react to a particular matter. In
this way, through media, even illiterate people are able to explore the world of knowledge.
Contemporary social issues with digital and social media
Contemporary social issues with digital media
Authenticating information
The digital media provides a library of information on all topics. However, it is a
challenge to identify whether the information is authentic or not. This is an issue with the digital
media that the information provided by it needs to be verified. Misinformation has tremendous
negative impact on the various processes including democratic processes.
Cybersecurity
This is another issue that is presented by the digital media. While using digital devices,
the users may pose risk to their personal information, financial data etc. software threats tend to
damage the system and leads to leak of personal information. People may also fall prey to certain
online scams and frauds (Jungherr, Rivero and Gayo-Avello, 2020). Cyber security risks may be
even more dangerous for young children as they are not aware of the same and do not possess
basic cyber security skill. Digital media poses serious issues for teens as its impacts their
behavior and mentality. Watching aggressive content on digital media makes them adopt risky
behavior. They are also exposed to various security risks.
Gambling
Digital media presents various online sites which contain gambling services. In this way,
it provides easy access to such sites making it an issues that needs to be addressed. Indulging in
such activities excessively may result in reckless expenditure by the young people and teens
leading to development of bad habits n them. It also leads them towards behavior which can be
harmful for their future as they will not spend the finance available with them judiciously.
Exploitation
7

Digital media exposes the young and inexperienced people to all types of exploitation
including sexual. A number of opportunities are provided by the internet o the young people to
socialize with their friends. However, during this process they also socialize with people who
share common interests with them (Leong and et.al., 2019). These are the people who develop
relations with the tees by providing them emotional support and later exploit them. Various
sexual predators are also present online that prey upon vulnerable young adults.
Contemporary issues with social media
Online versus reality
The way people use social media poses an issue in the contemporary world. It is a
medium of keeping in touch with the associations. However, people replace actual
communication and in- person socializing with the use of social media (Choi and Sung, 2018).
This makes them depend on people and consider them as their close ones while the people
friends on social media are actually not friends. It is due to this, strangers are also considered as
friends by people which makes them live in a world which is far from reality.
Increased usage
Kids and teens develop an addiction for social media and spend more than required time
on it. This leads to a number of consequences for them. They skip physical activity and outdoor
games while playing games on social media. This leads to sedentary lifestyle and development of
a number of diseases, the prominent among them being obesity. Further, they also fall prey to
many other conditions such as anxiety, depression and get exposed to content which not
appropriate to their age. It also leads to development of personality issue in teenagers as social
media provides a lot of content that makes them consider that a particular person or celebrity as a
role model. In order to fit into these standards, the teenagers undertake behaviors that prove to be
harmful for their health such as binge drinking or eating too less to obtain a thin figure (Zadeh
and et.al., 2019). These personality issues make them feel socially anxious.
Fear of missing out (FOMO)
This is a growing contemporary issue which makes the people continuously check the
social media sites. This idea of missing out something if not present online affects the mental
8

heath of people. This issues affects not only the young people but also the elderly ones who are
compelled to continually check the online sites due to FOMO.
Self- image issues
Through social media, people earn tools whereby they can earn approval of others
regarding their appearance. This also makes them compare themselves to others. Through this
process they develop body image issues. By spending majority of their time n social media,
young people become more vulnerable to it. Moreover, the teens start linking their self- worth to
their looks owing to the impact of social media (Abkenar and et.al., 2021). Though these
problems may not solely be caused by social media, but t provides a medium that aggravates
these issues.
Reflection on own media use
My use of media can be reflected as follows. While studying this module, various themes
were to be explored. The module provided me understanding of the ways in which the social
worlds have been infiltrated by media. A variety of media platforms were to be used as a part of
this module. This was done by attempting practical tasks which required knowledge of use of
media to effectively communicate for a variety of purposes. I studied various forms of media
such as print and digital media in detail. Regarding different tasks and activities of module, print
media were used by me. I used magazines, newspapers and weekly journals in obtaining
information for attempting the tasks in the module. These media were authentic and provided me
with reliable content that could be used for the task. In this way, I gained understanding about
the ways in which print media can be used for gaining information and using it.
Further, during the module, I had various queries. These were asked on social media which
were responded by the lecturers. I felt that this was an effective medium using which students
can communicate with their peers and teachers in a more interactive manner. Further, I also
made use of social media which attending various webinars and online discussion forums. This
not only helped in creating a meaningful dialogue but also assisted in boosting experience.
9

REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Abkenar, S.B. and et.al., 2021. Big data analytics meets social media: A systematic review of
techniques, open issues, and future directions. Telematics and Informatics, 57, p.101517.
Choi, T.R. and Sung, Y., 2018. Instagram versus Snapchat: Self-expression and privacy concern
on social media. Telematics and Informatics, 35(8), pp.2289-2298.
Deseriis, M., 2021. Rethinking the digital democratic affordance and its impact on political
representation: Toward a new framework. New media & society, 23(8), pp.2452-2473.
Forestal, J., 2017. The architecture of political spaces: Trolls, digital media, and Deweyan
democracy. American Political Science Review, 111(1), pp.149-161.
Jungherr, A., Rivero, G. and Gayo-Avello, D., 2020. Retooling politics: How digital media are
shaping democracy. Cambridge University Press.
Leong, C. and et.al., 2019. Social media empowerment in social movements: power activation
and power accrual in digital activism. European Journal of Information Systems, 28(2),
pp.173-204.
Toivonen, T. and et.al., 2019. Social media data for conservation science: A methodological
overview. Biological Conservation, 233, pp.298-315.
Zadeh, A.H. and et.al., 2019. Social media for nowcasting flu activity: Spatio-temporal big data
analysis. Information systems frontiers, 21(4), pp.743-760.
10