Impact of Digital Media on Social Activism and Democracy Today

This report delves into the influence of media communication on contemporary society, focusing on the roles of digital media, social activism, and democracy. It begins by examining the design and creation of media products, specifically a blog aimed at promoting awareness of these concepts. The report then analyzes the power and impact of media in the 21st century, highlighting its capacity to shape public opinion, educate, and connect individuals. Furthermore, it addresses contemporary social issues arising from digital and social media, such as cyberbullying and depression, and includes a reflection on personal media use. The report concludes by emphasizing the significant role of media in conveying information and influencing societal behavior, while also acknowledging the importance of addressing the negative impacts of digital platforms.

Media Communication
and Society

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
1. Designing and making media product................................................................................3
2. Role and the impact of media in the 21st century................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
Books and Journals.................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
In today's time communication is the key element in order to transfer the message or
information to society. Media communication can be defined as the tools for the techniques that
are used in order to store and deliver the information to the people. These tools include print
media, news media, photography, digital media etc (Puschmann, 2019). In this report there will be
the discussion on the digital media, social activism and the democracy. After that the power and
the contemporary social issues of the media will be analysed.
MAIN BODY
1. Designing and making media product
Media product that will be taken in relation to topis is a blog. Topic that has been
undertaken in order to promote the awareness in the general public is the digital media, social
activism and democracy.
Digital media, social activism and democracy
Digital media can be defined as the technique or form which are used by the electronic
devices. It is a part of the media that requires digital devices in order to carry out the activities.
This type of media can be analysed and modified through various electronic devices. In today's
time the digital media has seen significant growth in day-to-day life and even in the
businesses. Digital media can be created by using software video games websites and various
types of online advertisements (Tully, Vraga and Bode, 2020). Digital media has greatly
influenced the aspect of society and culture. It facilitates organisations to bring innovations in
the sectors like journalism entertainment education politics. One of the main advantages of
digital media is that it connects the people and enhances the social interactions of the different
groups. By using digital media, it enhances various segments of the society like entertainment,
automation, banking and finance, transportation, social connectivity etc. On the other hand,
social activism is a very important concept of the society that means that when the individual
work with the other people in order to bring the change in the society. It is a very wider
concept that includes the concept of the society and the choice of the individual in order to
make the society better in the future. This mainly means that all the actions of the individual
that are taken in relation to the society or the enhancement of the values of the society. People
who are involved in the society welfare are known as the social activist. It is very important

aspect of the society and the people who work for the society ensures that they promote the
equality for the women in the society. They focus on various issues such as conserving the
environment, sexism and many other issues (Vraga and Tully, 2021). Main aim of the activism is
to make the changes in regards to the social, political, environmental factors through which
they can make achieve the goal of the society. Democracy is a very important part of the
society which means that is a part of the government in which all the laws, policies and the
procedures can be decided by the general public. They have the power to choose the party to
whom they want to give the power. The elected people are the part of the public and work in
relation to the welfare of the society. It is very important for the general public that the concept
of the democracy should be considered in the country through which the interest of the general
public can be protect. People have the right to elect the suitable candidate in order to run the
government (Feezell and Ortiz, 2021). They have the obligation to protect the interest of the
general public. Another main importance of the democracy is that they focus on to bring the
equality in the country through which each and every person in the society can be treated
equally.
2. Role and the impact of media in the 21st century
It has been seen that various roles have been playing by the media in today’s time. It has
impacted the activities and the society to a great extent. It has been been seen that media has the
supreme power in affecting the society. Power of the media are described below:
“Power” in and around media
Media can be defined as the most powerful sector in the society that can affect the
various aspects of the society. It is an effective system that focuses on to maintain the balance in
between the different people of the society (Carlson, 2020). Media is a very major concept that
includes television, newspaper, radio, mails etc. These can be used by the organisations in order
to educate the general public. Messages and the information can be easily displayed and conveys
through various platforms like representations, pictures, videos and the movies. It has the power
to give the ease to the people that they can easily connect with each other even then they are
living fat away from each other. Various other modes of media T.V., radio etc. facilitates the

public by giving them the knowledge on the various events and the information that are taking
place across the globe. Latest events and the happening can easily be accessed through the use of
the media by the various platforms. It is so powerful tool that helps in educating the people about
the good as well as about the bad. Media is significantly impacting the today’s world and it
proving as a mirror for the modern society in the 21st century (Ataman and Çoban, 2018). Media is
of various types and one of the most important concepts or the part of the media in the today’s
time is the social media and the other media platforms. It is the most powerful tools in the
society that can be used to influence the behaviour of the people in the specific place.
One of the main powers of the media is that it is the most simple and effective tool in
conveying the messages and the information by the way of communication and the people can
easily connect with the each other in a very less time even from the far places. It can greatly
influence the living of the people in the society through which the thinking and the actions of the
general public can easily be manipulated. Main aim of the media in the today’s world is to
convey the information and the knowledge across the whole world without any discrimination. It
has the power to educate the children and enhance the learning process of the student by the use
of the various media platforms as they can be in the regular touch of their studies (Ohme, 2019). It
also motivates the children to learn new things and the learning about their subjects and the
courses. Another main power that the media has that it can shape the opinion of the public in
regards to the government in the era of the 21st century. Social media has the power to maintain a
healthy relationship of the government with the general public. There are mainly four purposes
that the power of the media is being used in relation to the society. These four points are
entertained, inspire, educate and convince the people of the specific place. These are the most
powerful ways through which the organisations exercise the power of the media to the society.
Contemporary social issues with digital and social media
There are various issues that has been seen that the social and the digital media has created
on the society. It greatly influences the behaviour of the people it the society. Some of the social
issues are mentioned below in relation to the use of the social and the digital media:
 Cyberbullying: It is a form of harassment or it is also known as the harassments that are
done by the use of the online methods. It means that sharing of the personal information
of an individual to the society by the use of the social and the digital media (Nam, 2020).
it may include sharing negative as well as the false information of the person with the

purpose of blackmail or in order to make the negative image of that person in the society.
It is one of the major issues of the social media that has been seen in now days and it is
increasingly continuously in the teenagers who are mostly using social media. it leads to
the depression and even to the suicide of the person on which the harassment has been
done.
 Depression: It is another issue of the social and the digital media. it has been seen that
the increasing use of the social media has also increased the problem of the depression in
the young generation that caused serious illness and diseases to them. Social media
sometimes causes negative impacts on the people who are using social media through
which it leads to the problem of the depression. Social and the digital media sometimes
shows unwanted content and on the other hand it makes the people addictive to itself
(Pierson, 2022). People nowadays can live without the food by without the use of the
social media, it is very difficult for them which leads to the serious problem of the
depression mainly to the young generation. It has decreased the social interactions
between the people in the society which leads to the loneliness in the people that creates
anxiety as well as the depression in the society. It is one of the major contemporary social
issues that has been seen with the use of the social and the digital media.
A reflection on your own media use based on your media diary over the semester
I have watched the semester on the topic that was related to social media and the power
of social media. In that report I have come to know that the media is such a powerful tool that
can influence the behaviour of the people in a specific place. From that semester I came to know
that through media individuals can easily connect to each other in a very less time and it can be
used for the purposes in order to educate the individuals in the society (David and Baden, 2020). I
have also developed new knowledge and learning about the power of the media and along with
that I came to know about the various contemporary social issues that are faced by society in
relation to the use of digital and social media. I have come to know from that semester of the
media diary that more use of social media leads to the anxiety and depression which creates
social issues that should be eliminated from society. It has greatly increased my knowledge
regarding the new aspects of the social media and how it can put a impact on the life of the
person.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been analysed that there are various ways of the media
communications from which the information and the messages can easily be send to the society.
It has been evaluated that the use of the media channels greatly influences the behaviour of the
general public in the society. In the above report, issue of the digital media, social activism and
the democracy has been analysed by the way of blog. It has been evaluated that people of the
country has the power to formulate the policies and the procedures. At the end of the report, role
and the impact of the media in the 21st century has been analysed.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ataman, B. and Çoban, B., 2018. Counter-surveillance and alternative new media in Turkey. Information,
Communication & Society, 21(7), pp.1014-1029.
Carlson, M., 2020. Fake news as an informational moral panic: the symbolic deviancy of social media
during the 2016 US presidential election. Information, Communication & Society, 23(3), pp.374-
388.
David, Y. and Baden, C., 2020. Reframing community boundaries: The erosive power of new media
spaces in authoritarian societies. Information, Communication & Society, 23(1), pp.110-127.
Feezell, J.T. and Ortiz, B., 2021. ‘I saw it on Facebook’: an experimental analysis of political learning
through social media. Information, Communication & Society, 24(9), pp.1283-1302.
Nam, S., 2020. Cognitive capitalism, free labor, and financial communication: A critical discourse analysis
of social media IPO registration statements. Information, Communication & Society, 23(3),
pp.420-436.
Ohme, J., 2019. Updating citizenship? The effects of digital media use on citizenship understanding and
political participation. Information, Communication & Society, 22(13), pp.1903-1928.
Pierson, J., 2022. Media and communication studies, privacy and public values: Future challenges.
In Research handbook on privacy and data protection law (pp. 176-196). Edward Elgar
Publishing.
Puschmann, C., 2019. An end to the wild west of social media research: A response to Axel
Bruns. Information, Communication & Society, 22(11), pp.1582-1589.
Tully, M., Vraga, E.K. and Bode, L., 2020. Designing and testing news literacy messages for social
media. Mass Communication and Society, 23(1), pp.22-46.
Vraga, E.K. and Tully, M., 2021. News literacy, social media behaviors, and skepticism toward
information on social media. Information, Communication & Society, 24(2), pp.150-166.