How is Social Media Affecting our Democracy?
Research Question
How does the increase in prevalence of social media platforms influence the function of democracy in modern society?
Venn Diagram
Video
Reflection
For this project I chose to focus on how social media is affecting our democracy. I am an avid social media user but do not consider myself to be particularly politically active. However, I thought this would be an interesting topic to research considering similar content has come up many times during this semester.
Reflecting on my work I would say that there were two major struggles for me when completing this third LEAP project. The end of the semester is always extremely busy and it was hard to carve out the necessary time needed to get started and complete this project. While I did not immediately have a research inquiry question in mind I definitely knew I wanted to focus on something related to social media. Since the beginning of this semester I have always found the assignments and readings related to the impact of social media the most interesting.
After some fine-tuning I was able to come up with the following question: “How does the increase in prevalence of social media platforms influence the function of democracy in modern society?”. Originally, I thought it would be a bit difficult to find between 10 and 12 sources on this topic. However, after typing in some keywords into the suggested search engines, I was flooded with choices. I chose my articles and then read through each one, taking notes, diagrams, and quotes out as I read through them. This allowed me to later go back and use the key ideas for my annotated bibliography, my t-chart, and finally my inquiry video. This part of the project was quite time consuming but it later allowed me to quickly sort through the information and it made creating my annotated bibliography easy to do. It definitely set me up for success as I navigated creating the rest of my deliverables.
I would say my other primary struggle point was creating the diagram and video. I believe I am a very strong writer, but I struggle a bit with creativity. The platforms to create these design forms are relatively easy to use. However, creating these was a little challenging. This class as a whole has definitely encouraged me to work towards getting better at that. To create the comparison I chose to use canva which is very user friendly and something I had worked with before so it was not too challenging. I split my topic into 2 viewpoints. The first being the positive impacts of social media on democracy and the second being the dangers and harm that social media can have on democracy. With this, I was able to split up my information into an easy to read format that outlined the major topics and points I encountered and read about in my research. Designing it was really enjoyable; I aimed to make it easy to read and understand. The platform I chose had a lot of good options for icons and fonts to spice things up.
Lastly, I had to work towards creating my 3–4 minute informative video. At first I didn’t really know where to start or how to approach it. I wanted the video to be informative and get my major points across but I also wanted it to be eye-catching and hold my audience’s attention. I made sure to include graphics as well as inflections in my voice to keep it entertaining. I began the video creation process by first watching Jenna Ferguson speak about how she creates her video essays. Similar to her process, I first sorted all the information, photos, graphs, and more that I had collected from my research. I made a brief outline about some topics I wanted to cover and then a rough draft of a script for myself. I felt that continuing to fine tune the script would be more challenging than just starting to record and going from there. I created some graphic images to include in the video and then began recording! Initially, I dreaded creating the video because it can be a little nerve-wracking, and I wasn’t sure how well it would turn out. However, it ended up flowing more smoothly than I anticipated.
Researching this topic was actually quite fascinating. I am glad I chose something that I was genuinely interested in because it made the whole process a lot easier. I knew, especially from this class, about the significant impact that social media has on us, but I didn’t realize how much it was exacerbating the problems we are facing in the U.S. today.
Completing this project I learned quite a few things about myself. I learned that I need to believe in myself and my ability to produce quality work on time. While I think I could have begun working on the project a bit earlier than I chose to, I was definitely way more stressed about my ability to complete it than I needed to be. Once I finalized my topic and sat down and really worked toward completing it, it was quite easy to move quickly through it and get in the groove of things. I also learned that while I may not have initially been interested in taking a class similar to this one, I have learned a ton of information that is extremely useful and relevant to my everyday life. I find myself often discussing topics we’ve learned in class and that I specifically researched with friends and family. There is a lot of information to be covered in regards to Media and Democracy and as technology continues to develop, specifically social media, we as a society will need to adjust our democracy accordingly. I overall enjoyed completing this project and diving deeper into the topic and am proud of the products I have produced.
Annotated Bibliography
Alodat, A. M., Al-Qora’n, L. F., & Abu Hamoud, M. (2023, July 10). Social media platforms and political participation: A Study of Jordanian Youth engagement. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/7/402
Alodat is the primary author of this study conducted in South Africa analyzing and describing the ways social media impacts political participation especially in youth. It is a great example of the positive impacts of the media on democracy demonstrating how it can reduce barriers to participation and allow for facilitating opinions and dialogues with those who may share similar views.
Congge, U., Guillamón, M.-D., Nurmandi, A., Salahudin, & Sihidi, I. T. (2023, January 9). Digital Democracy: A Systematic Literature Review. Frontiers. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2023.972802/full
Frontier’s publication includes a systematic review of multiple studies analyzing the effects of the digital world on democracy. It provided history and background on the ways that this topic impacts individuals each day. The article includes many authors with varying backgrounds allowing for a comprehensive overview of the impact not only on voters and citizens but governments themselves.
Center for Humane Technology. Democratic functioning. Center for Humane Technology. (n.d.). https://www.humanetech.com/democratic-functioning
Center for Human Technology deeply dives into the data and statistics surrounding the impact of social media on democracy. The article includes a multitude of graphics with statistics including the way that certain content is prioritized over others, how many countries are impacted by this, and more. Center for Humane Technology also includes ways that citizens can counteract this negative impact especially the spread of misinformation on media platforms.
Lindsey Barrett, L. M., MacCarthy, M., Wheeler, T., Lee, N. T., & Rozenshtein, A. Z. (2023, June 27). How tech platforms fuel U.S. political polarization and what government can do about it. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-tech-platforms-fuel-u-s-political-polarization-and-what-government-can-do-about-it/
In the article published by Brookings the authors write about the ways that political polarization is fueled by social media. Writers discuss how tech platforms and the way they are structured and utilized have exacerbated the natural occurring decisiveness that exists within our democracy. This extreme polarization has caused erosion of trust in democracy, elections, science, and more.
Olaniran, B., & Williams, I. (2020, February 27). Social Media Effects: Hijacking democracy and civility in Civic Engagement. Platforms, Protests, and the Challenge of Networked Democracy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7343248/#:~:text=Social%20networks%20such%20as%20Twitter,a%20particular%20way%20of%20thinking.
Olaniran and Williams’ article discusses how popular social networking sites hold the ability to alter democracy and its ideals. It emphasizes how individuals who use social media are encouraged to voice opinions but do not engage in active conversation especially among those with differing opinions. The article explores the ways that social media can negatively affect the democratic process with specific examples of misinformation and engagement statistics.
Roberto Barroso, L., & van Brussel Barroso, L. van B. (2023, June 1). Democracy, social media, and freedom of expression: Hate, lies, and the search for the possible truth. Democracy, Social Media, and Freedom of Expression: Hate, Lies, and the Search for the Possible Truth | Chicago Journal of International Law. https://cjil.uchicago.edu/print-archive/democracy-social-media-and-freedom-expression-hate-lies-and-search-possible-truth
This essay reflects on the impacts the way digital media and the internet is shaping our work particularly in regards to democracy. Part II of this essay provided information on the way that social media differs from journalism and the advantages and disadvantages of both media types. It emphasizes the benefits and drawbacks of the freedom of speech and data collection that comes along with social media usage in the political realm.
Schleffer, G., & Miller, B. (2021, August 18). The political effects of social media platforms on different regime types. Texas National Security Review. https://tnsr.org/2021/07/the-political-effects-of-social-media-platforms-on-different-regime-types/
Schleffer and Miller’s work provides some information about how social media can have impacts on specific political regime’s. Much of the information relevant to this research inquiry discusses how social media holds the ability to strengthen democracy and echo public opinion. The authors emphasize different viewpoints including the ways that social media can expose users to differing opinions echoed by friends and family.
ShareAmerica. (2023, March 27). How technology can strengthen democracy. Share America. https://share.america.gov/how-technology-can-strengthen-democracy/#:~:text=Pro%2Ddemocracy%20activists%20rely%20on,and%20other%20community%20engagement%20initiatives.
ShareAmerica’s article discusses the positive impacts of technology on democracy. The primary focus points being the way that activists utilize apps and other technology to bring awareness and organize protests. It includes data from other surveys and research efforts that support the ways technology benefits society emphasizing the role it has played in protests and movements that have occurred worldwide.
West, D. M., Kamarck, E., Kalb, M., Lempert, R., & Elaine Kamarck, J. M. (2022, July 25). Misinformation is eroding the public’s confidence in democracy. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/misinformation-is-eroding-the-publics-confidence-in-democracy/
The article written by West, Kamarck, and others contributes additional information about the way that social media is affecting the way the public views democracy in the United States. It includes polls where Americans speak out about the political divide they witness within our democracy and express decreased confidence in the political system that correlates with technology and media use. It also offers potential ways for states to combat the spread of misinformation on social media and implement education to fight back against this political divide and erosion of trust.
Wike, R. (2022, December 6). Social media seen as mostly good for democracy across many nations, but U.S. is a major outlier. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/12/06/social-media-seen-as-mostly-good-for-democracy-across-many-nations-but-u-s-is-a-major-outlier/
This article published by Pew Research Center gives research data spanning nationwide highlighting citizens’ opinions on the impact of social media on democracy. Most of those polled exhibited positive outlooks speaking about the ways it has allowed them to stay informed and raise awareness about important issues. The article provides many graphics that can be used to show the general public’s consensus on how they feel social media impacts democracy and political involvement.
