Assignment #3

In the sense that the public sphere is defined as an area in social life where individuals can discuss and identify societal problems, digital media supports the public sphere with communication between those individuals in some cases, if authorities are not involved. Digital media is not only used for social purposes, but could also be associated with politics between those interested, creating discussions between them and expanding onto diverse conversations that could lead to more truth than fiction. Habermas mentions in Christian Fuchs Social Media and the Public Sphere, “the public sphere is not just a sphere of public political communication, but also a sphere free from state censorship and from private ownership” (Fuchs 60). I don’t think it is entirely free because of the fact that social platforms have their rules and policies. If they see a discussion taking a turn into something classified, I believe they are allowed to remove it. In terms of digital media supporting the public sphere, individuals could post their opinions or create discussion groups of what is going on in the news, providing healthy ways to contribute to the community and giving advice and ideas to others.

I think personalization is connected with digital public sphere in the sense that an individual could ‘personalize’ their circle and include in their settings the kind of people they want to have that discussion with, whether to make the conversation public or private.