Social media helpful or hurtful?

Social media is a great platform to spread information. Whether that information is true or misleading is out of our control. In this case the three articles talk about the ways social media can help social activism. Stephen’s paper talks about the struggles in the 1960s with spreading information and how slow everything is compared to this day. He states that any large social movement is shaped by the technology available to it. Gladwell’s article is similar to this because he gives examples of how powerful social media can be. From turning a protest of four people to students all across the southeast. This shows the magnitude the effects may have in today’s world. On the other hand, Walton’s article talks about how social media spreads negative information. With examples form the political debate spreading negative, misleading information, this hurts our society. People trust some of these sources and take this negative information and run with it.

In my opinion social media has done a great job with the spread of social activism. In recent news the massive shooting in Fort Lauderdale has completely changed the entire country and high schools students have all come together to make a difference in this world. Using social media they spread the word of peace and hopes of ending these mass shootings. They want their voice to be heard loud and clear. Social media may cause some drama every now and then but in situations like this is when we get the best out of it and as a society come together. Without social media some of the younger generation would not have a clue to what goes on in our world today. The amount of people that watch the news these days has decreased significantly. With social media the spread of all those #Prayfor__ would cease to exist. Social media plays too big of a role in our society and a positive role as well.