Weekly Blog 1

Social media is what our culture revolves around. It is how information is spread. It is how we communicate with others. It is the way we pass the time.

Being on social media impacts me and everyone else on a daily basis. It shapes what everyone around me is talking about to the point where it is almost inescapable.

Social media plays a huge and important role in our society. As I said, it’s everywhere. It plays the role that newspapers used to, while also providing immediate discussion and feedback. It spreads information faster than ever before.

The power and voice social media provides to the average person is what interests me the most about it. It can theoretically give everyone an equal voice in the topic at hand. We have seen this with the “#metoo” movement. The average person who previously had few ways to talk about people with power now has the platform to do so.

In the past few years, however, this power has led to extremes through cancel culture and the harm it can cause to people who sometimes do and sometimes don’t deserve it. Viral trends such as the cinnamon challenge and tide pod challenge have been harmful to youth. The internet is so widespread that people often use it to justify their impulsive behavior.

In the future, I don’t see social media changing drastically. I think it will continue to be a platform for discussion and to communicate with people all over the world. I also think it remain harmful to people through mob mentality, cancel culture, and the dangerous viral trends it often spreads.