Reflection Essay
During the COM 520 course, I learned a lot about the media and expanded my knowledge in terms of media literacy. There was content that I was genuinely surprised to find out about and wanted to learn more. In the first week, Professor Hobbs set the tone of the class by giving us the foundations of media and the structures of power. We have gone over society constantly misled by social media, the news, and just about anything related to media. I learned more about algorithms and how biased they are. Algorithms work hard to use personal information that we never allowed them to use in the first place. They are also discriminatory and make the digital world unsafe for users. We get into the methodologies of fake news and how it is a topic that has infected our media. It has come to the point that we believe just about anything the media tells us. There was a moment where we got into Facebook, which is one of the most influential and powerful social media platforms. They are a platform that prioritizes engagement over user safety. They are known for using the algorithm to push harmful content on someone’s feed, using face recognition within their platform, and being biased in terms of content. During the course, we have gone over a variety of topics that helped us gain a good foundation of propaganda. They all worked towards helping us understand contemporary propaganda within the internet and social media. We learn the lack of data rights and users rights throughout the course. It teaches us the foundations of utilizing media literacy to understand these concepts and possibly teach others. That helped me be more aware and educate those around me about what is going on within the digital world.
In the next portion of the class, we discussed all things propaganda. I gained an understanding what it is and its capabilities to be influential. Then we get into computational propaganda which, is all about how it uses misleading information to promote or publicize a certain point of view. We see it in new forms with bots, memes, and people using social media platforms to create content or groups. Social media has become a space where we are angry, sad, and unhappy with what we see in terms of content. The algorithm works to circulate toxic information and promote a harmful view. Now, we get into post-truth epistemologies, where we start to form opinions without keeping the facts in mind. People choose to trust their opinions more and negate any facts that tell them their truth is wrong. As a society, we love to be a part of groups who have a set of values regardless of them being wrong and believe that to be the truth. With the media, people are more susceptible to being manipulated into those truths more than ever. We have learned a great deal from algorithms to propaganda. It helped me gain a better understanding of the power the media has. It can provide an unlimited amount of knowledge but be used to manipulate you in any way it can. This portion of class brought a lot of fear of getting on to the internet. I fear that the more times I click onto websites or sign up for certain platforms, my information is just there for the taking.
One topic I would like to focus on that was the most interesting was the downfall of Facebook. It is a platform I do not use or plan to use in the future after learning about how sneaky they are. Facebook is a platform that has little to no regulation of their content. There was the article, “Facebook, Citing Societal Concerns, Plans to Shut Down Facial Recognition System” where they go over how they had a feature used to identify people based on their photos. It is something that I had no idea was embedded in their platform,m and go above and beyond to hide it. It is a feature that many other users had no idea about and that is something Facebook failed to mention. They are a company that lacks transparency and honesty to its users. A billion-dollar company that’s well aware of its power is not shy of abusing it and using it to its advantage. Using any method they can to make sure their engagement is higher than any other platform. Find out that they have messed with the algorithm to push out content that’s negative to receive attention. There was the article, “Five points for anger, are for a ‘like’: How Facebook’s formula fostered rage and misinformation” that I read for class and summarized for a discussion post. It discussed the introduction of emoji reactions that pushed the user feeds to be emotional and hurtful due to their reception. Facebook utilizes its algorithm to filter out content they want to be out there. The posts that have the most reactions, regardless of their negativity, receive the most attention. They treated emojis as more valuable than likes since it gets people the most engaged and prompts them to stay on Facebook. Learning how social media platforms abuse their power for monetary gain shifted my view. Recently, I took time off social media due to how negative it was for mental health. It has given me more of a reason to stay off social media.
Overall, this course brought a lot of information for me to take in and turn my mindset around when it comes to digital space. We live in a world where the internet is not as regulated as we think and, the data rights we should have are non-existent. Big companies like Facebook can use their platform however they see fit, so their site has the most engagement. In the world of social media, there is more focus on the likes than the safety of their users. They are capable of shifting our views, morals, beliefs, and mental state of mind. It is capable of creating chaos just for the sake of engagement and, they have no issue utilizing it to the best of their ability. When I see posts that make me angry, feel ugly about myself, or even make me sad, it is most likely due to the algorithm. The social media space makes me feel unsafe and constantly on edge. My feed shows me the lives of women who have the perfect body, lifestyle, and job. It makes me feel horrible about myself and wishes my life to be like theirs. It is one of the reasons why I took time off social media. Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok feel more negative than they ever have. We are constantly scrolling to receive some kind of entertainment and fulfillment. They are used to manipulate the mind of the people and abuse their power to gain information about us. There is so much going on with big technology companies using their platforms to manipulate the crowd. The digital space is becoming a place that is not safe for users and there is not much talk about it. I am grateful to be a part of a course that educated me about artificial intelligence, propaganda, users rights, social media, and much more. Learning about these topics gave me a new outlook on my rights as a user and a human. Now I can educate others around me to be more self-aware as they navigate their way around the digital world.
