Reflection Essay-Let’s Wrap It Up
Web 2.0 is forever evolving and it is difficult to be sure of the proper avenues to take online. I am in awe of how technology has advanced the way it has; but with that, there are not only positives but, of course, negatives. With that being said, media is able to change the way that we find and receive information. Now more than ever we can simply search for a question and have a million answers in front of us in an instant instead of having to go buy a book/go to a library to find the answer. There are many implications that come with this privilege of Web 2.0. One of them is the need to navigate bias in digital writing and know the difference between bias and agenda. As well as understanding politics and bias on the web (thankfully Dr. Richard provided us with helpful tools to combat this). Moreover, we learned about the importance and usefulness of using hyperlinks (which I will even use in this reflection) in digital writing. Overall, we learned about how to become an informed media consumer, and I’m excited to share all of these ideas in detail in this reflection. Not only did we learn how to be an informed consumer we were graciously shown how to appropriately present information as a digital writer (for example, even though you may be confident about what you are sharing, you have to think about how the reader is interpreting it).
In today’s digital age, there is an extensive amount of misinformation and disinformation in our media. Throughout this semester, I have found that a big part of filtering through media is being aware of bias. As I reflect as a consumer on how I am interacting with media, I need to be more cognizant of bias. Everyone and everything you read has some sort of bias. I have learned that more than ever that it is important to effectively manage bias by actively understanding the way that the information is being framed. Once you can acknowledge this bias, you may be able to pick out your own subjective perceptions you have about the topic. Dr. Richard has given me all the tools I need to do so. I have so many sites and ways to double check like the interactive bias chart, PolitiFact, etc. PolitiFact, (my new favorite toy).
More on my new favorite site…
Since being introduced to this website, I have been on PolitiFact an embarrassing amount. What a great way to hold politicians accountable for what they are saying!
In using PolitiFact; I found myself getting frustrated with what I found about some of the politicians that I commend regularly. So, as a result of my findings, I am realizing that I am a gullible consumer of media and need to be more thorough about what I am deeming true and untrue. Also, I need to realize that just because a powerful politician is saying something doesn’t necessarily mean it is true.
Now, I am unsure as to how many statements/posts PolitiFact pulls from; but I do know that they are very transparent about how they make these decisions. How and what they do to make these decisions is found on their page which explains their fact-check methodology page and it is so interesting and well done!
There is no such thing as a perfect politician, and AOC is only human. I recognize that. I think she does her job so well representing the D-NY 14th district. Using PolitiFact made me realize that it is possible that what is said (by even or most favorite politicians) can be fallacies.
As a digital citizen and student writer, the lesson that I appreciated the most and will take with me going forward is the “Check Please! Lesson One Intro to SIFT.” The acronym stands for: stop, investigate the sources, find better coverage, and trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context. I even taught my family these steps and they are so grateful. I will take these steps with me throughout my life to my grave!
Now, why is this so important? A drawback associated with Web 2.0 is misinformation in media. Really, it has detrimental effects on society. I have realized that during the (mis)information unit, I found the severity of fake news. It can not only negatively impact you as the consumer, but if you share and act on this source of information it can be wildly dangerous to the whole. Someone, for example, may find false information about vaccinations, and then send their children to school unvaccinated, affecting other children who might not be able to get vaccinations because they are immunocompromised/disrupt herd immunity. The spread of this misinformation can be extremely detrimental to the function of society. Furthermore, when people decide to vote for a candidate, how they find information about their candidate may not accurately represent their interests due to the fact that the information they obtained is from an unreliable source.
The topic of censorship in media is an interesting one, especially since there are so many types of platforms available today, and in my third blog post, I talk about this thoroughly. Censorship in the media leads me to ask this general question: What responsibility should social media companies (Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, etc.) take on inequality created on their platforms? In what ways do the platforms listed determine how much censorship to use? These are two questions that have formed in my mind during this week’s class. It’s important to remember that these platforms act as full-fledged businesses. As with most American businesses, these platforms prioritize economic gain over social and political responsibility. From my current understanding, censorship is authorized by government bodies and those people decide what we can see. Some examples that I think of right away are cinema ratings: restricting access to certain content that you can see (PG, PG-13, R).
Also, censorship is present on the platform Instagram regarding vaccine information. When people posted anything with any rhetoric referring to those two topics Instagram would ‘flag the post’ and provide a link to ‘find out more information about the election’ or ‘find more information about the vaccine.’ This same type of thing also happens on TikTok. When particular videos are speaking or including text that speaks of the election or vaccine, that flag pops up linking valid, factual information about that topic. TikTok is also interesting because the app itself has its own censorship guidelines. If certain profanities are being used in a video, they will remove that video from the ‘for you page.’ Altogether, we see that the debate on censorship is complicated socially, politically, and economically.
In regards to Web 2.0 and raising children: what a difficult thing to do in this day and age! I talk about media management as a parent in my second blog post. An article that we read in class, “The I in the Internet” written by Jia Tolentino tells us that the Internet has become the central organ of contemporary life in her article, “The I in the Internet.” Moreover, she explains that the internet has, “Already built an ecosystem that runs on exploiting attention and monetizing the self.” The big takeaway in this piece is that even though you may not have social media yourself, you are still very much living in a digital world. I like how she frames it this way in her writing and it is a very interesting perspective. In reading this article, it made me wonder, what is an appropriate age for a child to access the internet? It is certain that children live in a digital world, as parents are you letting them access it until a certain age or educating them about its use from a young age so they can navigate it? And what is the dynamic like between children and their parents? Ultimately, Tolentino warns that society will always live in a digital world regardless of how much we try to deny it. It is important that schools pay attention to this fact and that parents consider it when raising their children.
Finally, I want to address an idea that surprised me throughout this semester and that is that Wikipedia has validity and is honestly a great source and starting point when doing research. I will admit, before I knew that using Wikipedia was okay, I would still use it at the beginning of my research process. I found it useful to get a quick synopsis about the topic I was researching through Wikipedia before I fully dove into the topic and searched “HPU Libraries.” Dr. Richard, thank you for showing me that Wikipedia is perfectly acceptable to use! Truthfully speaking, it can be overwhelming to deal with Web 2.0 and all the media available out there. As a reader and a writer, I have learned that the power is in my hands to make sure that what we are consuming is a fact to the best of my knowledge and it is imperative that we teach others to do the same, as well.
