Speak for yourself
Since the rise of social media in the early 2000s, it has slowly become integrated in our lives from the time we wake up to the time we lay in bed at night. However, I contest that social media has ruined our ability to perceive information and has clouded our judgment resulting in our political culture being tarnished.
The best way to demonstrate this point would be to examine how social media users react to news on these platforms. Every content creator’s main goal is to amass the most amount of views possible. Considering the lower attention span most people who frequent Tik Tok and Instagram have, this means creators must capture the viewer in the shortest amount of time possible. One easy way to do this, is to present the viewer such a shocking or disagreeable statement that the viewer is compelled to see more. The viewers will fall into two categories; those who agree and those who don’t. Yet no matter which category you fall in, you continue to watch.
Now not all content creators employ this strategy, however there’s an overwhelming amount that do. So when a viewer is presented with polarizing takes everywhere they go, this slowly shapes how they perceive information. One of the best ways to illustrate this phenomenon would be to look at how people react to music.
When Kendrick Lamar released his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, the initial reaction was very mixed. The objective facts are that the album was very well made, with quality features, and just had that Kendrick Lamar magic that turns everything he touches to content gold. Despite this, the album was not his best. But that statement is very misleading as Lamar is such a talented artist that no matter what he releases it will be objectively well made.
That statement, ‘the album wasn’t his best,’ circulated on many social platforms and like a game of telephone, it devolved to ‘the album was bad.’ Content creators affiliated with clickbait culture ran with this narrative and before long the general stigma was that the album was bad. Now what group mostly held this notion to be true?
People who didn’t listen to the album…
Social media allows us access to a variety of opinions and takes, yet when we’re exposed to this content, especially considering how polarizing it can be, without assessing our own beliefs on the issue, our judgment becomes clouded.
So following the previous example, that group of people are so caught up in this belief that the album was bad that they will never listen to it, and forever be unaware of what they truly think.
Don’t get me wrong, there were several issues with the album and it's perfectly acceptable to believe that the album wasn’t for you, but as a result of all the content we see on a daily basis it's become easier to let someone else tell you what to think-the first step to a homogeneous culture devoid of individuality.
Another dangerous side effect of the scale of content we regularly have access to is how defigured our ability to assess things has become. We’re only able to see things as good or bad, we’ve limited ourselves to a black and white scale with no gray area. This is evident in the way we talk, such as how the word ‘middle’ has become derogatory and the phrase ‘not bad’ is a compliment.
So sticking to the previous example, if an album is not good then the mass perspective is that the album was bad. With this limited vocabulary to describe your opinions, your assessment is either inflated or deflated.
Now if this was just an issue within the music community that would be fine, but it goes beyond it. This way of thinking is mirrored in any area that involves the people vocalizing their opinions.
A democracy is no better than the people it represents. So when the people have lost the ability to think for themselves, they aren’t properly represented in the government. The representatives are unable to comply with the whims of the represented, the very opposite of our founding father’s intentions.
Looking at the political culture of our nation, most people get their opinions from the party which they affiliate; oftentimes being democrat or republican. So an individual is more likely to have democratic leaning sentiment on every issue rather than assessing each issue and determining what they believe. This ties back to the previous point regarding social media, where people think every issue is a two sided coin.
I call for readers of this article to truly scrutinize the way they think. Recall whether your views are heavily shaped by what you see on Tik Tok, Instagram, or any social platform. I always say real change is initiated when two sides comprise, and for that to become reality one must believe in their own truth, not someone else's.
See the world through your own eyes, not someone else’s…
Jul. 31, 2023
