Influence of the Media

What forms of new media do you use daily? How has new social media influenced your perspective of events? Are these positive or negative influences?

New media that I use daily include a number of different forms, for example:

·         Facebook

·         Twitter

·         LinkedIn

·         Instagram

·         Video Games

·         Internet

·         A variety of iPhone Apps

Some of the ways social media has influenced my perspective of events is by rapidly increasing the speed at which I receive the information and the verify it. Social media allows individuals to know what’s going on in the world in real time, and not only provides the information about the event, but provides qualifying information to supplement the validity of the perspective of the event that was communicated. With traditional media, it could sometimes take days (depending on the type of story) to have “truthful” details or conflicting statements corroborated. Now, corroboration, conflict, and validity is occurring within a matter of minutes or hours. For me, this has both a negative and positive effect.

Positively, it allows me, as someone with not much time to follow up on the news or current events, the ability to “scan” the news and remain relevant and informed without having to sacrifice a large part of my day to do so.

Negatively, however, the ability to communicate or distribute information digitally from anywhere allows for a tremendous amount of information to be absorbed at once. This, often, overwhelms me and causes me to choose what its important or choose the interest that catches my eye the most rather than considering multiple topics that may be of equal importance. I essentially have to create my own filter; barring otherwise important topics from receiving any further analysis or research simply because I don’t have the time or energy to look at everything. This “filter” can lead to my indifference at times about certain issues because the urgency of social media can artificially create “importance” regardless of whether the issue is impactful or not.