Social Media: Is it Impeding Social Change?






Social media has allowed for the world to connected on a larger scale than ever before. Many argue that social media has been the catalyst for social media in many parts of the world; however, some believe that social media is impeding social change for many groups of individuals. There are many disadvantaged groups in the world who do not have access to social media; thus, they are not able to advocate for causes that would bring awareness to their situation (Couldry et al,  2018).  Many of these disadvantages and lack of access to media have been the result of government sanction and cultural norms (Couldry et al, 2018). So, as a result of these things, many disadvantaged groups in other parts of the world are unable to bring awareness and social change to their countries or regions. Social media has provided more social change for the U.S., in some aspects, than it has in other parts of the world, but because of this it has hindered the understanding of other cultures and made it difficult for social change to occur for those groups.

Here is a TedTalk given by Zeynep Tufekci about how social media and news media can be the catalyst for social change, but can also make social change difficult:


Many countries have censorship laws in place, which make it difficult for other parts of the world to see and know what is happening in other parts of the world. Censorship in some countries can cover up atrocities happening in the world, ultimately making it difficult to help those groups in need. Tufekci (2015), mentions that some countries have even gone so far as to host news stories or documentaries in place of live coverage of important rallies and events happening in their own country. This masks the problems that are present, making it difficult for any type of help or awareness to be given to the issue/group involved. In order to bring awareness to social issues in disadvantaged countries or groups, censorship and sanctions in many of these places would have to be addressed. Social media is powerful in that it can sway the tides of social change for some groups but remain stagnant for groups that are desperate.

Resources:


Couldry, N., Rodriguez, C., Bolin, G., Cohen, J., Volkmer, I., Goggin, G., … Lee, K.-S. (2018). Media, communication and the struggle for social progress. Global Media &  Communication, 14(2), 173. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=131051761&site=eds-live&scope=site

Tufekci, Z. (2015). How the internet has made social change easy to organize, hard to win. TED. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo2Ai7ESNL8
 




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