With increasing trend
of individualism and advance in media technology, media’s position in society
is becoming more presentational. Media
are no longer merely a tool of perception control, they have become an arena where
ordinal people could actively present themselves and object to unjust social
system surrounding them. This blog
will discuss about presentational media and its social and psychological
effects on people with emphasis on social media, public sphere, participatory
culture, and online persona.
image source: http://ndesign-studio.com/blog/released-a-free-vector-social-media-icon-set
Social media have
effects on society. Active participation
in the internet and social media have contributed to social and political
movements in the past. For instance,
Turkey has a problem with Armenia in regards to the genocide of Armenians by
newly established Turkey in 1915, and the Turkey government refuses to admit
recognition of the event as genocide (Akin 2011, p. 43). However, in 2008, an online petition apologising the event of 1915 started, resulting in the public gathering in Istanbul, and
also, several blogs by Turks devoted to opening up the Armenian issue which had
been regarded as a taboo issue previously in Turkey (Akin 2011, p. 45). The internet website of the petition led to
creation of the public sphere in the capital, and the existence of the blogs
show that people in Turkey consider that they should now face with and solve
this unfinished historical issue. A
problem that was not able to be solved for about 100 years has started to move
towards reconciliation by the power of technology. The sensitive issue has entered a step to
reconciliation by the citizens, not by diplomacy or international
community. Citizens were empowered by
the use of media. This event implies that
citizens are the main contributor towards resolving the issue, suggesting that
they are the primary political entity within the state which is an ideal
condition of democratic society.
Citizens’ political opinions are reflected in the country’s political
agenda.
97th Anniversary of the Armenian genocide in Istanbul in 2012.
image source: http://www.yerevanreport.com/120921/97th-anniversary-armenian-genocide-commemorated-istanbul/
Democracy could be
linked to participatory culture. Participatory
culture can be defined as one that relatively low level of obstacles to
artistic expression and civic engagement, and members believe their
contributions and feel a sense of social connection with one another (Jenkins
2006, no.pg). Jenkins also explains that
the new participatory culture creates many opportunities for youth to
participate in community life, to be political leaders and engaged in civic
debates (2006, no.pg). The above
definitions imply that participatory culture assist citizens to voluntarily get
involved in and grant them to be engaged in societal problems. Participatory culture does not seem to stem
from state-centric organisations or governments. Citizens themselves help creation of
participatory culture. Democracy,
citizens and participatory culture seem to be complementary to each other in
our society, and the use of media is contributing to these connections.
However, there could
be possible negative implications of emergence of participatory culture. If there is too much acceleration of civic
engagement and activities and social connections among citizens that are
entering many political issues, the role of governments could be
decreased. The function of governments
might be disempowered and declined, and this consequently may lead to erosion
of sovereignty. Democracy is supported
by law and legitimacy. However, too much
empowerment of citizens might object to law and legitimacy that are currently
effectively governing a state. Like
WikiLeaks’ events show, even under democratic society, some political issues
should not be touched by citizens. Some
secrets might be necessary to peacefully govern a state and maintain status
quo. Otherwise states and its citizens
could be in a chaos. Although
globalisation has been promoted, states still keep strong power, still
sovereignty plays an important role in international community today. So, when the role between governments and
citizens become unbalanced, governance of a state might become
ineffective. Therefore, the emergence of
participatory culture could have unintended negative consequences.
WikiLeaks: How safe are whistleblowers in the digital age?
Next, social media
have psychological effects on people.
Creation of online persona on social media is becoming a common
phenomenon among its users. Marshall
explains that social media is making us more “conscious of how we present
ourselves and how others perceive us”, and “new reconstruction of how the self
is reconstituted through the screens of engagement and interactivity” (2010, p.
498-499). A survey has shown that
fifty-six per cent of British Facebook users are concerned with making
themselves look as good as possible on their profile pages (News Limited
Network 2012, no.pg). Some of Facebook
users might be trying to construct idealised version of self online. People seem to have a desire to be a person
that they have constructed in their minds.
People wish to live in a way of how they want to live. However, we often feel dilemma or gaps
between reality and ideal. So, people
attempt to construct idealised another version of self that is a little
distinct from self in reality. We might
be becoming more comfortable with being judged as a good person by others,
rather than judging ourselves by our own eyes.
On the other hand,
creation of online persona has negative influence as well. According to a Facebook user, his parents
misperceived his private life from his Facebook, they see him holding a beer
cup, not working every weekend on essays (Trottier 2012, p. 324). This could be because online persona is
largely subjective, so presentation of self on social media might not being perceived
by others in a way that users intended.
There is difference of establishment of identity between online and
other real places. For example, creation
of identity at workplace could be supported by a sense of responsibility,
suites, uniforms or name tags that identify workers’ particular positions. Also, when parents go home, their identity at
home is constructed by their children and watching over them. People have a few identities in life and we manage
those identities without mixing them, and in real-world places, people could
clearly distinguish their several identities.
However, online identity does not have boundaries that can keep a person
in one identity. Social media could be
expressing all of a person’s identities in some ways. So, this might lead users to crises of
identity. They might be confused which
identity should be prioritised on social media. Undetermined identity on virtual space could
make the lines of identities indefinite.
If people rely on online identity too much, they might not be able to
manage their identities in real world.
Therefore, social media users’ addiction to online persona could have
negative influence on their identity management.
Mark Zuckerberg gets hot under the collar over your privacy issues and sweats.
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3hu3iG8B2g&feature=related
Mark Zuckerberg gets hot under the collar over your privacy issues and sweats.
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3hu3iG8B2g&feature=related
In conclusion, this
blog discussed and critically assessed the effects of presentational
media. Although social media can
contribute to solving sensitive political issues, governments’ role could be
disempowered if citizens’ political participation goes beyond politicians’ role. Social media users wish to be seen as good as
possible online, however, too much dependence on online persona might lead them
to crises of identity.
References:
Akin,
AI 2011, ‘Social Movements on the Internet: The Effect and Use of Cyberactivism
in Turkish Armenian Reconciliation.’, Canadian Social Science, vol. 7, no. 2,
pp. 39-46, retrieved 3 October 2012, Academic Search Complete.
Jenkins,
H 2006, ‘Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education
For the 21st Century (part one)’, retrieved 3 October 2012,
Marshall,
P.D 2008, The Specular Economy, Society. Vo. 47.
News
Limited Network, 2012, ‘Like generation prefer Facebook adoration over
intelligence’, retrieved 1 September 2012,
Trottier,
D 2012, ‘Interpersonal Surveillance on Social Media.’, Canadian Journal of
Communication, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 319-322, retrieved 1 September 2012,
Communication & Mass Media Complete.
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