As the evolution of entertainment continues, social media has become an omnipresent force that transcends generations, cultures, and geographical locations. Apps like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have become a vital part of most peoples' social network, affecting all aspects of human life from global connectivity to linguistic norms.
How the Internet Became a Country of Its Own
Technology has been a major driver of globalization in recent years, both economically and socially.
A report published by McKinsey found that "global flows of goods, foreign direct investment, and data have increased current global GDP by roughly 10 percent," which is equivalent to about $7.8 trillion. Much of this GDP increase wouldn't have been possible without technology, with data flows alone accounting for "2.8 trillion of this effect."
However, it's not just the global economy. Even in terms of social globalization, technology, especially social media, has been the main reason for modern cross-border interconnectivity. It has allowed for the exchange of ideas, cultures, and languages.
In the same report published by McKinsey, it was noted that "the biggest online platforms have user bases on par with the populations of the world’s biggest countries," underscoring just how influential online platforms can be. With user bases equivalent to the size of countries, social networks can perhaps bring to life a culture and community of their own, just like countries do.
The Internet's Dialect
Online communication isn't just shaping the big things- it's in the details, too. It's changing the very fabric of communication: language.
The evolution of language is generally split into two parts: innovation and propagation. Innovation is the birth of new words and propagation is how those words get diffused into common usage. Online communication has acted as a tool for both processes, changing everything from peoples’ general way of speaking down to the words they use.
A report published by the ICRRD Journal discusses this phenomenon, finding that the way people speak online tends to involve a disregard for grammar rules, hard-to-decipher tones, as well as abbreviations, acronyms, and new vocabulary.
These offspring of online communication are starting to shape the way people communicate in real life as well, creating a new sort of dialect of the English language. For example, many native English speakers now say "gonna" instead of going to, and terms like "ghosting" have made their way into everyday vernacular.
People Need a Cause
Social media and technology aren't just changing how we interact with each other; they are also changing how we interact with society as a whole. Online communication has revolutionized social movements and civic engagement, changing everything from how people participate to what voices are heard.
On a large scale and in the context of social movements, social media allows people with different backgrounds and beliefs to come together under a shared cause.
A publication by Visto International discusses this relationship between social movements and the collective identity, arguing that it is in the best interest of a social movement to align with the interests of the collective identity in order to get people to participate in their cause.
This is interesting because online platforms are the main facilitator of how social movements interact with the collective identity, while at the same time helping social movements create an identity of their own.
The article also highlights how "social media provides a participatory media environment," where information is disseminated between individuals instead of a top-down flow structure typically associated with "traditional media such as television and radio."
As with all things, this power comes with responsibilities. Unmoderated, participatory environments like this offer an incubator for many ideas to take root, even extremist or hateful ones. Bubbles like these form for a variety of reasons, creating a sort of echo chamber and giving a platform to hateful groups.
However, on the level of civic engagement and community service, social media facilitates empathy and solidarity by allowing people to see what is going on outside of their world. It acts as a window into what is going on in their own communities, as well as in other communities and geographical locations.
In the end, it all depends on how we use and regulate it.
The Paradox of Online Presence
Since its inception, technology has created a state of constant communication and, arguably, improved connectivity. In an online landscape that allows for unrestricted, constant communication, both direct and for the masses, many social media users are placing more value on authenticity. We are seeing a full circle moment where social media is shifting towards more intimate, authentic interactions with apps like BeReal. Even content itself is making this shift, with things like "photo dumps," close friends lists, and "day in my life" videos.
On one hand, this perceived change in how young people use their social networks is a resistance against equivalating an online presence with a definition of self; however, it also enables people to define themselves online more than ever before. The paradox is that people are putting in a lot of effort to make difficult things look effortless and to make curated content look uncurated, which calls into question how authentic an online presence can ever really be.
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