After I was a few pages into The Daily Me I began to develop questions and concerns that never arose before (well… to me at least). Being raised in the generation I am, I have been constantly surrounded by technology, as well as the increasing dependence on it. I can’t really think of how technology could negatively affect a society… I mean it makes us get things done faster, often times simplifies, and allows us to communicate with people all over the world instantaneously. It’s now that I wonder how the filtering of content could lead to stagnant views in a democratic society. Like mentioned in the article, conservatives will view conservative communications and neo-nazis will view neo-nazi communication. Could this actually lead to a greater society problem of increased racism and a larger divide?
I also have thought a lot about how this positions a democratic society in comparison to societies where the government already filters the content for the population. Will the democratic society become more vulnerable because it is separated in ideals, views, and knowledge? While there is an increase of “town hall” type websites and experiences… the filtering of content leads to such a “me-centric” attitude, it almost asks the question, why would people look at something they were not interested in?
Kelli,
ReplyDeleteThere was a time in this country when news was filtered. When news was news. Unlike today's society when CNN's headline for the morning is the break up of Kim Kardashian's wedding, Herman Cain's sexual exploits and President Clinton's affinity for McDonalds. With the 24 hour news cycle, news now has to fill 24 hours. It gives new meaning to a "slow news day." Don't misunderstand - I'm not a proponent of government filtering, but sometimes I wish someone was filtering.
Kelli, I would have to agree with your comment. It's hard to explore the "other side"of the coin when it is so easy to block what you'd rather not see. Filters are useful in some respects (for example, blocking children from adult content, or blocking annoying Facebook posts from friends), but I hesitate to think about how quickly people forget what is like to explore beyond their comfort zone. Will we end up with even more extremist groups? How will this effect some of the movements for equality our society is currently facing. If I disagree with you, it is easy for me to only read news items written from "my point of view". It's almost scary.
ReplyDeleteKelli, I, too, agree with some of your points. For me, one of the more powerful lines of that reading was on page 100 - "We often end up thinking what we think others think, at least if we think that those others think as we do." I think that really shows the danger of the "me-centric" world - that we could become polarized into extremes.
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