Process Post #7

Digital media is a central component of the world we live in today. We get entertainment from it, and also receive our news from it. Now more than ever though it seems like our entertainment comes from news stories. People seem to be more driven by the number of views they can receive than the accuracy of what they’re saying, and that has given way to false news. 

James Bridle addresses this notion in his article Something is wrong with the internet. In it Bridle says that a “a way of increasing hits on videos is through keyword/hashtag association, which is a whole dark art unto itself” (2017, para. 18). This can lead to misleading and false information from being spread, but the scariest part is not that people do this, but the fact that many people can’t see that the information is just clickbait. The spread of information is now seen as a thing that can be monetized rather than a means of informing people of what is going on in the world. 

This topic is something I went quite in depth on in my essay Let’s Take the ‘Mis’ out of Misinformation. In it I highlighted the idea that anyone can create a social media platform and share whatever they want on it. Take this blog for instance. Everything I share on here are my opinions on things, and by no means do I think what I present is right or wrong because it can’t be judged like that. Many people do though, which is the problem. 

The media allows anyone to have a voice. This is one of its best qualities, but if people aren’t equipped to decipher what is a reliable source, a person’s opinion, or just click bait the media can do a lot of harm to our society. I think it is of utmost importance that we continue to teach the younger generation and try to educate the older population about spreading false information and how to avoid it. 

References

Bridle, J. (2023, January 31). Something is wrong on the internet – James Bridle – Medium. Medium. https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2