2-3 Social Media and Truth

Throughout my life, I have been a seeker of knowledge, and the majority of my knowledge has come from observation of the world around me.  The synthesis of that observation in order to know what I know, what informs my view of the world around me, my place within it, and how to go about living as a citizen of the world comes from a variety of sources including, but not limited to:  my family, my friends, my co-workers, my education, my work experiences, and my consumption of media.  The rise of social media means that this information is more readily available, and more easily consumed within the rush of modern life.  Trusting everything one sees on social media, however can be an illogical proposition, however, as identifying source material can require more involvement and more research. 

Today I learned that during the school stabbing that happened at a local school this past Wednesday, there were many incidents of heroism and quick thought that may very well have saved lives and prevented this incident from becoming more of a tragedy.  No one was killed during this incident, thanks in large part to the actions of several fast-acting students.  Based on a post on Facebook from the local CBS affiliate, I clicked on the article posted to their website, which detailed a student who helped to subdue the suspect, and another, who has himself been stabbed, who managed to pull the fire alarm, alerting students in other parts of the building to exit the building, which limited the number of students in danger.  A quick search of the school on Google pulls up multiple similar articles from the local newspapers here, as well as articles on both CNN and The Daily Beast.  As the small community fed by the school continues to make sense of a senseless act and move forward as a community and center of education, these tales of bravery help to give hope and comfort to the survivors and the community as a whole. 

Social media has value within our society, at times having provided a wealth of information, especially in times of chaos and despair.  However, the flaw inherent in social media is the fact that as Nick Bilton (NPR, 2010) pointed out, we have become what he termed “consumivores” whereby “we don’t just consume anymore, we consume and we regurgitate, we add our little note to it and we pull out the thing that is best”.  Whereas with newspaper reporting, information was vetted prior to the paper going to print, or facts verified before being broadcast over the air via radio or television, the instant access of social media provides for misinformation to be broadcast to an ever-increasing audience.  With the shift from information being provided by those within media itself, social media provides the opportunity for those who were previously the passive consumers to now be the providers of information, and with no stop gap in place before one posts information, misinformation can snowball and make its way through social media and become accepted as fact at an incredibly fast speed.  As with all sources of information, one must actively seek out what information is true and what is not, and verify, through multiple sources, what is fact. 

NPR ombudsman / new media [Interview by A. Shepard & N. Bilton]. (2010, September 15). Retrieved from http://wosu.org/2012/allsides/npr-ombudsman-new-media/

 

KDKA (Producer).  (2014, April 9).   Tales of heroism emerging from Franklin Regional high school chaos.  Retrieved from http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/04/09/tales-of-heroism-emerging-from-franklin-regional-high-school-chaos/?src=fb