Media Literacy Can Help Amend Social Media Activism
The digitalization of news information has altered the media landscape forever. The emergence of news dissemination on social media platforms exhibits this shift coinciding with the current era of political polarization and heightened institutional mistrust. The boundless nature of social media news dissemination demands a level of media literacy nonexistent in the public sphere. The responsibility to embed media literacy into democratic society, however, remains inept by the institutions that govern it.
Visual Credit: Christian Battaglia
There is no better place to witness dichotomous thinking than on popular social media platforms. Open the 6ixbuzz Instagram page to view reports of recent happenings, and you might stumble upon a comment from Joe Smith of Caledon, ON, laying out an outrageous COVID-19 policy ‘take’. During a politically contentious time, many social media feeds are flooded by politically-driven content your family, peers, and favourite celebrities deem important enough to share with you. To varying degrees, social media users consolidate their consumption with their baseline sentiments, whether their feeds remain an echo chamber of their beliefs or better reflect the current polarizing climate.
The term ‘slacktivism’ describes displays of activism that require minimal effort from subjects and effect little change to the status quo. Slacktivism has made its way over to social media in a new form. Most Instagram users are familiar with Instagram infographics, a popular method to present often-politicized information in bite-sized, palatable 4x4 graphic slides on the app. Users can create and share politically-charged posts destined for the feeds of others thanks to social media algorithms. Critics of social media activism argue its performative nature and incapacity to produce a well-rounded depiction of complex issues is cause for concern.
How is one supposed to operate in our digitized world, where a snappy Instagram story condemning silence is followed by another that epitomizes the difficulties emanating from the wrong sort of buzz? Deciphering what political messaging helps as political apathy and falsehood spread is a difficult feat. Embedding media literacy into our democratic societies can help to balance the onset of unstable political narratives and behaviours.
Tensions are invigorated by social media algorithms that place content on user feeds corresponding with their established political ideals. One measure of the strength of the democratic social contract is whether constituents consider rational information that contradicts their preconceived beliefs. But political exchanges posted to the web frequently turn fiery. Opposing sides might as well speak different languages.
Understanding the process of media dissemination helps discern where political cleavages begin and mend. Traditional news media is a great place to start. Democratic states protect the free press so news sources can continue to keep government institutions and powers in check. The public often uses social media as a loose form of a sober second thought to keep traditional media in check via social media activism and information dissemination.
Despite its tendency to divide, there are instances where social media activism has managed to stem notable political change and solidarity. Who could forget the Arab Spring, the Black Lives Matter movement, or even the success of the 2016 Trump Campaign? Maybe such triumphs justify the continuance of infographic activism on social media platforms, even if it's an imperfect means to an end.
The process of media-fuelled political polarization is self-perpetuating. Democratic societies rely on a careful set of checks and balances. As digital media becomes a unique form of influence, government powers and institutions must treat it with the same consideration as other components of democracy. Governments are responsible for promoting media literacy so public forums can stand against the gaining effects of the proliferation of popular opinion. The divisions threatening the social construct should be incentive enough.
Engaging in political content on social media platforms requires the average person to adhere to an unspoken code of ethics. There is no point in assigning individual blame for a blunder stemming from media illiteracy. But the fact remains that anyone and everyone can spread inaccuracy that threatens the collective perception of truth. The imbalanced power of social media leaves users responsible for becoming educated on the topics they channel their digital activism into. The public can only aim to acquire information from diverse and conflicting sources to form rational conclusions. We should speculate on the validity of our beliefs to ensure they align with truths. However, the issues posed by digital media exceed the scope of individuals or democratic constituencies.
Public opinion and discourse will struggle to navigate the media landscape unless government institutions confront the issue. Governments must instill legislation that mandates schools to teach students feasible strategies to seek out, consume, and critically analyze news information through various lenses. Embedding a complex understanding of media literacy into curriculums should take similar priority to fundamental aspects of education to protect democratic society as we know it. Doing so will help equip new generations of media consumers with adequate tools to participate in productive political exchanges. Current provincial rulerships fail to make a concerted effort to encourage schools to teach media literacy applicable to social media news. Most education on media literacy is limited to infrequent Language Arts classroom conversations that lack nuance. Lessons become less frequent as students phase out of the education system.
We all could use a break from the influx of political takes increasing collective cognitive dissonance. Too often, the content overload on social media fuels media fatigue. Futile indignations turn into deep-rooted contentions or further widespread political apathy. It remains unclear how best to judge the effects of the digitization of media. Social media has proven to be a tool to surpass traditional media and governments by establishing political awareness and change. Institutions wishing to avoid undue public scrutiny and misunderstandings should understand the value of implementing comprehensive media literacy policies.
Leyou (she/her) is a fourth-year student at Queen’s and the Marketing Director at Political Digest.