It becomes increasingly obvious to me that we, as a society, are still learning as we go about the effects of New Media. Since it is in constant change, there is no way of fully understanding its power in the present.
The Internet, and along with it all forms of social media, is such a new world. To everyone. It not only is a recent phenomenon, but it is still in the process of being fixed, improved. I remember reading in the NYTimes that media has changed more in the last 16 years than the 100 years before then. Makes total sense, doesn’t it? As a result, when we think we know how to deal with this extremely fast-paced exchange of information, we realize we didn’t know anything at all.
Such is the case discussed on this week’s On the Media about the Syrian video of the little boy whose jaw was blown off. The reporter who came in contact with this video faced a moral dilemma: to send or not the link on his twitter with the utterly graphic video.
“How can you convey brutality without traumatizing the audience?” was a question that struck with me throughout the entire podcast. Yet, a point was brought up that changed my entire perspective: nowadays, people have a choice. They are alerted and choose or not to watch the video. They have the option of clicking it or not. I, for instance, have chosen not to watch it. But the ones who did, at the moment, were either horrified by it and continued on with their day, or horrified and tried to create change.
Those that attempted to help this little boy are the ones who make us feel hopeful about the dispersing such videos. Although I do not believe that all videos will create positive change, I praise the few ones that do. I can hope that people become more aware, but I also cannot be naive as to think that every video will generate positive outcomes. But, at the end of the day, if it does more good than bad, why not publish it? Right?
I get lost. I really do. Not only with technology itself, but what to think of it. Don’t you feel that, sometimes, in our generation, things are moving so fast that it’s hard to keep up? I do.
Marina
Convergent Media | Divergent Voices 