Political Culture vs. Technology: How Technology Influences our Society (12)

 

The culture of politics in our society has been drastically impacted by social media platforms. Continuing technological advancements to social media combined with mass participation from society has pivoted political campaigns into a greater publicity race. The number of politicians that use social media to campaign continues to increase. 

While technology like radio and television jumpstarted digital politics, the addition of social media has catapulted many different threats to society's media and political competence. This influences uneducated and misinformed voting, as well as promoting digital battlefields for hateful comments and conversations.

According to an ERC article, researcher Rachel Gibson states, "... [D]igital technology has evolved from being perceived as a niche tool to becoming an essential component of political campaigns". This continues to be truthful as Gen-Z is becoming more active in the political spectrum. 

Looking back to the 2024 election between the Harris/Walz campaign and the Trump/Vance campaign, TikTok became a powerful tool in their political campaigns. I personally had videos from both Harris and Trump's TikTok pages advocating for their platform, and slandering the other. Using TikTok as a campaign platform connected to first-time Gen-Z voters, further influencing them to vote for their party of choice. 

This use of TikTok will only continue to grow, projected that TikTok continues to be legal in the US, during the 2028 election. TikTok will be a powerful tool to grab the attention of uninformed new voters and secure votes for one party, or the other. 

Social media, like TikTok, has become an increasing hotspot for misinformation and censorship. The widespread and fast communication nature of social media promotes the influence of threats to our judgement, like the Illusory Truth Effect. With repetitive misinformation, our society begins to believe dubious statements and the source it comes from. In an article from Yale Insights, Gizem Ceylan quotes: "It's not that people are lazy or don't want to know the truth. The platform's rewards systems are wrong". 

The truth is these statements lie within the 2021 lawsuit against Facebook and its "deceptive practices". According to this lawsuit, Facebook was guilty of misinformation regarding vaccines, 2020 election information, and censorship. This isn't the first time Facebook would be accused of deception, and Zuckerberg has faced continuous lawsuits over the years. 

Removing bias is almost impossible from any news report. Ultimately, some kind of bias will peek through. As social media becomes increasingly more "useful" in political campaigns, it is important we as a society take ownership of our own education. 

The first step in de-influencing the spread of misinformation is to simply stop sharing it. While yes, it is important we share our ideas, we must look more carefully at what we are sharing. Instead of seeing a headline that agrees, or disagrees, with your initial opinion and reposting, take a quick look over what you are sharing. Cross referencing information with other sources is also a great way to check legitimacy. 

When I research news headlines, I check out at least three to four different sources and cross reference them to each other. Additionally, I choose sources that report mostly politically independent in order to reduce any bias in reporting and within myself. 

The government is in charge of making rules that influence our day-to-day lives, party-line voting and misinformation can become detrimental to our individual rights. Our society is continuously growing more and more uneducated due to censorship of certain ideas (i.e. Antiwar) and harmful misinformation (i.e. Immigration). If this pattern continues, our government will ultimately have more control over us and our personal privacy. 

Due to the popularity and importance of social media in our day-to-day lives, it would be unexpected for campaigns to move strictly to social media; however, this influence affects the overall competence and understanding of political culture, especially for new voters. 

The following video discusses the role of social media in politics:

In The Age of AI (11)

Artificial Intelligence is a newer form of technology that seems to threaten our day to day lives. In review of the documentary In the Age of AI, it truly surprises me how much is at stake with the advancement of AI technology. As this technology grows, the regularity of our day-to-day lives is threatened. 

The biggest concern is the threat to job security. More and more jobs are being taken over by AI programs. Not only does this affect employees, but it also affects the consumer experience. AI ultimately removes face-to-face interaction from certain services. Additionally, the documentary shared that primarily jobs held by women are the one's being taken over by AI technology. 

As our country moves towards advanced AI technology, the experience and education needed for actual jobs will become less accessible and more expensive, creating a job market for only people in a certain socio-economic class. This reinforces a discriminatory hiring environment for even more job positions. 

AI is helping push our economy into an increasingly bigger wealth gap. Our society has rapidly moved to create a greater inequality between wealthy and non-wealthy individuals. While AI is not the single cause, with AI being applied to various job positions, inequality is even greater than before. This puts power in our top one percent, leading accessibility and sustainability for the middle class to decrease.

AI is now becoming more and more adaptable. As AI grows and becomes a better service to us, the threat is even greater to our society. It is becoming an even larger concern to our middle and lower class individuals and families. 

If our economy were to continue at this rate, we would shift into an economic crash. Additionally, it would be even harder for those not in our top percent to recover and live comfortably. 

Reflection on the Illusory Truth Effect (10)

 

The Illusory Truth Effect is a cognitive effect where we begin to believe any repeated false statement is true. This effect has a tendency to happen even when subjects should know better. The repetition of the misinformation influences the human perception of validity. 

This effect happens regardless of if the person knew the information was false. This effect is impractical to plausibility and personal intellect. 

This effect is tied to the idea of Processing Fluency, which can be defined as the idea that things that are easier to process are naturally associated with the truth. Repeated statements are easier to process, thus being naturally associated with truthfulness. 

With the addition of social media in our day to day lives, the illusory truth effect is more and more common. Especially with high volumes of misinformation being on social media platforms, social media contributes the most to this cognitive effect. Additionally, it's even harder to escape this effect due to our constant contact with social media platforms. 

Social Media can even purposefully manipulate our belief system using this effect. Pertaining to biased media platforms, they will only put out information that aligns with their political beliefs. Hearing the same false claim from the same few biased media sites will create the illusory truth effect. 

Not only does social media influence this effect, but we do too. When we see this repeated information, we are more likely to share it with our peers. This can lead us into groupthink and reinforce false ideas. This spread of information is very dangerous and can lead to uninformed voting.

Unfortunately, this is a difficult effect to recognize and break from when we experience it. The best way to try and avoid it is to use "critical thinking" skills and evaluate all information, if it is constantly repeated, and if it comes from a trustworthy source. 

Social Credit System (9)

 

The Chinese Social Credit System is a corrupt hierarchy system that creates government supported classism and discrimination. 

The overarching idea of this system is to monitor citizen's financial, social, and political activities in order to steer the economy and govern Chinese society. This idea was formally declared in 2014, however it can be traced back many centuries to the "warring states" period of China. Essentially, Chinese culture has been built off this simple, yet complex, application of classism. 

The first credit databases were developed in the mid-1990s, formally recognized as a banking credit registry system. Moving into 2004, Chinese President Jiang Zein endorsed the early social credit system. His endorsement mentioned creating a "well-rounded" and "socialistic" society in China. Throughout the early 2000s, additionally policies continued to be put in place, creating the system that monopolizes Chinese society today. 

Data is collected through educational, financial, and criminal records, as well as through general internet searches and social media. The more concerning collection of data comes from surveillance footage and new facial recognition technology. 

This data collection reminds me of our class topic of privacy on and offline in American culture. We have a similar system of data collection that, at further inspection, is an equal invasion of privacy as seen in China. While our government may not have a hierarchy system that uses this data as punishment, our online internet usage is not protected and can easily be manipulated by the government. As a society, it is important we are careful online to prevent a system similar to China's. 

The impact of this data collection results in a reward and punishment system used by the government. Those with high scores become top priority citizens and gain amenities like tax breaks, employment priority, and cheaper public transportation. Those with low scores may be denied permits, access to public services, and limited access to credit. As stated before, this system creates a social hierarchy almost impossible to deviate from unless you have the proper resources. 

Focusing on a more specific issue, citizens can be punished for criticizing or not serving the government. Similarly to the sedition acts our American government has implemented a few times, this criminalizes free speech. While free speech is not necessarily a protection in the Chinese government, it creates a lack of democracy within Chinese communities. Government plays a big part in how we interact in our society. Without the freedom to speak openly about our opinions, either to find like-minded people or learn different viewpoints, we cannot create a holistic society. 

In reflection on the Chinese government and policy, the Social Credit System does not surprise me. What does surprise me, however, is the similarities I find between their system and our government. Processes like data collection and unwarranted government surveillance concern me as I have further educated myself on the Chinese Social Credit System. I believe it is even more important that we as citizens participate in our local, state, and federal elections and educate ourselves on updating policies. 

Kindle/E-Books Through The Lens of Diffusion Theory (8)

Kindle is an electronic E-Book reading device and the most popular e-reading device in American culture. While many readers still hold pride in their physical book collections, many people have switched completely to e-reading. 

Diffusion Theory is a bell curve placed on a graph with time as the x-axis and penetration as the y-axis.

 

It moves through several different periods: Pioneers, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Adopters, and Laggards. Additionally, as we follow the bell curve, we move through 5 different phases: Experimental Period, Uptake Period, Tipping Point, Maturation Phase, and Saturation Phase.

Thinking about the application of Diffusion Theory to e-readers, our pioneer era began in the late 1990s with readers such as "Rocket ebook" and "Palm Pilot". While initial excitement is documented, these did not affect the book market. 

In 2006, Sony launched the "Sony Reader", adding an e-book store to their device. This would push us into our early adopters period, as this reader, being more developed, was more popular. 

The heart of our early adopters phase began when Amazon launched their Kindle e-reader in 2007. They also launched a large library of popular books, gaining attention and interest from readers. The innovation of Kindle spiked e-book sales, moving them up to 20% after 5 years. Soon after, Kindle went international and added more popularity to this product. This spike moves us into our Early Majority phase. 

Following this popularity, we move into our Late Adopters phase around the mid-2000s. With Kindle's growing updates and innovations, Kindle became more popular to those looking for leisurely, easy reading. With Kindle being portable and having easy library access, Kindle became a no-brainer investment for reading. Additionally, Kindle can be seen as more eco-friendly, as it does not need paper resources to produce its product. 

Our Late Adopters and Laggards would begin with the uptake in TikTok popularity, beginning in roughly 2020 and moving through the past 5 years. I personally have seen many TikTok videos influencing viewers to invest in a Kindle e-reader. 

I, personally, have not invested in a Kindle e-reader. I love to read, but prefer reading physical books. My mom, being considered a "Laggard", recently bought a Kindle and enjoys how easy it is to access different books. 

Anti-War Voices (7)

 

Anti-War movements have always been discredited and ignored by our government. While censorship and subsequent punishment aren't protected, the government is still getting away with gatekeeping websites like Antiwar.com and The American Conservative. 

War has a few "benefits" to government and economy, such as maintaining power or economic interests, but war hasn't always been just for beneficial reaping. Some war participation protects "national security" or fights to solve social issues. Unfortunately, America has not been involved in war for these reasons in many decades. 

Many of the wars America participates in are controversial, keeping the media on their side is ideal to eliminate political backlash. Hiding sites like Antiwar.com keeps the more extreme anti-war ideas out of media attention, allowing the government to control citizen perception and keep popularity. War is a sensitive topic that is usually a major influence on people's political perception. With easy, widespread access to these resources, both parties would lose support and receive a lot of backlash.

Allowing citizens access to sites that have endless anti-war stories and influences gives a greater power to the people, as our first amendment right covers protection to protest and press. Additionally, it allows for greater education, most likely leading to higher voter turnout and ultimately a loss in power. 

War being such a controversial, and hot, topic in today's society, it does not surprise me that there is a level of "censorship" on anti-war websites. This "censorship" is a big reason I advocate for doing your own extensive research. It is important for all citizens to do what they can and educate themselves on all policies and plans, especially when our country is involved in war. 

War is fatal and dangerous, and not many parties have anyone's best interest in mind. Holding our government accountable and informing ourselves on issues like this is important. 

Reflection on the History Of Magazines (6)

 

Magazines were first developed in Europe during the 17th century. This media had a difficult time sitting in one category early on, resulting in magazines being an in-between of newspaper and pleasure reading. 

The first real magazine was published in Germany titled Edifying Monthly Discussions. These proved to be very popular. As we moved into the 18th century, female readers increasingly popularized magazine style publishers. We still see this today, as magazines are typically marketed towards girls and young women.

Following magazine popularization, Great Britain published the three major and most influential magazines. These were consistently published weekly and focused on different yet specific topics. 

The first American magazine was published in 1741. Those first magazines did not last long; however, moving into the 18th century, magazines flourished. Magazines were made cheaper and quicker. American popularization proved continuous female interest. The first truly successful magazine was The Saturday Evening Post. This magazine printed from 1821 to 1969 and included many popular authors. 

With continuing popularization, magazine prices needed to lower in order to keep mass circulation. This was achieved by increasing advertisement price and lowering the sale price. Magazines became a very sought out way to advertise products and services. The lowering price increased magazine sales and held the industry together.

Moving into the 20th century, new types of magazines emerged. These included picture, news, and business. A combination of picture and news magazines are what we see most today. News magazines became increasingly popular during the 1920s. This became the main source of news for many years. Photojournalism became popular as the rise of picture magazines began to sell. 

Moving into the 21st century, technology began to affect the popularization of magazines. We moved to digital articles and "print" releases that dominate our lives and how we access our media.