Information overload desensitizes people, turns global issues into spectator sport
Social media have played a huge role in the recent events around the world, from perpetuating awareness of the Arab Spring to fueling the recent Occupy movement. However, while those in Egypt and New York have been protesting on steps and toppling statues, many of the rest of us have been sitting in front of our computers and watching the action as spectators on the sideline.
Social media and the Internet, though they easily and conveniently expose us to goings-on in the world, have the danger of diluting our participation in these events. Because we are able to passively participate in everything from our computer screens, we run into the danger of actively participating in nothing. Our attentions become diverted among the hundreds of pieces of news we read every day skimming Facebook, Tumblr and the headlines of journals, and while we become knowledgeable in bits and pieces of everything, we lose focus on the one issue that can incite us to fight to the end. We become desensitized.
The irony of social media is that back when it didn't exist, people had more incentive to find a way to express themselves and voice their opinions on causes they supported. But now in the midst of information overflow, we often lose the ability to actively engage.
Take, for instance, the Kony 2012 movement that occurred this past year, a viral video that swept the virtual wires and tubes, campaigning for the awareness of the Invisible Children cause; children who were kidnapped and forced into guerilla warfare by the Ugandan warlord, Joseph Kony. The Kony 2012 movement also fought to capture and persecute Kony and his fellow leaders. However, after a week of America's intense buzzing about Kony 2012 on Facebook and Twitter, the campaign faded into oblivion as the youth of America turned to the next big event, leaving Kony 2012 campaign to fizzle out slowly by itself.
There is no doubt that social media has enabled us to share and become aware of things that we previously would not likely have been aware of, but we must remember that while awareness of the world around us is important, it is not the end in all. Awareness for awareness's sake will serve little purpose for the greater good if we do not use this knowledge of the world and act upon it.
Media should exist as an enabler, and in order to be global citizens as all privileged, educated people should be, we must take our knowledge and awareness one step further. Sharing a link and reblogging a post won't solve problems, and we should not be deceived into thinking that by doing so, we are solving problems.
We should all use media to find causes we are passionate about and if we do find one, then we should step away from the computer and act upon them. Media should be a way for us to strengthen our voices, rather than a force that washes them out.
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