Austin's Assignment 3

  

 The documentary "The Social Dilemma" on Netflix states that Generation Z is the first generation to use social media in middle school. Being that I am apart of Generation Z, I knew that social media has affected us but I did not realize to what extent. I believe that pop culture has been very detrimental since the beginning of time however, it is even more detrimental these days because it is more accessible and people are immersed in it at younger ages. Pop culture has always caused problem's because it perpetuates unrealistic standards that average people can't live up to. Pop culture is apart of the spectacle which creates false fantasies that consumes the mind and can ultimately cause destruction for this generation and other generations to come. In the documentary ex-workers of popular social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest explain how their companies goal is to consume as much of our attention as possible.  In many cases, the fight for our attention is working because people spend more time on their phones now more than ever and us being in the middle of a pandemic does not make it any better. 

    The reading "Small Changes" by Gladwell really goes into depth about how social media has changed the way the world operates. When it comes to activism, the reading was stating how it was more effective back in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement because people were making real connections

because conversations weren't through text messages but they were face to face. Back then, people had a collective goal to make a change and they even put their lives on the line which is considered "High-Risk Activism".  The fact that people would physically go out into the world and fight about racial issues meant that they were passionate about the cause that they are fighting for and they will stop at nothing until justice is served. Group 2 agreed that activism was more effective back then, however, we believe that it is easier to spread awareness now that we have social media because we are able to reach people across nations. During the quarantine, knowledge about the Black Lives Matter movement was prioritized all over the world causing it to be one of the most diverse protests that the movement has ever had. People of all races were outside protesting and signing petitions for this movement which shows that Generation Z is not going in as much of a bad direction as people claim us to be. 

    As time progresses I hope that we are able to elevate pop culture to be more realistic and diverse so that everyone can feel included.  Technology and social media are only going to grow as years go by, hopefully, we will be able to learn how to use them in a more moderate and effective way.