Confusion Among Many

Social media has a large influence on almost everyone's lives, whether that be for the better or worse. Over half of the world's population uses social media every day; that's about 3.96 billion people scrolling for hours on the internet [1]. The question that comes to mind the most is, "What is being fed into people's minds?" Unfortunately, more often than not, people tend to lie on social media, on occasion making the truth more difficult to discover [2]. After hours of scrolling through the deceptions, opinions and self-identities can become questionable. Thoughts of, "Who am I?" or "What do I stand for?" may arise to anyone who engulfs themself enough. People may find themselves being easily convinced to change opinions to the other side because it "sounds nice." How will this be changing society in the future? Human nature tends to be followers and so when surrounded by a haze of confusion, people are easily able to be molded. 

Picture of the presidential candidates- Donald Trump and Joe Biden [3]

Now, you may be asking yourself, "What does any of this have to do with democracy?" Potential candidates for the government use social media as platforms of persuasion and encourage support. These candidates are able to reach thousands of people in a matter of minutes and share their agendas with everyone. People are able to debate and form their own opinions, based on what they have observed during the campaign. The recent presidential election campaigns are a good example. President Trump and Joe Biden are actively involved in the tangled world of social media. They have been able to grow a huge following and change people's views on certain matters. They are able to use the appeal of modern technology to gain a new set of followers in this new day and age.

With modern solutions comes modern complications. Media can twist agendas and words, causing mast confusion of what is wrong or right. News broadcasting services share some facts but also opinions. One news broadcast may say one thing but another could say something completely different. This makes things very difficult to know who to trust or even what is real. For instance, Biden is acting like he is president, some of the news is claiming that he is, and people are following with what they hear but unfortunately, they don't realize that it was not officially called who is president for the next four years. If someone was not paying close attention, this can make everything very confusing, like so now.

Media is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it is important to fact check before forming an opinion. 

Citations: 

[1] www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/how-much-time-does-the-average-person-spend-on-social-media

[2] www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/naked-truth/201807/how-honest-are-people-social-media

[3]www.wsj.com/articles/in-first-debate-trump-and-biden-to-compete-for-few-persuadable-voters-11601387621