GED101/B19

Villanueva, Boj N.
Reflection Paper on Social Media

Observation
As a digital native, I have noticed that an observation of social media is only
worthwhile if the context and period of the observation is also included. Social media as a
whole is constantly in a state of flux from the rapid developments that it constantly gets,
so what may be true today, may not be true tomorrow. As for what I have noticed today,
there appears to be a lot of people concern with that they present themselves to be like, be
it either a positive or negative status connotation. People on social media are incredibly
good at virtue signaling, and while I admit it is better than apathy towards a cause, I find
myself being unsettled by all the acts of apparent kindness, only for them to quiet down
after the issues have passed. Maybe it’s because I find myself hypocritical, since I myself
don’t do much about those issues, or care about what happens to the people. Another
trend I have noticed is how quickly something spreads. The moment something happens,
it spreads like a fire throughout everything, from Twitter to Facebook, and other social
media sites. While it may be good to know immediately, sometimes the information
received is erroneous and it confuses a lot of people on what happens.

Personal Opinion
As for my own personal opinion on social media, I have mixed feelings on what it
is, and it has become, and what it could be tomorrow. Back then, social media used to be
purely about communication between people, and now it has morphed to be a tool. Who
uses that tool, is not up for me to decide or like. It can be used to send helpful messages
to people in need, and also to brainwash the masses into believing a concept harmful to
them. Tomorrow, who knows what it could do? I have a hard time preventing myself
from thinking about dystopian novels such as the Clockwork Orange, Fahrenheit 451,
and, of course, George Orwell’s 1984, and how much we could verily be heading towards
the same path. I would like to hope for a better future, but social media’s fluctuating
characteristics and usage-based userbase make me want more stability than safety, but I
know that is a hard pass to make. A man who gives up his freedom for security deserves
neither, but the inverse of this statement is also true. I believe that people should not live
in a world of absolutes, and it’s frightening to think that social media is making do
exactly that; demonizing the enemy and treating him as less than human, and making out
everyone who agrees with you to be friendly, and not at all deserving of suspicion and
skepticism.