Lopez, 1

Alyssa Lopez

Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

9 December 2017

Social Change In A World of Social Media

Imagine reaching into your pocket and not trying to grab your phone. Checking our

Instagrams, using social media, and technology overall have become such a way of life in our

modern world. Many believe that the necessity of social media demonstrates one of its many,

obvious, downsides. It's not hard to see that social media and technology shape the world around

us and in turn, shape the way we think and interact. Yet with an ever-evolving media outlet that

depicts all the good, the bad, and the ugly of this world, I cant help but see social media as a

platform to illuminate issues and bring about conversations that are relevant to our changing

times. Thus, social media positively affects our modern society by making us aware of injustices

that occur right before us and gives us the power to do something about them. Social media and

technology have shaped our identities by allowing people to be more proactive in their

communities by enabling people to easily share their opinions, call attention to injustices

through sharing videos and images, and by creating a communal space of support for people to

relate and share similar experiences the way that social media was intended for.

The medias ability to promote an atmosphere of sharing and exchanging opinions is seen

through one of its most popular outlets: Twitter. In the article, Hashtag Activism and Why

#BlackLivesMatter In (and To) the Classroom, authors Prudence Cumberbatch and Nicole

Trujillo-Pagan discuss why Twitter has become the most effective social media device for the

#BlackLivesMatter movement and for classroom discusses of current events. They suggest that,
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it was difficult to get personal on Twitter; therefore it was easier to express their opinions and

engage in this new form of online activism, it seems almost contradictory to be, as they found,

not personal when discussing sensitive material yet, it is not the material that becomes

impersonal (Cumberbatch and Trujillo-Pagan). This small app allows for a casual environment

that makes people feel comfortable sharing their opinions and ideas on the device. As a result

allowing for a more cohesive space to exchange ideas and bring awareness to important issues in

their society. Moreover, Cumberbatch and Trujillo-Pagan take note of how the classroom

becomes impacted once students interact with the device and begin proactive discussions

amongst each other. They express that in the learning community, students can influence their

lives in very immediate ways when they not only bear witness to their experience vis-a-vis

twitter, but also when their peers recognize their shared roles in creating collective knowledge,

suggesting that with social media even young students can take initiative to form communities of

thought and discussion (Cumberbatch and Trujillo-Pagan). People not only voice opinions and

tools on these social media devices they also propose people to act on these views. The article

then goes on to talk about larger implications of social media and how voicing opinions can

spark movements. Cumberbatch and Trujillo-Pagan state that, #blacklivesmatter, and other

hashtags, and the social movement that followed fostered a new global space for conversations

about race and the meaning of social justice in the 21st century, the gravity of what

#BlackLivesMatter means and the effect it has had could not have been possible were it not

through the way social media shares messages throughout widespread communities

(Cumberbatch and Trujillo-Pagan). Reinforcing this idea that social media creates proactive

members of society that contribute and provide for their communities. Moreover, its not hard to

see how social media can create conversations through posts and hashtags but sometimes it can
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even more effectively call out inequalities through visual arts. In the same article, authors

Prudence Cumberbatch and Nicole Trujillo-Pagan discuss how social media blends art and

message together to display important information to society. They suggest that, by juxtaposing

images, and placing them in personal, familial, and domestic contexts, social media becomes

more than just a cite for conversation, implying that social media can become very personal and

impact more people widely and more immediately than ever before (Cumberbatch and Trujillo-

Pagan). Having so many opportunities to share different images and videos on social media

allows for easy communication and connection between people, further allowing them to

recognize and point out injustices in their community. Moreover, Instagrams main purpose,

different from that of Facebook and Twitters, is focused on sharing images and circulating clips

that could expose injustices that people may not be aware of. I know that when I first heard about

the repeal of DACA, the immigrant dreamers act, I posted an image on Instagram of a mother

and her young son that read Defend DACA that I copied from another person. Getting

inspired from another person allowed me to project my support throughout the whole device

bringing awareness for those affected by the repeal and demonstrating social medias

instantaneous ability to call attention to prominent issues.

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Finally, most of the videos and images I share are collected from Facebook. Facebook allows

many media outlets to be presented at once and it is only by someone elses sharing that you can

see what they are interested in. As a result, this can virtually create and infinite rippling effect for

the change that the video is trying to bring about. I often find myself more attracted to the videos

and images of change rather than someone telling you something. Social medias immediate

ability to provide information and education that informs the people viewing creates citizens who

are aware of what is going on around them and who are ready to take action.

Lastly, one of the most obvious, and I believe most important, uses of social media, is to

connect. Not only are people connecting and communicating with their friends and family,

people are now able to connect with the world around them. Anastasia Kavada, lecturer and

professor, comments on this exact idea in Social Movements and Political Agency in the Digital

Age: A Communication where she discusses the larger scale implications of social media and

how it is the most effective way of getting information out. She suggests that, the coordinating

mechanisms of digital media platforms bring disparate individuals together without the need for

a coherent collective identity tor formal organization, inferring that people can easily connect

and establish relationships without ever having to meet each other (Kavada). This idea is

important because it allows for important information such as civil rights, social justice, and so

on to be shared with a mass amount of people who then come together through the relationships

they have with that event or idea. Moreover, authors Prudence and Nicole Trujillo-Pagan of

Hashtag Activism and Why #BlackLivesMatter In (and To) the Classroom discuss how social

media has taken the #blacklivesmatter from a simple hashtag to now a nation wide movement.

They express that, More than building awareness around specific social issues or even fostering

public discussions on race and social justice, #blacklivesmatter has been used to facilitate the
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organization and planning of protests against racial profiling, suggesting that through social

media, where these people came to support and triumph through these scary times, a movement

formed. A simple hashtag ignited a fire of proactivity that exemplifies just how positively social

media can be used. These activists used social media as a way to come together and fight back

against injustices that they or their communities were facing. Often times we get caught in just

the movements in the United States but social media is used globally as a means of change. For

instance, in Energising the Political Movements in Developing Countries, The Role of Social

Media, the authors, Karim M., Sorour and Bidit Lai Dey, describe how the use of social media in

Egypt is directly related to the political changes taking place in the nation. They conclude that,

the sustainability of using social media in Egypt post-2011 indicates that 'a more organic

growth is taking place, impacting Arabs' connections with their society and community,

emphasizing that social media played a key role in the promotion and future production of social

change in Egypt (Dey and Sorour). Being able to connect to the community through social media

enabled change in the country but more importantly created a space where its citizens were able

to discuss their concerns and ultimately change their government. Social medias ability to create

an atmosphere of change by bringing people with similar experiences together creates members

of society that desire to make their world a better place.

In conclusion, it may seem trivial to suggest that something as small as our iphones can

cause social movements, yet it truly can. Social media was made with the intention of connecting

with people and sharing your life with them so, why not take that foundation and use it to share

something you feeling strongly passionate about. Social media allows you to openly express your

ideas, call out the unfair and unjust things you see in your life, and it creates a supportive

environment for you to share your ideas and to support other peoples struggles. It positively
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affects the world and allows people to become active their lives and communities. Sometimes

its hard to stand up for whats right, but social media creates a casual atmosphere where even

the smallest actions of change, like a simple picture, can have a huge impact.

Works Cited Page

Cumberbatch, Prudence and Nicole Trujillo-Pagan. Hashtag Activism and Why

cc#BlackLivesMatter In (and To) the Classroom. Radical Teacher: A Socialist,

Feminist, and ccAnti-Racist Journal on the Theory and Practice of Teaching. 106, 2016. 78-86.

cchttps://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/radicalteacher/article/view/302

ccAccessed 17 September, 2017.

Dey Lai, Bidit, and Karim M., Sorour. Energising the political movements in developing

cccountries: the role of social media. Capital & Class. 2014. 1-8. Sage Journals.

Accessed 20 ccSeptember, 2017.

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Kavada, Anastasia. Social Movements and Political Agency in the Digital Age: A

ccCommunication Approach. Political Agency in the Digital Media, Participation and

ccDemocracy. 4, 2016. 8-12.

cchttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/691 Accessed 17

ccSeptember, 2017.

Lambert, Nicholas. Defend DACA. Justseeds, September 2017,

cchttps://justseeds.org/graphic/defend-daca-3/ Accessed 17 September, 2017