Understanding Politics and Technology

This week's blog will be focusing on a TEDx Talk video titled "Why we need to understand the politics inherent in technology" by Evan Barba. This video shows a different perspective on the use of technology and how politics are always going to be involved. Technology and mass media shape and guide our society even when we don't realize it. 

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/QhOGWy9kvj8

A quote that stuck out to me in this video was "People are often very willing to endure a lot of inconveniences for technological progress, but they're in fact much less willing to make any kind of accommodation for social progress." Technology is meant to make things easier and to help with the development of progress in our society. Although technology can disrupt the balance of politics, working with the internet and and media will restore that balance. 

"If we all decide to make some very small changes then maybe we can start to try to restore the human connections that technology seems to have broken." -Evan Barba 

TikTok and Politics

TikTok is a video sharing app released in 2016 that has grown in popularity over the past few years. People can post anything they want, within reason, for the world to see. Over time and especially since the most recent presidential election, people have started to use the app as a way to share information about politics or criticize the political parties. Well known news organizations have even started sharing information through this platform and certain political influencers are paid to post. 

Photo from Google Images

This media platform has had a huge impact on influencing younger generations. This is normally a good thing, except it's easy to be told information that is not correct or to get confused on what views to support. Overall, it's usually pretty clear when determining what's true or false, but it's always important to fact check with credible sources because the app's main intention is to entertain. 

How the Internet Influences Politics

The internet has not always been around, but over the past few decades, it has evolved. It has changed from a luxury to a necessity for most people and it is only going to become more popular. People have learned to use the internet to their advantage. Online platforms are used to advertise, inform, and persuade their audiences so that they may benefit. 

Political organizations have seen how other companies use their online platforms, and they have learned and used different strategies to help them with spreading political messages. The political parties are able to reach many more people through the internet. It is difficult to remain unbiased because organizations will usually always end up favoring one side, which will influence what they share and post online. Everyone who uses the internet may be affected by this without even realizing. They go on platforms they like and end up being persuaded by those messages. 

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/RP9798/98RP11