The article "From relationships to revolutions: seven ways Facebook has changed the world" gives good examples of how social media has changed the way we
communicate and live our lives, how we get in touch and keep in touch
with others and how we may influence the world. But is it actually
giving us a broader view of the world or does social media makes us
more narrow-minded?
Let me first elaborate a bit on what I mean about making us more narrow-minded. On Facebook I am friends with people I know from school, high school, university, work and spare time activities in addition to relatives. Most of my friends are quite similar to me, they have a university degree (most of them within engineering), a full time job, go for vacation a couple of times a year and live what one would call middle class lives. When I scroll down my news feed I see articles and pages my friends like, I click on some and the more I read about one topic the more news and adds I will get on that topic, and less on other topics. See my point here? My friends are similar to me, hence we like similar things and our view on the world will be reinforced by the way social media and search engines work, we are constantly fed with opinions and information that matches what we already are interested in, and I'm positive that it makes us more narrow-minded.
Do you remember when the newspaper was
something you got on your front step in the mornings? If you are like
me you probably read your favourite sections first, but while doing
so, you at the same time casted a glance at some other headlines or
photos or even read article about topics you were not that interested
in. When I read news online it is not very often I click on an
article if the headline does not manage to draw my attention
immediately, I am a lot more picky when it comes to what deserves an
extra click compared to start reading the next article in a paper
newspaper or magazine. Same goes for television, watching the evening
news on public service television probably gives me a broader view of
the world than my news feed on Facebook.
On the other hand, social media has for sure
broaden our views in that sense that we can make contact and stay in
contact with people almost anywhere in the world. We can get
first-hand information about almost any topic and arrange online
gathering to learn more. At least if we actively search for it.
Information is so easily available today but the amount is massive
and we have to chose what to read and watch.
So, how about if the sites proposed to
you were based on which topics you never search for? Or if the online
book store would tell you ”people who bought book A did not buy
book Y, want to have a look?” That would broaden our view for sure.
I once discussed this possibility with a software engineer, he did
not think such a search function would be possible, but I do not see
why it would not? Not as the default option, but why not
have a tick-off box for ”surprise me”?
What do you think, have social media like Facebook broaden your view of the world?
