What kind of society do you want? Social media, where many young people get their news, arrange information by metrics that foreground personal preferences. This is a significant departure from the civic republican notion of the Fourth Estate as a watchdog on government. It also speaks to the disinvestment in anything but the lowest common denominator of what most people are doing-or hitting. This produces a culture in which casual stereotypes and an ethic of self-defined fun will top the list of most feeds. It is a world where content is no longer the informative glue of democracy but raw material to be milled by digital platforms into advertising gold.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 17:22:25 +0000