With the internet boom in the late 1990s, more voices have been circulating to wider audiences and niche markets reached into every nook and cranny of human interest. Each dot-com address can hold a world of ideas with the added bonus of an audio-visual format and graphic interface. Computer-mediated interpersonal and mass communication has been one of the most salient effects of the rise of the internet. Online blogs have become the stronger version of newspaper opinions columns and have been narrow-casted into any and all specific interests. In fact, many people first search stranger’s opinions when seeking new information on anything from politics to beauty tips. Ultimately, the internet has created a denser landscape for mass communication that can be participatory and multiplex.
Blogs are one popular format for users to author, share and debate their opinions to a large audience of geographically, culturally, and identity diverse users. This radically changed the diversity of voices because previous to the internet there were limiting factors to print mass media in dispersal and penetration into certain areas. I believe that above all, this is the most poignant motivating factors of the internet’s success because it has not only encouraged alternative perspectives in mass communication but also fostered critical thinking for consumers of the media who may be interacting with voices not frequently encountered.
The majority of internet users broadly affirm that this new technology has positive implications for both individual users and society as a whole. However, this optimistic view may discount many real concerns that have compounded in the years of the web. Even though many people have a educational or prosocial use for the internet, there are some insidious abuses that are facilitated through the same mechanisms of free mass broadcast. To take one of the most disturbing examples, cyber bullying is now a new phenomenon which has almost an epidemic of young suicides. Fortunately at least in this regard, measures are being taken to combat this occurrence by educating users about the severity of irresponsible use.
I expect that expansion of internet services will be almost exponential in bursts of technology development and in these times we will see significant shifts in society. To borrow from a technological determinist standpoint, the array of societal shift may encompass legislation changes, upsurges of activism, and unfortunately there will likely be new threats to equitable and positive use of the internet. However, the ‘power to publish’ in the hands of all should be looked at as an opportunity to exemplify true democracy and take into account we have a collective responsibility to uphold all other aspects of our democracy simultaneously. Although blogs and other internet opportunities have not made it necessarily simple to protect democracy, the complexity should not be a deterrent enough to revert to situations where diversity of voice is limited and instead the strive should be towards critical thinking and advocacy on behalf of equitable diversity.
austencoles 