Role of Digital Media in Society
Social media is the ultimate equalizer. It gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage.
- Amy Jo Martin
It is a universally accepted fact that man is by nature a social animal, Aristotle being one of the earliest philosophers who alluded to this fact. Humans have always been known to have voiced out their thoughts, opinions or views on many a subject with a natural tendency to interact with one another. Through the many cave inscriptions, Egyptian hieroglyphs, written manuscripts and finally with arrival of the printing press mankind has come a long way.
Previously, the exchanging of important information between people whether it is political or social, took place by word of mouth or through a messenger. Society or the world at large did not always function or revolve around incidents that affected a particular region or country. In contrast with the past we now have people probably living in the other side of the world sharing our most intimate moments thanks to the social media. Although people still depend on newspapers and magazines to a large extent, primary importance is given to broadcast media by way of television and predominantly the internet.
Considering the prevalence of the internet, there is this sudden flood of information and news from every nook and corner of the world. One would sometimes find difficulty in assessing, accepting, disregarding and compartmentalizing the enormous amounts of information we receive through a click of the mouse. There is a certain advantage that the media can take over this matter. Take for example the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. Although the ‘discord’ between the countries has existed for over 60 years, no one found it necessary to cover the issue. Every year thousands of Palestinians, a large number of which were women children would be killed and with absolutely little or no defense the Palestinians could do little to protect themselves.
It is only recently that the world at large has been able to see the atrocities that have been taking place in Ghazza and other places and here again, the social media deserves most of the credit as it is a platform where ordinary people who are not necessarily reporters or any other sort of media personal made the issue known.