Salome Schmid

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

On the example of the #metoo movement, the opportunities social media provides, and whether it’s capable of shaping and changing political reality in the United States

“Tell your story.
Shout it. Write it.
Whisper it if you have to.
But tell it.
Some won’t understand it.
Some will outright reject it.
But many will
thank you for it.
And then the most
magical thing will happen.
One by one, voices will start
whispering, ‘Me, too.’
And your tribe will gather.
And you will never
feel alone again.”

― L.R. Knost

The current U.S. President has said: “grab [women] by the pussy… you can do anything.” An Associate Justice of the Supreme Court has been accused of the sexual assault of several women. More than 250 powerful people in the U.S., from celebrities to CEOs and senators, have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct. With the amount of sexual violence, harassment, and discrimination happening every day at work, school, or at home, tabooing the topic of sexual abuse won’t bring us anywhere.

To structurally change something in our society — on the state level, as well as in our individual way of thinking — it is necessary to talk about it. In 2017, the hashtag #metoo was introduced in the United States, expanding worldwide, to give victims of sexual assault a frame to talk about their experiences. Since mid-October 2017, when the New York Times and New Yorker published allegations of film producer Harvey Weinstein having sexually assaulted several women throughout the years, the hashtag has been used millions of times.

Giving victims of sexual violence a voice and an equal chance of being heard, social media provided an ideal public sphere for the movement, since it’s not dominated by a certain race or gender and is accessible to everyone. The vast scope and the dimensions of the #metoo movement, with the use of the hashtag averaging 55,319 times a day in at least 85 countries, is undeniable. Nevertheless, social media activism is often criticized for having only little impact on actual policymaking. However, in the United States, the movement is expected to influence the 2020 elections, as it has caused a shift in the way Americans think and made them question who is in power. This has also been triggered by recent debates on abortion and women’s control over their bodies. Through the support and solidarity of the movement, many women have found the courage to speak out, which led, for example, to the resignation of nine members of Congress.

Even though the #metoo movement has a feminist background and the victims are often women, everyone regardless of gender, background, or ethnicity can be a victim of sexual assault.

Sources:

Mendes, K., Ringrose, J., & Keller, J. (2018). #MeToo and the promise and pitfalls of challenging rape culture through digital feminist activism. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 25(2), 236–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506818765318

North, A. (2019, Sep 27, 2019). New poll shows major shift in how Americans think about men in power. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2019/9/27/20885011/trump-brett-kavanaugh-me-too-metoo-2020

Bénédicte Daguet

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

Violence against women, let me explain:

 “If he hits you, we believe you.” This slogan has been used in many demonstrations in different countries to fight against violence on women.

But what are we talking about?

What does the word ‘violence’ entail? It means sexual, physical, and mental abuse, human trafficking, forced marriage, and female mutilation.

Where does this happen?

Everywhere. At home, in the streets, at work, within religious communities, or as a part of cultural traditions.

And we could ask ourselves why?

Because of gender inequality, which is a persisting issue worldwide. Each minute, 20 people are domestically abused in the United States. The World Health Organization has assessed that 35 per cent of women in the world are killed by femicide, the intentional murder of a woman because of her gender.

Breaking the Silence: The 16 Days of Activism Campaign

The number of victims is not decreasing and that is for one significant reason: silence. The very aim of the 16 Days of Activism campaign is to put to an end to the taboo on gender-based violence. It is a global movement dedicated to demonstrating solidarity between women, raising awareness on the issue, and creating tools to pressure governments to work towards gender equality. It is often forgotten that abusing a woman is a violation of human rights. Each year between November 25th and December 10th, women around the world gather to honor the victims and shed light on the issue.

How to Raise Awareness?

The answer to this question is simple: social media. Social media are part of our daily routines and the platforms enable people to communicate and raise awareness on important issues. Twitter and Instagram are particularly important for the 16 Days of Activism movement because they have helped the organizers reach a wider audience. For instance, the non-profit organization UN Women is sharing their message every day through videos or images that are viewed by thousands of people. Moreover, social media empower the creation of communities and help women to deliver their stories and experiences, which is important for breaking the silence. Social media give a non-distorted voice to the activists in the 16 Days of Activism campaign, especially in places around the world where women are often silenced. The campaign uses a variety of hashtags, such as #genderequality, #16daysactivism, #orangetheworld, #endtheviolence, and plenty of others, making it easy to find various types of content. This strategy demonstrates the significant impact that activism can have through social media, in the effort to influence society and combat violence against women. Indeed, 16 days are not enough to protect women around the world from violence, but social media and activism, hand in hand, can make a difference.

Sources:

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Website, Statistics: https://ncadv.org/statistics

Research through various hashtags on social media (Twitter and Instagram).

Official United Nations Youtube Video on the 16 Days of Activism Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37oJ7bJOWiA.

16 Days Campaign Official Website: https://16dayscampaign.org/about-the-campaign/

United Nations Women Website: https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/infographic/violenceagainstwomen/fr/index.html#trafficking-3

https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/take-action/16-days-of-activism

World Health Organisation Report on Feminicide: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77421/WHO_RHR_12.38_eng.pdf?sequence=1

Marie Alardot

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

Protests have been around for a long time, but with the arrival of social media, activism has changed. How can social media support activism? How has social media changed activism? Has the impact been positive or negative?

Positive Aspects

In my opinion, social media can support activism in a positive way. Thanks to social media, activist groups can reach a worldwide audience in an easy, cheap, and fast way. Online digital platforms make it easier to persuade and influence others. Social media connects people and gathers them together.

In her article, “Media Literacy: The 5 Key Concepts,” Stacey Goodman said: “We are no longer just consumers of media, but content creators and distributors, as well as editors, opinion makers, and journalists.” I agree with her. Social media gives a voice to everyone, including minorities. It is a tool that is easily accessible.  

Moreover, social media enables movements to grow and reinforce themselves. For example, after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, students organized a demonstration called “March for Our Lives” and, thanks to Twitter, the movement spread widely.

Another example is the #MeToo movement which, again through Twitter, has had a significant worldwide impact. It also helped spark another movement: #balancetonporc, the French version of #MeToo.

Social media can also allow latent movements to reappear very easily. The press is no longer the only one who decides what is important. This way, people can control the information.

Negative Aspects

There can be downsides to social media as well. Let’s look at the concepts of backlash and slacktivism, for instance:

A backlash is a strong negative reaction to an action or development. For example, in the BalanceTonPorc case, Sandra Muller – the journalist who started France’s equivalent of the #MeToo campaign – took to Twitter to speak out against a man she said had harassed her. The man then sued her for defamation, and in the end, Muller was condemned to pay 15,000 euros of compensations. I find it aberrant, but unfortunately, this is what happened.

The term “slacktivism” refers to a soft, weak form of activism created by and present on social media. People share a message on an online platform or “like” a post, and feel proud of themselves. But actually, in my opinion, they could be considered as lazy activists. Social media helps to engage more people but the level of commitment can be lower compared to traditional activism. In this case, social media has a negative impact by increasing disengaged activism.

Lastly, there is not much regulation on social media platforms, and sometimes activist groups can lose control because of disrespectful words or images. However, Twitter has established rules to encourage proper conversation. In my point of view, social media needs to be much more regulated because we can come across shocking and harmful content, which can damage the original cause.

In conclusion, using social media as a platform for activism can have positive and negative outcomes. In my view, social media helps activism. It allows movements to reach a bigger audience faster and cheaper. It enables activist groups to become more influential and have more impact. And most importantly, they give everyone the opportunity to be heard. But we must be careful with our words.

What is the role of social media platforms in today’s society? In their blog posts, students Johanna Norrbacka, Wong Ka Wah, Marta Rodríguez Garcia, Yuxin Liu, and Marie Burguin reflect on the addictive nature of social media and the intergenerational differences in the attitudes towards them. The blog posts have been produced as a part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

Millainen rooli sosiaalisen median alustoilla on tämän päivän yhteiskunnassa? Blogikirjoituksissaan opiskelijat Johanna Norrbacka, Wong Ka Wah, Marta Rodríguez Garcia, Yuxin Liu ja Marie Burguin pohtivat muun muassa sosiaalisen median riippuvuutta aiheuttavaa luonnetta sekä nuorempien ja vanhempien sukupolvien asenne-eroja sosiaalisen median sisältöihin. Blogikirjoitukset on tehty osana Turun yliopiston Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States –kurssia. 

Johanna Norrbacka

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

I have not been active in social media since I deactivated my Facebook account at the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017. The reason for my departure was that I very strongly felt Facebook was banking the profits of a media corporation without any regard for journalistic ethics – which I strongly felt, and feel, they should have taken into account in their operation.

Throughout the course of the lectures, both the reasons for staying out of social media and the impetus for returning were present, and I began to contemplate what would be the kind of social media platform that I would feel comfortable using. For the purpose of this blog I will henceforth refer to this imaginary entity as “Village.”

There would be no political advertisements from political parties or candidates on Village. I do not believe that someone who is running for office, on any level of the spectrum from local to national politics, can express their agenda or knowledge adequately and conclusively in a span of a few seconds or minutes. I believe the voter benefits from and has the responsibility to make an effort to familiarize themselves with the potential receivers of their vote, and there are plenty of channels for that without a social media platform selling its ethics for advertisement money.

Instead of advertisements aspiring to convince voters to vote for a certain candidate, there would be advertisements and public service announcements about voting and its role in democracy. I think it’s about time to make taking part in society compelling and even – I am writing about a utopia after all – chic.

Algorithms would be used as a force for good, harnessed for something benevolent and not merely for something commercially beneficial. People would be provided with positive news, accurate information about those whose opinions may not totally coincide with theirs, and stories about people from different backgrounds as a means for spreading compassion.

No trackers would be placed on other websites to survey what the users are doing, seeing, or watching online. Nor would any data be collected about their browsing histories because for no reason and for no price would Village users be sold out by Village. Neither would the photographs or personal information of its users be used for monetary gain.

Currently, I am not aware of any social media company that functions according to principles that would convince me to return to social media, but I am putting my hope in the future. I look forward to seeing ever-developing technology and the demand for more options in connecting and communicating with others bring alternatives and competition to the present duopoly.     

Marie Burguin

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

Marie Burguin’s piece was published on Medium, December 7, 2019: https://medium.com/@mariebrgn/why-do-people-in-their-mid-50s-or-60-s-despise-the-youth-so-much-916caba82360

Yuxin Liu 

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

When I was a child, I watched the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, which tells the story of a media mogul trying to launch a global war to control global public media. When the movie was released in 1997, the Internet was still unknown, so the weapons of the villain Carver were only a “Tomorrow Newspaper” and some satellite TV. Maybe no one thought that controlling public media would gradually become a reality with the rise of the Internet and social media.

Media is the most important link

Firstly, we must understand the relationship between media, information, and people. Human beings need a lot of communication – to pass their cognition to others, to seek approval, or to accept the information of others. What’s the role of media? Media delivers information to people.

Granted, social media offers a lot of conveniences. Criminals can be brought to justice, people around the world can communicate for free and sharing information becomes very fast. We generally recognize that social media is a double-edged sword, emphasizing that the user’s ability to control social media determines whether it is positive or negative. But what if social media was born to manipulate and make everyone addicted?

Social Media, Born for Addiction

All addictives have the following characteristics:

  1. The stimulus to break the “boring”

  2. This stimulation is effortless

  3. Once addicted, withdrawal is painful

So, is social media addictive? The answer is obvious. Looking at these several definitions of addictions, we may get a better understanding of the strange phenomena of social media.

●The stimulus to break the “boring”

Why is social media always full of weird pop culture? You can find everything but the normal. Because most of our lives are boring, lackluster, and ordinary. Our lives start and end, like a Mobius ring with no end. However, human existence is complex and sensitive. We are always looking for our kind, but we are eager to be different. This is one of the root causes of the popularity of social media. 

●This stimulation is effortless

The stimulus brought by addictions is effortless. Smoking marijuana is just like smoking cigarettes, the only action required is to light it. In other words, addictions relax the brain and make it stop working. Addictions can degrade the brain. The same is true of social media. After all, taking and editing a photo to convey a false location may take only 2 minutes – effortless compared to the hard work and toil of an actual trip. 

●Once addicted, withdrawal is painful

It took my father three months to quit smoking and he told me that it felt awful. Can you stop checking your social media in a day? No Facebook, no Instagram? Will you feel like there is nothing to do? Or will you feel inexplicably empty inside? If the answer is “yes”, as for most of us, maybe leaving social media is not easy for you. This is good to notice. When social media has been an indispensable part of your life, how could it be easy to get rid of it?

Evolve? Degrade?

Generally, the reading time of a social media article is limited to about 5 minutes. For videos on Tik Tok it is even less, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. Article after article, video after video, your attention is being torn. At the same time, the soundscape is so diverse that it weakens your ability to think independently.

Some people liken these characteristics to “new evolution” and believe that the future of humans will be more short-term, efficient, and multi-threaded. But unfortunately, the ultimate goal of this evolution is not for the progress of the human race, its goal is to eliminate the vast majority of people.

At present, manipulating personal thoughts through media is already a routine operation. “Mimeng” cheated a lot of people by sensational titles and spurious content. But think about why some people are willing to become her followers? The reason is the lack of attention and ability to think independently. The followers gradually become the tools of a manipulator. This evolution is in progress. I hope everyone can distinguish whether they are headless animals or manipulating hands.

Read more: 

New York Times, March 6, 2017: “Why We Can’t Look Away From Our Screens” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/science/technology-addiction-irresistible-by-adam-alter.html?_ga=2.135890993.1049120896.1574975315-191515546.1574975315

What’s on Weibo, Feb. 6, 2019: “Mimeng and ‘Self-Media’ under Attack for Promoting Fake News Stories to Chinese Readers” https://www.whatsonweibo.com/mimeng-and-self-media-under-attack-for-promoting-fake-news-stories-to-chinese-readers/

Marta Rodríguez Garcia

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

Marta Rodríguez Garcia’s piece was published on Blogspot, December 2, 2019: https://socialmediain2019.blogspot.com/2019/12/do-we-all-know-what-is-social-media.html

Wong Ka Wah

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

What an amazing memory: Me, a student from Hong Kong, walking into a class with people from different backgrounds to discuss and learn about social media in Finland. The class discussions always gave me a lot of food for thought. During and after the conversations with my classmates, my mind was full of different ideas. I was impressed by the discussion about social media, especially during the second lesson where we were asked: “Do you agree with Postman that media such as television have a clearly negative impact on public discourse? What is the positive impact of a specific medium such as social media, on public discourse?” This discussion made me think about the relation between different media and different individuals. Personally, I think this is a dynamic and complicated relationship. Social media has both positive and negative impacts on its users.

First, on the negative side, people’s thoughts and behavior can easily be influenced by different media because it is impossible to dodge the information flow. Messages from the media are everywhere: advertisements, news, television and entertainment, etc. Especially under the trend of globalization, the pace and frequency of the exchange of information is exhausting. People are exposed in a society full of information. They do not have sufficient time to digest or process the information they receive every moment. The more passive we are, the more easily we can be influenced by the senders of the information, that is to say the media. Our class provided a good example of this. We should not only take in the information presented to us without processing it in interaction with the whole class. Our thoughts can easily be influenced. Everyone can be aware this and try to employ more critical thinking.

On the positive side, new media make information exchange faster and more convenient. They provide a lot of entertainment. They can also be a platform for different people to discuss or even organize social movements. People can share their thoughts and try to convince others through discussions on these free and transparent public platforms.

Someone might think the relationship between traditional media and social media is quite competitive or that they are mutually exclusive. Younger generations tend to use social media more than traditional media, and the circulations of newspapers have been decreasing in a lot of developed countries. For me, they are not competitors. Rather, they can utilize each other. They each have their unique position in the world, and the audience will have different interpretations of these two kinds of media. For example, traditional media are more convincing.

As I mentioned, it is inevitable to receive tons of information nowadays. However, we can choose to be content creators or receivers, and stay aware of how easily we can be influenced if we do not take the time to process information. We can try to find a solution. What I wish to emphasize is that we have to learn how to strike a balance between receiving information and digesting it.

Here we will publish blogs posts by the students of the North American Studies course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States.” Stay tuned for January 2020.

Julkaisemme tänne Pohjois-Amerikan tutkimuksen kurssin “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” oppilaiden blogikirjoituksia. Pysy kanavalla tammikuussa 2020.