How Social Media Shifted the World
For my Paradigm Shift projects I have decided to look at how social media impacted society, and especially how it influenced the development of the youngest generations and indirectly led to a ‘golden age’ of protest activism. In particular, I want to focus on how much of the natural generational shifts in beliefs and priorities have been affected by the introduction of social media to each demographic at progressively younger ages, and how that gave rise to a new era of popular culture being focused on social justice and bringing attention to all of the societal issues that have been neglected over the years by previous generations. I do not, however, intend to examine other aspects that have affected culture in the past (such as war, etc), nor do I intend to address how this shifting perspective affected other countries or even the micro-cultures within the US. It will more be a broader, more general comparison between generational perspectives within the US, and how that has been reflected in society.
In this project I want to examine what has made us (Generation Z) who we are and examine society from that perspective. In almost every way we have grown up in unprecedented conditions and our parents, teachers, and elected officials can never truly understand that the way we do. I want to tell the story of our coming of age and how it has shifted the world. This shift is affecting us all everyday in various ways. Social media has become what defines an entire generation and it has led to more social and political turmoil across the world than pretty much anything since the Age of Enlightenment. Examining this change in depth is the only way to understand the new world we all find ourselves navigating and from there make conscious informed decisions about how we what to mover forward as a society and as a species.
As of now, I want to briefly touch on the events that have defined previous generations going back to the great depression, so nearly a century. That having been said, the bulk of my presentation will focus on the last three generations, or roughly the last 40 or so years.
Celina, this seems like a great topic. I really like how you described it as a “coming of age” for our generation. There are so many aspects of social media that have made both positive and negative effects on the way we think and interact. There are lots of different ways you can approach this topic, especially when you narrow it down for your Ted Talk. I think you’re going to have fun with this, I can’t wait to see where it goes!
I think that you have chosen an extremely interesting topic and it is interesting how you are introducing a new perspective into the topic of the rise of social media. Although, we hear about the effects of social media on mental health, and the constant connectiveness of the world I never have considered how it aids young people to become activists for social issues. I also think that you can bring some very interesting personal connections into you Ted-Talk to enhance your topic.