Social dilemma

I recently watched a documentary on Netflix that talked about the effects of social media on one’s life and how the industry has worked so hard to manipulate mankind. It has reached a point where it has become addictive, that man cannot live without checking at one’s phone from time to time. Even after one wake’s up, there is a need to look at the notifications on social media even if it isn’t useful at all.

I see this as a competition to mainstream media which is trying to cope up with the demands of the online world. Everyone wants to say something, despite set boundaries. The danger of too much free speech is a lost democracy. While the media in Cebu is celebrating Press Freedom Week, I doubt that with the ongoing issues hounding them that there is truly freedom at all. You see, we are living in a society that not only social media dictates the behavior of man but also shapes the opinion of many.

Where does the media come in? Back then, we used to teach young children about media literacy and how useful it is especially as they use their own social media sites. It seems like an impossible thing to achieve, but we can all be media literate.

The freedom of the press comes not only with their liberty to write stories as the watchdog of the government but also their right to be able to come up with validated and correct information for the public. With social media as a competition, along with fake news, I don’t know what kind of citizenry we are trying to have. It is confusing if we don’t vet everything that we read.

Now that we are remembering the days when the press was oppressed during martial law, I wonder where the stand of the journalists lie today --is it with the government that has helped them prepare their stories? Or to the people who are the true recipients of their stories? It is very complex to talk about press freedom, which goes beyond dance showdowns and beauty pageants but the reality that every journalist is facing today. One should ask if there is integrity in every story that he or she is making and that nobody’s side was left unheard.

I can only dream of days when we will all be media literate, despite social media taking on our lives. Maybe these technology giants can come up with a scheme to fact-check all that’s been posted, that way we can get rid of fake news, the information that has been destroying the public’s knowledge.