Author: Kurt Gutschick

What do you think of when you see this picture?

This photo is one of a select few that have been credited with the growth of support of the Civil Rights movement. This photo had to be taken by a photographer, then picked up by a newspaper, then it had to be picked up by the national news, to be seen by many to spark outrage. That is a lot of layers of people deciding whether or not to run this picture. There is a good chance that no one ever sees this picture and that the Civil Rights movement struggles to gain traction.

Thankfully that was not the case; however, how many other social movements lost support, or shriveled and died because one picture, or one story was not shared by the traditional media? Social media has changed that.

In their paper, “Why Civil Resistents Works” Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan estimate that a social movement needs the support of about 3.5% of the total population in order to be effective. Examples of this can be found in the People Power Revolution in the Philippines and the Rose Revolution in Georgia. These protests sparked change with little to no help of social media, but they were difficult to organize and it took a long time for the change to happen.

This brings us to Hong Kong. It is a city that I absolutely love. I have been there on a few occasions and hope to live in someday. Here is a picture I took from Victoria Peak.

This city is unique in that it has a system of its own operating in another country. It is “one country, two systems” as both the Chinese and Hong Kong people call it. Hong Kong does not operate behind the Great Firewall of China. One can go onto social media when in Hong Kong, but cannot access the same websites while in mainland China. There was a bill recently introduced that allowed for people in Hong Kong to be taken and prosecuted in mainland China without due process. The idea of due process is a right that Hong Kong citizens enjoy that their fellow countrymen on the mainland do not. This sparked massive protest.

These protests have gain momentum because of social media.

Pitcures like these have shown up on social media, helping to gain, not only more support within Hong Kong, but all over the world.

Even Twitter and Facebook have entered the fray, accusing China of spreading false information about the protest on their platforms.

There certainly is a dark side of social media; however, there are good uses for it. One of which is to get to that 3.5% support for social change. No longer do stories and pictures have to pass through multiple layers to be seen, but instead, anyone with a phone can become an agent for social change. The use of social media may become what traditional media was once known as, and that is the 4th branch of government. A way for people to hold those in power accountable.

More on the 3.5% theory found here.

More about China and Hong Kong found here.

A quick search of Google Scholar of “Social Media Effects of Youth” will turn up a number of academic studies ranging from the effects of binge drinking of teenagers because of social media, to possible effects on how the mind processes information, to the social structure of the family, changing, all because of social media. All of these concerns have valid points; however, it is important to remember that every type of new technology has met some type of resistance.

The printing press, for example, came with its fair share of critics.  Abbot Johannes Trithemius stated:

[The writer,] while he is writing on good subjects, is by the very act of writing introduced in a certain measure into the knowledge of the mysteries and greatly illuminated in his innermost soul; for those things which we write we more firmly impress upon the mind…While he is ruminating on the Scriptures he is frequently inflamed by them (Brann).

In other words, the printing press would take the writer, usually a monk, further from God. While one could argue that handwriting a book would put you more in touch with the author, the speed, by which new ideas could flow because of the printing press outweighed the need that every book be hand-copied.

The telephone, electricity, and even vaccinations have all come with critics voicing concerns. Some of those concerns have been valid, much like some of the criticism for social media.

Some of those concerns can be found in this article about students coming into the classroom already either having watched a video that only gives a one-sided surface level video about the topic being taught, or even to harass teachers because of something they said that was recorded.

Social media, much like these other leaps of technology, have their uses for the good of society as a whole. Because these are tools being used by humans, another, more sinister reason for use can be had as well. Think about the things that have been printed that have led to the loss of life, the number of people who are contacted by phone and scammed out of money, or the harm that social media can do to students/teachers in a classroom.

It is incumbent on all of us to call out the behavior we do not approve of and that can cause harm. This tool can be used for such good and can connect people and groups that no other technology has been able to before. My hope is that we can come together as a community and ignore divisive forces.

Brann, N. L. (1981). The abbot Trithemius: (1462-1516): the renaissance of monastic humanism. Leiden: Brill.

Skeen, William (1872). Early Typography. Ceylon: Government Printer, Colombo. p. 122.