In the last class of the semester we talked about social media and a concept called the “Spiral of Silence”. As a young adult in this generation I never hear the end about social media from either older generations complaining about it, to the ridiculous things I see myself when using it. I’ve had social media since I was 12, towards the end of 6th grade when I first made a Facebook account because all my friends did it. Facebook was my only source of social media until about 9th grade, then I made an Instagram, and eventually Snapchat as well as twitter but I hardly use that one. The point is I’ve always been active and enjoyed social media, but about 2-3 years ago, I kinda just started hating it and realizing how false and engulfing it is. We talked about how some refer to us as “Generation Like”, which is exactly the thing that made me realize how stupid it is. Likes are like the main form of validation nowadays, and most people even equate them to how much money you have! I pretty much stopped using Facebook about a year ago, it was always my main one until then. In all honesty, I want to delete all my social media. The only thing keeping me on is the fact that I’m a music artist and that’s the main way to promote yourself. I’m over the false reality that it’s become so I try to limit my feeds to just things music related, with the occasional memes I find funny. I have to pretend to like and care about how much people double tap on my photos, which sucks but I guess I have to make some sacrifices for the love for music.

As for the Spiral of Silence, I think it hits the head right on the nail with the points it makes. This is the idea that human beings naturally keep their opinions to themselves if it’s controversial or not in the majority of the group they’re in. I think this concept is most applicable in public situations with people you don’t know, people tend to try not to disagree with random people to avoid unknown conflict. However if you’re with your friends or people you’re comfortable with, you’re probably more likely to be the odd one out because you know they won’t judge you as much for it. I’ve definitely had this feeling before, especially around new friend groups I don’t really point out things that might stir them up or look at me weird. I’m not terrified of a negative opinion, but I guess I just like to avoid unnecessary awkward situations.

I think this last picture is really important to understand, that the acceptance of others and doing things just to please people isn’t what life is about, and there’s no way to be successful if that’s what you’re thinking about. Society has come so far recently, just imagine what we could do if we actually decided to live in it.

This was our last week of class and I can honestly say that I really enjoyed this class and every week was a different learning experience. For this week’s class, we watched dateline’s Generation Like. At face value, ‘Generation Like’ didn’t hold any surprises. Pretty much everyone knows that the Internet, in its current form, is all about likes, clicks, what you have. I mean, that’s common knowledge. But digging a little deeper, that’s where things get scary. The primary focus here is this: it’s not the technology, but what companies are doing to kids through technology. Specifically, marketing. The younger age group knows that the goal with social media is to be your own media network, and it’s a generation that is willing to do the work of the marketing department just for more likes. Selling out isn’t selling out anymore, it’s the brass ring. Sponsorship is the prize. 

Just like the rest of the millennials of this generation I too am always on my phone, except I do not spend as much time on social media as much as I used to. I usually just scroll through all my feed and not really post anything. When it comes to posting I don’t really care what I say because everyone can voice their opinions. I just wouldn’t post a threat online, even if it were a joke which is how many people get caught up. I also would never post anything personal about my life. However, some people may. Social media can be a stress reliever for some, where they can talk to people they never even met about their personal lives. But I will never forget that whatever is said online will be there forever and can come back to bite you in the ass. Many celebrities have experienced this, where before they were famous or when they were on the rise have said something online that to them was just a joke might have been hurtful to others. There are people out there who go deep into ones feed just to find something negative in order to blast them for it. I also don’t care about likes the way I used to. It is true that many people only care about likes. Some are very self conscious and feel the need to get a certain amount of likes will make them feel better about themselves. All these social media sites like Facebook and Instagram are all about likes and the public can see all of that. Even Snapchat has gotten to the point where people care how many views they are getting even when the user is the only one who can get this information. I really do believe that social media can boost ones ego up. I can’t lie, when I get a certain number of likes it does make me feel good about myself. This is really a topic that I can go on for days, but I’ll just have to save the rest for social media and society.

On Wednesday, we discussed the Spiral of Silence Theory, Outrage in media, and went full circle from Rushkoff’s Merchant’s of Cool to Generation Like.

Elisabeth Noelle – Neumann developed the Spiral of Silence Theory.

This Theory suggests that people tend to keep their opinions to themselves when they think they’re in the minority or of the unpopular opinion group. I know people who haven’t shared their opinion because of this and I know there have been plenty of times where I have stayed quiet because I was not thinking the way everyone else has. Other times I have stood up and spoke my opinions when I was in the leadership position of that group. The examples I am thinking of are when I was the captain of a sports team growing up, and then like we discussed in class, on social media, there are so many debates on morally charged issues that bring a lot of controversy. I do not partake in those because it really is not needed to on social media, and because I do not want to get attacked online. Despite this, I agree with the theory because it happens probably millions of times a day.

We then watched a clip on Youtube called the outrage machine by RetroReport. This brought to attention how “Trash TV” was what the public responded to most. Shows such as Jerry Springer got a lot of attention and love because the audience was able to comment on somebody else’s issue and say whatever they wanted. One quote that I took away from the video is that:

“The loudest and angriest opinions get the most attention. Not everyone knows all the facts, they just form opinions all too quickly”

This quote speaks for our world back in the 90’s and still today.

We then went full circle in the semester and watched David Rushkoff’s “Generation Like” and compared it to the first day of classes when we watched “Merchants of Cool” THe biggest difference between the two documentaries is that in Merchants of Cool, companies would try to sell back what was cool to teens, and in Generation Like, teens just put themselves out there because they want the validation to seem cool to others.

The amount of ‘likes’ someone has these days, determine how “cool” they are and that is all people care about anymore. I know that when I was 14-15 years old I would try to get the most likes on everything I posted by making sure it was at the right time, that my caption was good enough and a lot of other bullsh*t. Looking back I hate that cared so much about things like that, because society made it seem as though I was not good enough if I did not have a certain amount of likes on a picture that I posted.

This week, we meanly discussed the Spiral Silence, which is a theory about when your opinion is different than most of the others, you maybe will not say your opinion out loud,  especially when media get involved. In order to win audiences’ attention, usually, the media will ignore the voice of vulnerable groups and exaggerate the voice of powerful groups. This situation makes one of the human nature pop up, human being afraid of being isolated because we are a social animal. 

Because of the Spiral Silence, the media always show unified information, when people who know nothing about what’s going on watch the news, they might not get the chance to get the complete information so they can’t judge by themselves. In China, there is an app called Weibo, it’s like the combination of Twitter and Instagram. On Weibo, some stars will hire a “water army” to help them to flood the screen with an exaggerated compliment in order to gain popularity and attention from people. Another situation is that when the paparazzi exposes scandal, the main character of the sandal might hire the ”water army” as well, they will let the “water army” control the crowd’s discussion in order to whitewash the person or shift topic. Because of the “water army” people who didn’t track the story from the beginning will be easily cheated. And if there is somebody wants to say their own opinion, the ”water army” might use really ugly language to attack them. I think that makes the Spiral Silence more serious. This situation actually already infects the media industry in China right now. The stars are all fighting for people’s attention on media, fewer people care about the quality of the film or TV shows. And the real thoughts from people can’t be conveyed because of the “water army”. This makes people afraid to speak more because they know they will be attacked.

Actually, for me, the Spiral Silence is all about courage and confidence. Do you have the courage to say your thoughts out loud and do you have the confidence that people will agree with you. And it also relates to the content of your comments. For me, I feel pretty free to talk about my feeling online, because I will control my language and only speak what I think is reasonable and I can find support for that. I will restrict my language because I still believe there’s order about the internet and most people are rational.

This week in class we only had one day thanks to a snow day. Which was very much needed to get caught up on school work and get settled in after Thanksgiving break. On this Wednesday we talked about some of the communication theories there are and how they can affect us. One of them was called the Spiral of Science, it was an interesting theory of how opinions are usually kept within the person and don’t share them with others. These people keep their opinions to themselves, usually because the are in the minority and disagree with what most people have to say. These people also feel unsupported, isolated, and rejected from others which can affect their daily lives during their job or out with friends. Especially in the work place people go with the majority because they could lose their job if they said something that goes against everyone or if that idea doesn’t work out.

In these day in age people are struggling to voice their opinions because of the backlash it may have, and with the introduction of social media people could finally say anything on their mind. People that were in the minority found others who believed in similar things and realized there are a lot of people who agree with me. It wasn’t until recently where employers or anyone could track down everything you have posted the good, bad, and even the deleted. This led to many people not getting a job because of something they had posted from a while ago and still may not relate. This makes it even more challenging as people do not know what to post and are afraid of what might happen in the future.

Personally, for me I believe that I am free to say things on social media and in the real world. However, it does not mean I always post or voice my opinions, only because I do not want to, instead of being scared of what others might think. In social media I am careful about what I post because I know that there will be people looking at my profile and posts later in my life. I also do not post that much because I don’t feel the need to and don’t really care for it at all. as for real life and talking to people I do tend to hold back on some of my opinions because everyone has an opinion and I don’t want to start bickering with anyone or disagree and make it feel awkward. It also depends on the person I am talking with such as family, friends, and other people I am not that close with. With friends and family I usually always voice my opinion because I know they will hear me out, respect it, and not argue about the topic. As for others it is tough because some people always believe they are right or get offended at my or someone else’s opinions. Today’s world is great for voicing opinions because there are so many ways to connect with others, but we always have to be careful on what we say or post because it can affect us later on in life.

Spiral of silence theory is so strong in people. It plays on the fear of being outcast for something you say playing into the idea of a mob mentality. It is how the angry minority is able to control the mass of people. With a few people being the only people talking then everybody else will fall in suit.

Protection in numbers is a strong asset. This can also relate back to how many of the angry shows in television popped up in the 1990’s or trash TV. People were able to yell and ridicule people for going against a select of people’s beliefs, and the concept of the good guys always won in these shows. The audience could speak their minds towards one person with no repercussions. They were protected behind the crowd of people they were surrounded by with a similar mindset.

Facebook has taken this idea of herd mentality to a whole new level. As long as you don’t break one of their few rules that they don’t always enforce equally, you can say whatever you want. In the screening we watched we heard how several teens told us they were able to basically watch whatever they wished. In the same screening people were blacklisting a woman suing her family. They didn’t know the full story and they ruined her life. When interviews the family was ok with it, this was the only way to get homeowners insurance to kick in. People didn’t know that last part they went after her regardless. Protected behind the screen people feel stronger and more protected because they don’t have to see who they are saying these atrocities to.

Like nation is on the rise. For so many people being likes is all that matters and this fuels the domination machine that is social media. People will have three different social media accounts will different followers just to feel important. People also get jealous of their friends when they don’t get as many likes as someone else did. It is the fact that someone took time out of their day to hit the button that says I like that.

People have made it their life to get as many followers and likes as possible. We can see this strongly in YouTube. When people get enough subscribers YouTube or twitch will start to pay them from uploading content. In the gaming community especially, people have only one job and that is to stream or to upload whatever, game is new or popular to their fan base. This is a newer concept based on the idea that people will watch adds to view something they like, or even pay them in cash for playing games that they like.

In class this week, we briefly discussed social media and the spiral of silence theory.

More and more every day, social media advances and raises the question of how free we really are? Though social media can be a beautiful place to go spend your time and connect with your family, friends, and peers; it also can be a negative and toxic place. I think it is really common for youth, young adults, and adults to voice their opinions on specific things online since it is easier to do than in real life. Believe it or not, people actually listen. That sense of security, makes everyone feel better, and makes them feel powerful and heard, But sometimes the opinions that people preach can be extremely cruel, hurtful, or offensive. Social media including Facebook and Twitter have the highest amount of members so liking, commenting, or sharing negative things can be damaging towards both the victim and the harasser. 

It is impossible to evade criticism nowadays. There are simply too many review sites for you to keep anything quiet. Word-of-mouth recommendations mean so much more than they used to pre-internet because one harsh comment can spread around the globe instantly. If someone criticizes something, it is important to respond and to respond constructively. Not only is this good morals, but it also reassures anyone who stumbles on these comments that you do care and that you actively try to resolve negative situations. In addition, leaving criticism without a reply merely serves to reinforce their statement.

Originally proposed by German political scientist Elizabeth-Noelle Neumann 1974, Spiral of Silence is a theory meant to refer to the tendency of people remaining silent when they feel that their views are in opposition to the majority view on a subject. This theory suggests that they remain silent for a few reasons:  I) Fear of isolation when the group or public realizes that the individual has a different opinion from them. II) Fear of more extreme isolation including losing a job or friends. III) May feel unsupported by other employees.

The closer an individual feels their opinion resides to the held majority opinion, the more likely they are to be willing to voice it in public discourse. There are two major factors to mention. One is that this theory relies heavily on the idea that the opinion must have a distinct morally changed issue (abortion, gay marriage, or drug legalization.) No one will experience the spiral of silence when trying to decide with your roommates on the toppings you want on pizza.