Response to group one questions.

Today technology has become very powerful in our society. It helps people interact with each other from a long distance. It can also give answers to whatever question a person looks up. I believe that we have become very dependent on technology and that a new social norm can be created by using the internet. In my opinion there is already pieces of a social norm on the internet that includes all the social media websites. If the social media websites combined into one giant server then every aspect needed to create a social norm would be met. People would express their feelings by tweeting and would show off on Instagram. People also would chat and share photos through the Facebook portion of the super website. Eventually communicating online would become so normal to people that talking to someone in person would seem outdated and odd. The dangerous part about an inclusive society online is the news coverage from the media. The media always makes a story look more interesting then it seems and sometimes even makes people look good or bad. Also the media can influence people by covering videos that go viral. In my experience I have witnessed some of my friends say jokes or dance a certain way due to a video that went viral on some social media website. Also during the presidential elections I have witnessed the media only cover one candidate and make them look good which influences people’s decision on who to vote for. The media only wants people to think what they want them to think. They can make a certain drug that helps a lot of medical patients get better quick seem very bad and dangerous. In order to combat the media’s false claims and biased reports people have to vocalize their opinion. The way to vocalize an opinion in a virtual social norm is to become an activist and get active with the community. An activist can utilize technology by overcoming the challenge of getting their opinion out to the world of what is actually true or not. Also since posting online can be anonymous, activists no longer have to face the challenge of being arrested just for vocalizing the truth about certain things our government uses the media to hide. Also social media can aid activists in overcoming the challenge of contacting other activists around the world that fight for the same thing they fight for. Technology has also allowed activists to influence and recruit other people across the world.  Finally activists can use technology to create blogs and post their opinions and let the world know what type of social norm they can create with the help of a large amount of people.