The
media Impact on a variety of cultures worldwide has been enormous. Often times
we hear the negative side of social media but there are a lot more positives
than negatives. Through new technology and social media many cultures cane make
the rest of the world aware of their plight. Before these new technologies
existed most cultures communicated within a small group. Rarely was anyone
aware of what was going on half way across the globe unless it was war. Now we
are enlightened about the lack of women’s rights, illnesses, terror groups,
children in the sex trade, and other tragedies that we can actually help to end
by using our voices and speaking up. If enough people share information about a
problem it makes the voice louder; politicians and other important people hear
who can actually take action. The people who do these atrocious acts can no
longer do it in the shadows.
Mediaimpact.org
states “Entertainment-Education programs draw on our deep affinity for stories
to reveal worlds of new possibilities, where dramatic conflicts and decisions
are tied to real world consequences.”(2014) New technologies allow for these
stories to reach many more individuals. One person may not be able to do much;
combined with hundreds of others can do a lot.
The
deaf community is another culture that has benefited a lot from new technology.
They previously felt separate from main stream society. Now they can
communicate through social media and texting like everyone else. Through these
new tools there is no way to tell a hearing person from a non-hearing person.
The recent bad publicity about the Mendela sign interpreter, that was even made
fun of on SNL, brought to light the problems the deaf community were having
with older styles of communicating. I was unaware that there have been many
reports of bad sign interpreters, even in emergency situations. Dr. Kent stated
“Now that the Deaf community has discovered Twitter, there
are opportunities for Social Media and Emergency Management (#SMEM) to become
more effective in communicating public warnings to the Deaf.”(2013)
References
Entertainment-Education
| PCI Media Impact. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Kent, J.
(2013, December 15). Deaf People Use Social Media to Make Their Voices Heard:
Can #SMEM be used to reach them in a crisis? | idisaster 2.0. Retrieved from
voices-heard-can-smem-be-used-to-reach-them-in-a-crisis/
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